hf'^■yi'■■.^^^'^'■.'*f^\'.^•''•i'\^ i'i^?:~ri--:-'>>i^ €nm\\ Hmvmitg pilrmg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF flenrg W. Sage 1891 A'/A<^.2J^. , JLQ/sS/lCjfO^ 5474 3 1924 095 270 843 'm Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924095270843 s . .s ^ I c a Q 3 »— ' Tl o 01 cc a P o > H (U w > DJ £ E f) h 3 THE ^^ WYOMING VALLEY, Upper Waters of the Susquehanna, AND THE LACKAWANNA COAL-REGION, INCLUDING VIEWS OF THE NATURAL SCENERY OF NORTHERN PENNSYL VAN I A, Fkom the Indian Occupancy to TUii Year 1875. PHOTOGRAPHICALLY ILLUSTRATED. EDITED BY J. A. CLARK. SCRANTON, PA.: J. A. CLARK, PUBLISHER. 1875- Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1875, by J. A. CLARK, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. . TO WILLIAM AND ABIGAIL GREEN, AND THEIR CHILDREN, EMMA, ENGLEBERT AND PAULINE, OF WARREN, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., WHO CONSTITUTED THE HAPPY HOME OF MY ORPHAN BOYHOOD, IN WHOSE CIRCLE I WAS RECEIVED AND NURTURED WITH ALL THE TENDERNESS AND SOLICITUDE OF ONE OF THEIR OWN BLOOD, THIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR. " No man is the loid of any thing, Till he communicates his parts to others: Nor doth he of himself know them for aught. Till he behold them formed in the applause, Which they're extended !" — [ Ulysses urging Achilles. PREFACE. The chapters forming this volume were published in parts, and designed to cover the region embraced in the title from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875. The only merit it seeks to claim is that of a photographic view of the territory, the pioneer history in the perspective, — the grand industries, mammoth enterprises, and natural beauties in the foreground. It was the province of the pen merely to accompany the camera, serving to elaborate where obstacles cut off the view, and to retouch incomplete points. The task has been an arduous one, and like Goethe's star ''without haste, but without rest," it has accomplished its mission, little deserving the profuse kindnesses which it has received from the local press. These favors came at an hour when they were peculiarly welcome, and will be treasured and cherished while the author lives. J. A. 0. ScRANTON, May, 1875. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Indian Occupancy of the Susquehanna, from Otsego Lake to Wyoming CHAPTER n. The Pioneers of Wyoming Valley, and the Question of Title to the Soil 7 CHAPTER HI. The Early Settlements of Wyoming Valley— A Second Eden, a Theatre of Strife, Discord, and " Hell- Born Hate" 13 CHAPTER IV. The Appeatance of New Enemies— The Invasion by Colonel John Butler and the Indians 18 CHAPTER V. Colonel Zebulon Butler in Command of the Americans — Encounters the Enemy — The Forts Beseiged. 22 CHAPTER VI. The Retreat and Pursuit Down the Valley — Official Reports from both Commanders 26 CHAPTER VII. Incidents of Tory Cruelty — The Capitulation at Wyoming 30 CHAPTER VIII. Joseph Brant— Thayendanegea, the Great War Chief of the Six Nations — Was He at Wyoming? 37 CHAPTER IX. General Sullivan's Expedition from Wyoming to the Lakes — The Story of Frances Slocum — Ma-Con- A-Qna, the Captive Girl 42 CHAPTER X. The Pennamile War — Permanent Peace Restored to Wyoming Valley 48 CHAPTER XI. The Wyoming Monument — List of the Slain 51 CHAPTER Xn. Campbell's Ledge 55 CHAPTER XIII. Prospect Rock 6a CONTENTS. vii. CHAPTER XIV. Pioneer Enterprise— Historical Incidents — The Ship Building Era ; 66 CHAPTER XV. The Lumber trade— Arks — Rafts— Susquehanna River Commerce ' 72 CHAPTER XVI. Nay-Aug Falls 74 CHAPTER XVII. The "Stourbridge Lion" — The First Locomotive ever placed upon a Railroad Track on the Ameri- can Continent 76 CHAPTER XVIH. Coal — Its Origin and Formation Si CHAPTER XIX. Theories Concerning Coal S7 « CHAPTER XX. Anthracite — Northern Coal Field, Embracing what is known as the Wyoming, Lackawanna, Scranton and Wilkes- Barre Regions 93 CHAPTER XXI. The Pioneers of the Coal Trade 99 CHAPTER XXH. Colliery — Incidents in and around Coal Mines 102 CHAPTER XXIII. Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company 106 CHAPTER XXIV. Colonel George W. Scranton 113 CHAPTER XXV. Joseph H. Scranton 120 CHAPTER XXVI. Selden T. Scranton 124 CHAPTER XXVII. The Resident Representative Men of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company — J. C. Piatt, William Manness, E. C. Lynde, E. P. Kingsbury, W. W. Scranton, C. F. Mattees, and others 127 CHAPTER XXVIII. Delaware and Hudson Canal Company 132 CHAPTER XXIX. Thomas Dickson, President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company 155 CHAPTER XXX. James Archbald i59 CHAPTER XXXI. Joseph J. Albrigljt and Edward W. Weston 162 Vlll. CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXII. PAGE Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad '^5 CHAPTER XXXIII. Hon. Samuel Sloan 176 CHAPTER XXXIV. Moses Taylor and Wm. E. Dodge I79 CHAPTER XXXV. Representative Officials of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad — John Brisbin, Wm. R. Storrs, Wm F. Hallstead, James W. Fowler, and David T. Bound 185 CHAPTER XXXVI. William W. Winton • 189 CHAPTER XXXVII. Biographical Shetches — Lewis Watres ; Hon. Wm. Merrifield ; Hon. George Sanderson ; Hon. A. B. Dunning ; Hon. Wm. N. Monies ; Hon. Robert H. McKune ; Hon. Steuben Jenkins ; Major-Gen- eral E. S. Osborne ; Hon. Hendrick B. Wright ; John Jermyn ; George Starkey (Sculptor) ; F. Lee Faries (Painter) ; Architects '93 , CHAPTER XXXVIII. The Judiciary and Bar of Scranton 210 CHAPTER XXXIX. Cities and Towns — Carbondale, Pittston, Wyoming, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Powder Works, &c 215 CHAPTER XXXX. The Judiciary of'Luzerne County — Rush, Cooper, Chapman, Gibson, Burnsidc, Scott, Jessup, Conyng- ham, Dana, Hoyt, Harding, Handley, Rhone, and Woodward 227 CHAPTER XXXXI. John B. Smith and the Pennsylvania Coal Company 235 THE WYOMING VALLEY, UPPER WATERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA, AND THE LACK- AWANNA CO^UREGION. CHAPTER I. INDIAN OCCUPANCY OF THE SUSQUEHANNA, FROM OTSEGO LAKE TO WYOMING. "On Susqneliaima's side, fair Wyoming! Sweet land! may I thy lost dellglita recall." Gertrude of Wyoming. "Oh ! not the vlsioned poet in his dreams, When silvery clouds float through the wildered brain. When every sight of lovely, wild and grand. Astonishes, enraptures, elevates— When fancy at a glance combines Thewond'rous and the beautiful,— So bright, so fair, so mild a scene Hath ever yet beheld." Shelley's Qiieen lHab. In 1769, only one hundred and four years ago, Dr. Smollett, ■who was acknowledged by the en- lightened world, as an able writer, in history, science and fiction, issued his edition of "The History of Nations," the eighth volume of which we obtained from Mr. J. G. Noakes, of Hyde Park, Scranton, who purchased it because of its antiquity, at some hidden corner in London, while on his journey to his native country — Wales, during the past year. It must be taken for granted that Smollett who figured in his time with the enlarged minds of the day, had every facility to enable him to set before the then unenlightened reading public, all that was necessary for historical purposes, and accepting this theory, it is to be assumed that he was thorough in his search for statistics, and ample in judgment as to mature conclusions. 1 Yet, with but a century between, the present volume enters upon a detailed record of a region entirely unnoticed and altogether unknown to his pen, and which in detail as to enterprise and resource, can eclipse anything in the knowledge of himself or his contemporaries. The very narrow scope to which the British provinces of Pennsylvania, New York, and the Jerseys, was entitled to, in what was considered at that time as an universal, yet minute narration of places, men, and events, will scarcely escape the shadow of a broad smile upon its pages, still it is serious and astoundingly magnificent, if viewed with an eye upon the one broad idea of what has transpired in the short space of time, scarcely covering the allotted years of father and son. Smollett, with a truly loyal devotion to the THE WYOMING VALLEY. crown, gloried in the province of Pennsylvania, as containing seven counties, four of which are called the upper, and three the lower. "Of the upper, viz. Buckingham, Philadelphia, Chester, and Lancaster, the three first are the lan^s in- cluded in King Charles the Second's grant, and designed Pennsj'hania ; the lower, viz. those of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, were called Nova- Belgia, before the duke of York so) d them to Mr. Penn. The upper counties end at Marcus Hook, four miles below Chester town, where the lower begin, and run along the coast near one hundred miles. Each of these counties has a sheriff, witJi a quarterly and monthly session, and assizes twice a year. Though some parts of the colony are not yet completely planted and inhabited, yet it is said to have contained, many years ago, up- wards of one hundred thousand souls." If the dreams of one age are realized in the next, the presence of the early English novelist and histojian, on the banks of the upper Sus- quehanna, or in the still later developed region of the Lackawanna, would cause a satisfaction, uninspired by a lewd fancy such as he im^ined in Roderick Random's limited adventures, and the scene that would greet him could but stagger the pure romance which his jovial heart once con- tained. Even Campbell, one of Britain's gifted bards would gaze with an unalloyed astonishrnent at the natural transfiguration of scene, comparing the present business hum of Wyoming Valley, with the Elysian loveliness which he portrayed in his "Gertrude of Wyoming :" "Then, when of Indian hills the daylight takes His leave, how might you the flartiingo see Disporting like a meteor on the lakes- Ana playful squirrel on his nut-grown tree : And every sound of life was fall of glee, From merry mock-bird's song or hum of men ; Whije hearkening, fearing naught their reveliy. The wild deer arched his neck from glades, and then, Dnhunted, sought his woods and wilderness again." From where the grand Susquehanna enters up- on its ceaseless wash, as musical as it is roman- tic, at the outlet of Otsego Lake, made immortal by James Fenimorc Cooper, as the Glimmerglass of the red men, down through plains of more than ordinary enchantment, until it shimmers away into a calmer and broader flow below Wy- oming's classic vale, can no spot on the American continent compare with it for natural beauty of scenery, boundless mineral resources, majestic growth and historical interest. Its own intrinsic loveliness has been the theme of poet and tourist since theday when enraptured \ eyes first 'beheld it., Its historical incidents have been breathed over the firesides of the entire American nation. Its sudden and ^iant-Iike growth has drawn to it the wonder and applause of the world, while its seemingly never-exhaust- ihg supply of mineral wealth, challenges the as- tonishment of the old world, that but a century ago had never dreamed of this El Dorado in the forests of America. The importance which was manifested tow.ard the region which is included in the scope of this work, in the minds of the natives, is a matter of more than speculative theory. While the forests of the broad Atlantic slope were inhabited by clans, each of which had characteristics peculiar to its Own nation or trilje, still it is significant that outward and external influences signalized the deportment of each local band. The corps du esprit of the Pequots and the Naragansetts, who were reared along the "stern rock bound" coast of New England partook of the nature of the surroundings. The Powhatan type of red men were but natural exponents of living ideas of locality, in sentiment, action, and resiJlts ; yet, in what region, save in the invigorating and brac- ing latitude of the Mohawks on the north and the Delawares on the south, could a symbolic, natural being be found, who could answer to the ideal forester, which Cooper in his portrayal of a genuine production presents, in whom could be centered, pure, though crude, the perfect, yet unshaped elements of the highest standard of manhood. The inherent passion for the true and the beau- tiful is stamped upon the mind of man by the force of external action ; whether it be the darinw and seemingly reckless conduct of Tell, it is but the inspiration of Switzerland's natural towers which defy man's impotence ; whether it be for a human movement which, like an avalanche swoops down upon everything before, it is because a Pontiac has been reared in a mighty northwest- ern American forest where bounds know no hu- man ends ; or whether it be a calm and almost INDIAN OCCUPANCY OP THE SUSQUEHANNA. Ifaoly tint in the sky, It is because the artist has dreamed away hours of ecstaqy in the golden heavens of Italy. The Indian of the American forest was never ■conventioiial ; he was individual in every thought and action. The common ease with which civi- lized society accepts a position Vvhether for good •or evil, because of deinofcratic necessity, was un- known to him, who trod God's footstool with a personal feeling of being. What more natural then, than that the dusky warrior, who knew the least ripple of aggression moving against his hunting-grounds a hundred miles away, should resent it as though it were an individual affront. What still more becoming then, in an embodiinent of all that is noble, than that the sunburnt warrior should cling with an en- dearing affection to the wild streams and roman- tic glades where his children had skipped like their types in the forest, from the beautiful lakes of the Mohawks, to the emerald glens of Wyom- ing, ten thousand times more enrapturing then than now. The grand and the beautiful, acting upon man's nature, were no less pleasing to their appreciative minds than to the white man's studied taste, and "Strike for your altars and your Area, God and your native land," would have thrilled a Mohawk as ^ectually as it has moved many a noble heart to deeds less praiseworthy in later days. It will not appear amiss, it is hoped, in these pages, to transcribe an idea from the pen of Col- onel Stone, the biographer of Brant, who, in treating of the mode of Indian warfare, adds : "Without pausing to reflect that, even when most cruel they have been practicing the trade of war — always dreadful — as much in conformity to their own usages and laws, as have their more civilized antagonists ; the white historian haS -drawn them with the characters of demons. For- getting that the second of the Hebrew monarchs did not scruple to saw his prisoners with saws, and harrow them with harrows of iron ; forgetful, likewise, of the scenes at Sraithfield, under the direction of our own British ancestors'; the his- torians of the poor, untutored Indians, almost with one accord, have denounced them as mon- sters sui generis, of unparalleled and unapproach- able barbarity ; as though the ' summary toma- hawk were worse than ' the iron tortures of the harrow, and the torch of the Mohawk, hotter than the faggots of Queen Mary. "Nor does it seem to have occurred to the 'pale- faced' writers, that the identical cruelties, the records .and descriptions of which enter so large- ly into the composition of the earlier volumes of American his'tory, were not barbarities in the es- timalion of those who practiced them. The scalp lock was an emblem of chivalry. Every warrior in shaving his head for battle, was careful to leave the lock of defiance upon his crown, as for the bravado, "take it if you can.'' The stake and the torture were identified with their rude no- tions of the power of endurance. They were in- flicted upon captives of their own race, as well as upon the whites ; and with their own braves thesie trials were courted, to enable the sijfferer to exhibit the courage and fortitude with which they could be borne — the proud scorn with which all the pain that a foe might inflict, could be en- dured." With these ennobling traits of mind, devout and thankful to the beneficence of their imagi- nary deity for casting their lot in a land so re- plete with fascination and charm, we find the swarms of aborigines occupying the territory herein marked out, with none to molest or to make afraid. Chalmers estimates the number of warriors who controlled the forest in 1660 under the grand sachemship of the renowned Iroquois, or the Five Nations, at twenty-tWo hundred. Bancroft, who saw in the strength of their arms, the prolific tendency of the tribes whose numbers constituted their boast, and the vigorous stamp of the race, pllts'the number at ten thous- and. The impression which one receives from the writings of James Fenimore Cooper would lead to a belief that the forest could summon many more, and this authority upon Indian history should be taken as supreme, for, whether detailing the in- dividual emotion, or th6 collective capacity of the rulers of the forest. Cooper stands proof against criticism. This assertion is a broad one, and well calculated to draw fire ; but the reply is suf- ficient to silence all, if guaged with the keen pre- THE WYOMING VAI^LEY. cision ■with which every thought of that eminent ■writer, whether in description of a forest tree, or the animate subject who made his conch upon its leaves, is most happily inspired, and charm- ingly accurate. The advent of the white man into the region comprised in the two prominent valleys, seems to be taken for granted by nearly every historian ot Wyoming. It is claimed that Count Zinzendorf, of Saxony, who, in 1*742, sought the forests for missionary purposes, was the only white man who bad at that time, ever beheld the beauties of this romantic section. Tradition, only, seems to be the authority upon which writers assume to pro- mulgate this fact. That Zinzendorf was the first distinguished personage who had claims upon the historian cannot be doubted, but, that he was the first white man who visited the Delawares, can- not admit of proof, for this tribe was for years previous in lingual communication with white adventurers and famous hunters, whose exploits were handed down by tradition from the earlier settlements of the Delawares, before their dislodg- ment by more powerful tribes, and their emigra- tion farther down the Susquehanna. But, while the pale faced hunter may have for years encountered the high-strung, yet hospita- ble Delaware, in the forests, and the results may not have had any perceptible influence upon the general advancement of civilization, yet Zinzen- dorf in his appearance, brought the first tangible idea of permanent location, by way of coming as a missionary and teacher, from light to darkness, to sow for a harvest. The Delawares had enjoyed at one time an almost paramount supremacy over the upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the grandeur of the noble red man was never more fully devel- oped than when the manners and customs of this particular tribe were feared and respected by ad- joining clans. The sudden assumption of power, and the stern exercise of it by the Iroquois, or the Six Confederate Nations, compellgd the Dela- wares to yield to a pressure, which fate, from that time to the present, has unrelentingly ad- ministered ; and the proud tribe left the narrow vales and beautiful lakes of their ancestors, and settled on The Large Plains, , a territory new to the taste of a Delaware, but one well cal- culated to be appreciated by the new monarchs-, as it has been ever since by all ■who study the rare beauties of Wyoming. The modem name of the valley, Wyoming, signifies in its earlier interpretation, the name which the Indians gave to it viz : The Large Plains, or in the original language, Maughr^ wauwame. Maughwau, large, wame, plains. The earliest white settlers, including the German- missionaries pronounced, M'chweuwami, but the encroaching elements which swelled the Valley with new ideas as well as numbers, rendered the name Wauwaumie, from thence the cadence was softened to Wiawaumie, which still retained the pure and romantic Indian sweetness ; but from- this the anglicising sternness of speech, destroyed, the native melody by pronouncing the word Wi- omie, and a later tendency to soften brings it to us as Wyoming — a name which is suggestive the world over, of romance and fact, beauty and hor- ror, fascinating traditions and wonderful feats of modern enterprise. The Susquehanna river at this point, as if wearied with its wild and reckless flow in the head waters, betrays an anxiety to move along at ease, as if the enchanting valley was the most desirable point at which it could refresh itself with the charms of nature before it rushes in majesty to the sea to be forever in commotion with strange and uncongenial waters. The lowlands of the valley inundate at high- water, but in the summer season, when nature's loveliness seems enraptured with its own ele- gance, the soft green landscape along the river, and stretching away from mountain to mountain on either side of the winding stream, is one which it would be hard to match under the sun. This broad expanse of plain, so unusual in a mountainous country, and where the river is comparatively but a thread, induced another name in Indian history for this coveted spot. The Six Nations whose prowess was called to ac- tion before the white man could recline in secur- ity under his own vine and fig-tree, named Wy- oming, Sgahontowano, or The Large Flats, Gar hantOjfftccording to Chapman's History of Wy- oming, meaning in the tongue of the Iroquois : a large piece of ground without trees. This deiSnition is a peculiarly happy one ia INDIAN OCCUPANCY OP THE SUSQUEHANNA. understanding the original forest aspect of the valley, and lends an '^ enchantment to former scenes, which the present generation mnst forever be deprived of. The development of mineral wealth has marred the face of this beautiful coun- try, and the mammoth undertakings of corpora- tions necessitate the obliteration of many spots of historic interest. Yet, the general contour, the smiling perspective, and unmolested nooks, still furnish food for many eager and poetic na- tures. It is maintained, and praiseworthily adhered to, by Indiau relic hunters, and the best delinea- tors of the early savages, that the possession of this paradise has cost many struggles, and the shedding of blood of thousands, over whose graves can be found no trace of whence they came, why they lived, what their destiny, or whither the ultimate end of their fate. The sad epitaph of fragments, scattered in characters over the plain is the only record from which a worshipping posterity can derive inspiration wherewith to glo- rify their obscure deeds. Stone, an enthusiastic admirer of the Indian race, and the biographer pf Brant — Thayendan- «gea — in commenting on the earlier ages of Wy- oming, adds : "The possession of this valley has not been an object of the white man's ambition or cupidity alone. It has been the subject of controversy, and the fierce battle-ground of various Indian tribes, within the white man's time, but before his possession ; and from the remains of fortifica- tions discovered there, so ancient that the largest oaks and pines have struck root upon the ram- parts and in the intrenchments, it must once have been the seat of power, and perhaps of a splen- did court, thronged by chivalry, and taste, and ■beauty — of a race of men far diS'erent from the Indians, known to us since the discovery of Co- lumbus." Chapman, in his History of Wyoming, de- scribes in a graphic manner, which signalizes his work a masterly production, his own research, being the labor which he required to satisfy his own conclusions. He calls attention to the fact that the remains of fortifications which are found, appear to have been constructed by a race of peo- ple very different in their habits from those who occupied the place when first discovered by the whites. The one upon which this early historian dwells most at length, was situated in the town- ship of Kingston, but as late as ISlT, the time at which it was inspected by Chapman, the promi- nent features had been entirely obliterated by the operations of agriculture. It was oval or elliptical in form, built upon a level plain on the north side of Toby's Creek, about one hundred and fifty feet from its bank, and about a half a mile from its confluence with the Susquehanna. The plain upon which it stood not abounding in stone, it was of a necessity constructed of earth, in the shape of a mound, the walls of which were uniform on all sides, and seemed to have served the purpose of ramparts, an evidence of much im- portance in understanding the mode of warfare of this earlier race. The resistance which was necessary to repel an assault must have been in- duced by a manner of attack different from the tactics of' the Indians the continent over. The weapons and instruments of death were mightier in execution beyond a doubt, as upon the outside of the rampart wall, the modern fortification- ditch was built with an idea to repulsing any force which might have been brought against the position. When the white man first appeared in the val- ley, this special district was in no manner diS'er- ent from the surrounding forests in its primeval aspect, for even upon the ramparts the trees which had gained firm footing were said to have been as large as those in any other part of the valley ; one large oak, particularly, upon being cut down, according to Chapman, was ascertained to be seven hundred years old. The Delawares, Shawanese and Nanticokes, were entirely ignorant as to the purpose for which these fortifications were built, and in none of the collections of Indian history can there be found any traditions concerning them, which of itself, the latter fact, would strongly argue, that this unknown race had no descendants by blood, remaining upon the Susquehanna. The same historian adds, that "they were, per- haps, erected about the same time with those up- on the waters of the Ohio, and probably by a similar people, and for similar purposes.'' The Hon. Charles Miner, whose History of THE WYOMING YALLBY. Wyoming is claimed by many to be unequaled, mientioDS another fortification, which was situated on Jacob's Plains, near Wilkes-Barre. This fort, in form, shape, and siz^, corroborates the idea suggested by Chapman, and lends weight to the theory. He mentions, also, that the ancient peo- ple all concurred in stating that there existed a ■?Fell on the same locality. Dr. Hollister, of Scran ton, who contributed to the literary wealth of northern Pennsylvania, "The History of Lackawanna Valley," in 1851, and whose knowledge of the history of local tribes is second to no writer on the continent, follows out the more recent discoveries to some length, strengthening the belief so prevalently accepted, and convincing the reader by a knowl- edge that is thoroughly practical, that the conn- try affords abundant testimony in relics, to estab- lish the conjecture. The burial ground which he mentions, at the confluence of the Lackawanna with the Susquehanna, has given additional testi- mony to the matter in question. The older skeletons which were exhumed, besides giving evidence of a very remote burial, were at times found with specimens of materials which had been placed with the body, no doubt, at the interment. Hollister presents as a strong ground, that as "bowls and pots of the capacity of a gallon or more, ingeniously cut from soap-stone, and orna- mented with rich designs of beauty to the Indian eye, were often ..foun^d preserved with the rer mains," ^nd thatj "as npne of ;this sqapTStone )> found nearer this place- than Maryland or New. Hampshire, it would seem to indicate th* migra- tory as well as the commercial ; character of th^ tribe once possessing them," Other spots in the northern part of the Stat& have given up the relics which have been buried for ages before the mighty hemlock which stands- to-day over their hiding place, had commenced its development as a tiny shrub. Truly has Stone depicted the lost records of the forest rovers, who once held sway over every- thing, and now rule nothing ; "The Indians are no scnlptors. No monuments- of their own art commend to future ages the- events of the past. No Indian pen traces the history of their tribes and nations, or records the- deeds of their warriors and chiefs — their prowess and their wrongs. Their spoilers have been their historians ; and although a reluctant assent has- been awarded to some of the nobler traits of their nature, yet, without yielding a due allow- ance for the peculiarities of their situation, the Indian character has been presented with singu- lar uniformity as being cold, cruel, morose, and revengeful ; unrelieved by any of those varying traits and characteristics, those lights and shad- ows, which are admitted in respect to other peo- ple no less wild and uncivilized than they." CHAPTER II. THE PIONEERS OF WYOMING VALLEY, AND THE QUESTION OF TITLE TO THE SOIL. "They rise, tUey fall ; one generation comes YlelOlng its harvest to destruction's sythe, It fades, another blossoms : yet behold ! Red glows the tyrant's stamp-mark on its bloom. Withering and cankering deep its passive prime." SMley. The ascendancy of the Iroquois, or the Six Nations, to a power which was absolute, and to a policy which was stern and unrelenting toward the feebler tribes, was but a harbinger of doom to the peaceful Indian villages along the roman- tic streams of northern Pennsylvania. The alliance made by the union of the Mo- hawks, Senecas, Onondagos, Oneidas, Cayugas, and the Tuscaroras, into a confederation which figured in historical annals for years on the bor- ders, was well calculated to embroil into destruc- tion the more independent clans who asserted sovereignty to their territory ; for the sway of the combined power had learned to taste the sweets of conquest, and the diplomacy which had once existed in purity around more ancient coun- cil fires, was easily forgotten in the greed for expanse, and the intoxicating spirit of mastery. The advance of civilization was the real cause ojf the Indian trail leading westward, but, along the Susquehanna and in the forests adjacent it would be diflScuIt to show by any standard au- thority, whether the jealous Iroquois, or the pio- neer pale-face was the greater aggressor, in push- •ing away the Lcnni-Lenapes from the Lacka- wanna region, the Shawanese, Nanticokes, and the Delaiwares from' the, Wyoming region. Miner states, in endeavoring to explain the shifting tribes and their motives, — "in unraveling the tangled web of Indian history, we found our- selves in the outset extremely embarrassed, es- pecially when reading the pages of Heckwelder and otter writers of the United Brethren. The removal of tribes or parts of tribes to the valley, their remaining a brief period and then emigrat- ing to some other place, without any apparent motive founded in personal convenience, consis- tency, or wisdom, perplexed us exceedingly, as we doubt not it has others." The whites, on their first entrance found the Delawares sole masters of the valley. The Na'nticokes had occupied the lower por- tion of the valley, on the east of the Susquehanna with the Shawanese as neighbors irc mediately across the river. Chapman, giyes the following relation as to how the Delawares secured sole possession : "While the warriors of the Delawares were engaged upon the mountains in a hunting expe- dition, a number of squaws, or female Indian.-;, from Maughvrauwame, were gathering wild fruits along the margin of the river, below the town, where they found a number of Shawanese squaws and their children, who had crossed the river in their canoes upon the same business. A child belonging to the Shawanese having taken a large grasshopper, a-quarrel arose among the children for the possession of it, in which their mothers soon took a part, and, as the Delaware Squaws contended that the Shawanese had no privileges upon that side of the river, the quarrel soon be- came general ; but the Delawares, being the most THE WYOMING VALLEY, numerous, soon drove the Shawanese to their canoes and to their own bank,, a few having been killed on both sides. Upon the return of the warriors, both tribes prepared for battle, to re- venge the wrongs which they considered their wives had sustained. "The Shawanese, upon crossing the river, found the Delawares ready to receive them and oppose their landing. A dreadful conflict took place between the Shawanese in their canoes and the Delawares on the bank. At length, after great numbers had been killed, the Shawanese effected a landing, and a battle took place about a mile below Maughwauwamc, in which many hundred warriors are said to have been killed on both sides ; but the Shawanese were so much weakened in landing that they were not able to sustain the conflict, and, after the loss of about half their tribe, the remainder were forced to flee to their own side of the river, shortly after which they abandoned their town and moved to the Ohio." It was during this era of Indian history that Count Zipzendorf, who, from the highest motives that can actuate mortal man, sought the forests, with the aid of an interpreter, to preach the light of the world as it is exemplified in the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose servant he chose to be away in the wilds of an American forest" occupied by savages. The Shawanese were still occupants of the territory described above, when this missionary came among them. The natives, fearing the presence of a stranger, and construing his inten- tions as mercenarj, laid plans to assassinate him. The warriors who had been selected for the pur- pose of executing the design were already with their painted faces inside of the tent, where the benevolent man was writing, when to their hor- ror, they saw a huge rattlesnake crawl over his feet, and pass away without spending venom up- on its natural enemy. The savages, construing this providential intervention, as a dispensation of protection from the Great Spirit, abandoned their plans, leaving Zinzendorf to complete the work of his Master, which resulted in an en- larged effort so well known afterward as the Mo- ravian Mission. From the favorable introducti6n of the German Count, and his philanthropic allies, is dated the beginning of the white settlement. Zinzendorf appeared in 1742, and as soon after as 1750, the first body of men, on record,"entered the valley, not for love, as did the pious men, but for gain and adventure. It was hinted in the former chapter that white men, as individuals, had been known by tradition to have had communication vrith the Delawares long before the appearance of Zinzendorf, and here is presented the fact, that only eight years later, a body of men from the far away settle- ments of New England, had entered the valley, the charms of which must have reached their ears by tales handed down from mouth to mouth, which in those days must have been as devoid of directness and velocity, as is the intelligence of brother hunters in the legends of the forests of Germany, where the marks left in trees have grown over, before the once separated compan-' ions greet again on the same spot. These adventurers returned again to their for- mer homes, with accounts so glowing, that new parties sought these Elysian plains, for, Conrad Weiser, the celebrated Indian interpreter, and agent for the proprietary government of Penn- sylvania, reports, on a visit to the Indians at Shemokin, as it appears in his letter to the Gov- ernor, in the Colonial Records : "The Indians in Susquehanna and about She- mokin, saw some of the New England men that came as spies to Woyomock last fall ; and they saw them making drafts of the land and rivers, and are much offended about it. They asked me about them. I told them we had heard so much as that, and that we had intelligence from New England that they came against the advice of their superiors as a parcel of headstrong men, and disturbers of the peace. They, the Indians, said they were glad to hear that neither their brother Onos nor their own chief men had sent them, and they hoped they would not be sup- ported by any English government in their so doing." Dr. Peck -states, that it is believed by their descendants in this County, (Luzerne) that the elder John Jenkins and Thomas Bennet were in this company, and gives- as authority, that this was the first attempt which was made to sketch THE PIONEERS OF WYOMING VALLEY. 9 a map of the country, preparatory to the forma- tion of a settlement. The question with the kings of the forest, from this date, was not one of selfish and jealous dis- pute with their own race. It was a vital one to them, — that of defending their camp fires, and the endearing associations of this, to them, ter- restrial paradise. The footprints of the covetous pale-face were the tokens for keen suflFering, and right heartily did the braves meet the issue on the war path. But degenerate manhood, whether in an Indian or a Caucasian, will seek for selfish gain, and thus, were not only painted faces on the war- path, seeking the blood of the white intruder, but trail crossed trail, upon each of which were kindred warriors, seeking for the scalps of the others to avenge some imaginary wrong, which had been instilled into their untutored minds by designing factions of white men, who were equally culpable of a desire to defraud their own blood, from another province, of the just and equitable I'ights which belong to man. The turmoils of the so-called savages, seem to yield in measure of opprobium, when compared to the blood-thirsty efforts of the civilized whites, in their struggles to despoil each other of their possessions, their homes, and in too many in- stances, of every tie which could connect one upon the earth. The convulsions, which affected everyone of both races, seem to date to the eventful day when a few men from Connecticut and Massachusetts happened to visit this tranquil section of the country, and had innocently • taken rude maps home with them, where, after explaining the ma- terial features of the far. oft' forest, had, perhaps, gone into raptures over the delightful scene which had been photographed upon their minds, as indelibly as the sun of heaven could print it, in all its freshness and celestial beauty. The eagerness with which these reports from eye witnesses were received was amply attested in the effect produced, for it is found recorded that, in another season "many persons emigrated," while the date displays the fact that in 1753, ■earlier, by a season, than when Conrad Weiser wrote to the Governor, of spies only, — there was ■organized in Connecticut an association, known as "The Susquehanna Company" for the purpose of forming a settlement in Wyoming ; but in or- der to proceed safely, and knowing that a few bar- riers must be met in the way of counter-claim, a commission was appointed, "to explore the coun- try and conciliate their good will." Had the commission performed its trust faith- ' fully, the annals of Wyoming to-day might not have been so horrible, as to send a chill current to every youthful heart, and furnish bard and nov- elist with emotions, which when depicted with skill, can hardly overreach the plain facts as giv- en by the^ less sensational pen of the historian. The Susquehanna Company, then but in its inception, numbered over six hundred persons, among whom were not only the many who long- ed for a better and balmier clime to invigorate them in their future homes, but men of high so- cial standing and wealth joined their fortunes, covetous in the prospects of the imaginary promised land. During that year the great council of the Six Nations was held at Albany, at which duly ac- credited persons were in attendance from the Susquehanna Company, with instructions to effect a purchase of the desired land. Sir William Johnson, who at that time was provisional-civil and military ruler of the territo- ry which had been conveyed, either by purchase or compulsion, from the tribes of the colony, and whose influence was renowned for strength with the mighty Indian Confederation, lent his might to the scheme, and for "two thousand pounds of current money of the province of New York,'' the sale was effected, and the eastern association, to all intents and purposes, were happy in the event. Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, who was officially cognizant of the preparations for this step, had taken the precaution to send to Albany to prevent the purchase,' a deputation of leading citizens, consisting of John and Richard Penn, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin. The different boundaries in the deed of con- veyance, are given by Colonel Stone, as follows : , "Beginning from the one and fortieth degree of north latitude at ten miles distance east of Susquehanna River, and from thence with a northwardly line ten miles east of the river, to 10 THE WYOMING VALLEY. the forty-second or beginning of the forty4hird degree north latitude, and so to extend west, two degrees of longitude, one hundred and twenty miles south, to the beginning of the forty-second degree, and from thetce east to the afore-men- tioned bound, which is ten miles cast of the Sus- quehanna River." The deed was formally signed 'by each of the chief sachems and heads of the Five Nations of the Iroquois, and the native proprietors, and among these, a name appears, which in after years was lisped in terror over the entire civilized world, — that of Thayendanegea, aftervjards the Great Captain of the Six Nations, known in his- tory 'as Joseph Brant. How little the hopeful New England deputies inew, how severely their association with this renowned warrior, would in after years affect their destiny ! How little the then meagre settlements dreamed, how mighty this rising Indian genius would become ! As a matter of course, the Susquehanna Com- pany, having invested the title in themselves by purchase, began to make extensive preparations for populating their valuable acquisition. The colonial records show that the movement was widely and favorably canvassed along the New England coast, and many and bright were the visions that arose in their expectant minds.' But diflBcuIties arose which prevented the immediate removal to Wyoming, which delayed the move- ment until 1762. This was occasioned- by the open war between the French and English forced, in which the Indians of the country took part as best suited to their selfish ends. The Shawanese," before their exile from the valley, had espoused the side of the French, while the Delawares, who occupied the greater portion of the territory, adhered to the English ' as an ally to the Six Nations, their former ene- mies. The French war was still pending, and the valley was unsafe for emigrants at thfe 'period ' when the Susquehanna Company desired to lo- cate on the river frotn which the association de- rived its name. During the interval between the formation of the New England society and the subsequent' planting ef their first numbers, the State of Penn- sylvania had been active in its eiforts to prevent what was considered as an unwarranted innova- tion upon the soil, coming as the strangers were expecting to, with full powers to locate and rule their own internal interests as landholders, for be it understood, that by virtue of tlie purchase at Albany, the lands were conveyed in fee simple, giving all power to the purchasers which th& most liberal views of that day could construe in. favor of a freeholder. The State of Pennsylvania held its lands un- der the feudal system practiced in England, con- sequently, every Pennsylvanian who worked his acres, was in fact but a tenant, the same as his- forefathers had been across the water. The- Connecticut men, on the other hand, came with a title to" their lands, and were freeholders by that title ; and here a dispute arose, which was foreseen by Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania,, when he learned officially that the Susquehanna. Company were making preparations to inhabit the forests over which a conflict existed as to a question of title. It will be necessary at this point to trace the' title under which each claimed rights to the soil, and in order to present it to the reader in a clear light, the title to the province of Pennsylvania will be traced to its 'source, before the legal claims of the Susquehanna Company are considered. Pennsylvania, aS a colony, had its name from the famous quaker, William Penn, son of Sir William, commander of the English fleet in Oli- ver Cromwell's time, and in the beginning of Charles the Second's reign, who obtained a grant of it in the year 1Q19. It was bounded and de- scribed under that grant, "on the east by Dela- ware bay and river, and the Atlantic ocean, on the north by the country of the Iroquois or Five Nations ; and on the sonth and west by Mary-j land." • This grant, which the reader can readily see will not correspond to the modern boundaries of the State, most be explained by tracing to its source the authority by which the English gov- ernment could convey to Penn the territory marked out. ^ New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania, were discovered, with the rest of the continent of' North America, in the reign of Henry the Seventh by Sebastian Cabot, for the crown of England ; THE PIOUEEKS OP WTOMINiS VALLEY. II but Sir Walter Raleigh was the first; adventurer that sitten^pted to plant colonics on these i^hores in the reign of Qvtcen Elizabeth, and,' ik honor of that princess, .gave all the eastern coast of North America the name of Virginia. Hudson, sailing, to that part of the coast •which lay »t that tiine between' Virginia and New Englandj in the beginning of the reign of James the First, and being »bout to m^ike a set- tlement at the month ■ of Hudson's river, the Dutch gave him a sum qi money to dispose of his interest in this country to them" ; in the year 1608 they began to pl^nt it, and, by virtue of this purchase, laid claim to' all of those coontries which were afterwards known as New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania ; but there remaining' some part of this coast which was not planted by the Hollanders, the Swedes sent a fleet of ship thither, and took possession of it for that crown ; but the Dutch having a superior force in the neighborhood, compelled the Swedes to submit to their dominion, allowing them, however, to enjoy the plantations they had settled. The English, not- admritting' that either the Dutch or Swedes had any right to countries first discovered and planted by a subject of England, and part of them at that time possessed by the subjects of Great Britain, under charter from queen Elizabeth and king Jamee the First, king Charles the Second, during the first Dutch war, in 1664, granted the countries of New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania, of which the Dutch had usurped the possession, to his brother James, duke of York ; and Sir Eobert Carr being sent over with a squadron of men of war^ and land forces, and summoning the Dutch Governor of the city of New Amsterdam, now New York, to surrender, he thought fit to obey the summons, and yield that capital to the English ; the rest of the places in the possession of the Dutch and Swedes followed his example, and these coun- tries were confirmed to the English by the Duitch at the next treaty of peace between the two na- tions. The duke of York afterward pareelleid them out under proprietors ; selling in particular, to William Penn the elder, in 1683, the town of New Castle, afterwards called Delaware, and a district of twelve miles around the same ; to whom, his heir» md assigns, by another deed of the same date, he made over all that tract of land from t^frelve miles south of Newcastle to Cape Henlo- pen, which was divided into the two counties of Kent and Sussek, which with Newcastle district, were commonly known to the earlier days, as the "Three Lower Counties ijpon Delaware River.'' 1 AH the rest of the under-proprietors, some- time after, surrendered their charters to the crown, whereby New York and the Jerseys be- came royal governments ; but Penn retained that part of the country which had been sold him by the duke of York, together with what had been granted him before, in 1680-1, which is now the real, Pennsylvania. As loon as Penn had got his patent, he began 10 plant the country. Those who went over from England were gen- erally dissenters and Quakers, whose religion had been established by law at home. The Dutch and Swedes, who were settled in Pennsylvania before Penn became proprietor, chose to remain under him. Penn, however, not satisfied with the title granted him by king Charles H. and bis brother, bought the lands also of the Indians for a valua- ble consideration or what was esteemed as such, and whenever it was deemed necessary to expand the territory, the land was purchased of the sachems. It will be seen then, that the tenure by which Penn held the soil, was derived from the British crown. The Pennsylvania archives, which con- tain the full records, give the following synopsis of the claim : "King Charles II., by letters patent, under the great seal of England, granted a tract of land in America to William Penn, esq., his heirs and assigns, and made him and them the true and. absolute proprietors thereof, saving always to the crown the faith and allegiance of the said Will- iam Penn, his heirs and assigns, and of the ten- ants and inhabitants of the premises, and saving also unto the crown the somreignty of the said country. The later clause defines at once the position of the province of Pennsylvania to the mother country, and establishes the relations of the in- 12 THE WYOMING VALLEY. habitants to their feudal proprietors. The same authority adds : "And thereby granted free, full, and absolute power unto the same William Penn and his heirs, and to his deputies and lieutenants, for the good and happy government of the country, to ordain, make, enact, and, under his and their seal, to publish any laws whatsoever." . In pursuance of the authority thus vested in Penn, the charter having been accepted, all the inhabitants of the country were but tenants under leases, while the Penns owned the soil in fee. The proprietaries had, as a consequence, no sympathy in common with those who chose to emigrate from other States, with the intention of locating upon the soil claiming under rights of fee-simple. Governor Hamilton, in his official capacity, was determined to hold the lands above the Del- aware, which included the disputed region of Wyoming. In 1754 he wrote to Governor Wol- cott, of Connecticut, urging the latter to restrain the action of the Susquehanna Company, and assured him that he would lend his aid in secur- ing for emigrants lands "in the western part of the province," or he would render what official influence he possessed in procuring the privilege to settle in Virginia. Governor Wolcott's answer to this official communication, was characteristic of both the man and the time in which he lived. After stat- ing, that wherever settlers took possession of lands in Pennsylvania, they would be considered as freeholders, he continued, ,by urging, that in the event of a war with the French, which at that time was pending farther west, the settlers would sacrifice more for the sake of their own lands than for territory which they merely occu- pied as tenants. It is of some importance then, that the adverse title be considered, and an examination be had of the source from which the Susquehanna Compa- ny claimed power to enter upon the lands, which in good faith they had purchased of the Six Na- tions, and the proprietors who happened to occu- py the territory for agricultural purposes at the time. , : The early settlers of New England, after hav- ing become numerous enough to establish the usages and customs of govermental society, sought at the fountain head— England, authority under seal by which the laws necessary to be enforced, could be administered. With the granting of the request, by the crown, a charter was given by James I. to "The Plymouth Com- pany" which defined the boundaries, "from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, extending /j-oOT the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean." The charter under the great seal of England, was granted in 1620 to the various persons named therein, and their associates, "for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing of New England, in America." The charter of Connecticut was derived from the Plymouth Company in 1621. It defined the territory intended to be conveyed, as cover- ing all of the country west of Connecticut, "to the extent of its breadth, being about one degree of latitude "from sea to sea." The only reserva- tions were included in a general limitation, which excepted such portions of territory as were "then possessed or inhabited by any other Chris- tian prince or State." New York, then "The New Netherlands," being a Dutch possession, did not pass with the tract defined. By the terms of this charter, the New England people were rigid in the belief that Connecticut owned the Wyoming district, as it was fairly within the latitude mentioned, and being just west of the New Netherlands. The charter granted to William Penn, dates fifty years after the charter granted by the Ply- mouth Company to Connecticut. The issue growing out of these adverse claims, was the cause of the first feuds between the New England settlers in the valley, and the native Pennsylvanians. A case was made up and trans- mitted to England, on which Mr. Pratt, the At- torney General, (afterward Lord Camden,) gave an opinion in favor of the successors of Penn. Connecticut likewise sent over a case and on her part obtained a like favorable opinion. The dark clouds which threatened the smiling valley, bore indications of a sure and certain struggle, and Wyoming was to be the battle ground upon which the issue was to be settled by many a grim horror, and bloody deed of ven- CHAPTER III. THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF WYOMING VALLEY — A SECOND EDEN, OF STRIFE, DISCORD, AND "HELL-BORN HATE." "Yet,— yet— one brief relapse, like the last beam Of dying flames, the stainless air around Hung silent and serene ^A blood-red gleam Burst upwards, hurling fiercely from the ground . The globed smoke.— I heard the mlgl/ty sound Of Its uprise, like a tempestuous ocean." The Mevolt of Islam. A THEATRE The constant agitation among the Indians of Wyoming, during the period in which the two States were disputing concerning titles, was oc- casioned by the French Indian war, which raged with some fury in the western part of the State. Braddock's defeat in Ills, caused much uneas- iness among the white settlers, as the news from the border conflicts only tended to beget in the Indians a troublesome and restless spirit. The rewards offered by the French for scalps, was by no means a matter of ordinary moment, while petty jealousies among the tribes themselves, in the eastern part of the province, rendered the case an almost hopeless one for the white settlers already located, and much more so for the prospect- ive colony that was expected from Connecticut. The Delawares, then in the ascendancy along the Susquehanna for some distance above Wy- oming, and 9ertainly as far north as their hunting grounds would permit them to roam without infringing upon the rights of the Iroquois, and the smaller tribes who owed allegiance to them, had become uneasy, and complaints were fre- quently entered against them. ■ This tribe had many sad memories to recall, and who that has ever studied Indian history does not lend his warmest sympathies to the I)el- awares — famed for all that was grand in their bearing, until adversity threw them into the clutches of a more fortunate enemy. Teedyuscnng, called by some historians, Tade- uskand, who was at this eventful time at the head of the Delawares, had ever been the friend of the colonists, and had embraced the Christian religion, as taught by the Moravians; he was baptized by the missionaries, but is reported to have 'been wavering and inconstant. He had given umbrage to the Six Nations by mating himself instrumental in concluding peace between the whites and several small tribes, in 1758. Teedyuscung, therefore, the friend of the whites, was by no means willing to cultivate feelings of harmony with the New Englanders, whose very object was to deprive his tribe of their fertile and easy yielding grounds. Assurances from the provincial council- made him contented, and al- though chafing under the Connecticut emigration, he bore it without bloodshed. The Susquehanna Company had already sent their advance guard into the valley, numbering some two hundred persons, who located on the flats, below where the beautiful city of Wilkes- Barre now stands, at a place called Mill Creek. They commenced improvements, in the way of constructing cabins, and sowing winter wheat, besides felling trees for cleared ground, wheu they returned to Connecticut for the winter. Upon the return of spring, with their families, farming utensils, and a supply of provisions, they sought the valley again, unconscious of the dark 14 THE WYOMING VALLEV. and threatening storm which was so soon to burst ^upon them. Miner in detailing the event says: "The season had been favorable ; their various 'cvops on those fertile plains had proved abundant, ^and they were looking forward with hope to ■scenes of prosperity and happiness ; but suddenly, without the least warning, on the 16th of October, a large party of savages raised the war-whoop, and attacked them with fury. Unprepared for .Tcsistancc, about twenty men fell and were scalped; the residue, men, women, and children, fled in -wild disorder to the mountains. Language can- not describe the sufferings of the fugitives as they traversed the wilderness, destitute of food or clothing, on their way to their former homes." The occasion of this unexpected attack was the result of the death" of Teedyuscung, the noted Del- aware chief. It appears that the Six Nations, had dispatched pmmissaries to his village, under the guise of friendship, in April, 1163, who gave without stint to the old chief, liquor, of which he was passionately fond, and when slumbering un- der its influence, he was killed in his dwelling, , and the structure set fire to, together with the whole village, numbering about twenty village structures. The murder of the chief was laid at the door of the Connecticut settlement, and deep and dire were the threats breathed against inno- cent people by the clans of the forest. And be- cause of this unwarranted charge against the peaceful settlers, the whole valley was emptied of every white soul that had occupied it ; those not already killed were fast plunging their way through an almost impassable wilderness, chased by the tomahawk and scalping knife, day and night, flanked on every hand by ravenous beasts, with hunger and thirst within, and almost faint- ing for want of rest. This overt act appealed to the consciences of the Indians, as a deed which would be met by retaliation. They expected that the provincial government of Pennsylvania would redress the wrongs thus inflicted upon the white race, and acting upon a speedy executiori af their supposi- tions, they left the valley, the more warlike and troublesome portion ascending the river to Tioga^ the remainder, whose sympathies drew them toward' the Moravians, repairing to a town of the latter, called Gn£^denhutten. Following the depopulation of Wyoming by this cruel stroke, were measures to adjust the pending dispute of title, which seemed no nearer a pacific settlement than when the issue was first raised. In 1768, an Indian council assembled at Fort Stanwix, now Eome, in the state of New York, at which the matter in question was brought up for deliberation. Notwithstanding that the sale efi'ected at Al- bany to the Susq'nehanna Company was made in good fajth upon the part of the Six Nations, by the intrigiie of the designing whites who wished to circumvent each other in procuring a revoca- tion of that act, a deputation of four chiefs from the same power, in ITBS had been sent to Hart- ford, to disclaim the sale, and the repudiation was eff'ected by their orator expressing that the Six Nations were utterly ignorant of any such trans- fer ever having been made. This bold assertion was reenforced by the re- mark, "what little we have left we intend to keep for oursel ves." The land had been sold by them, five years before, to the Susquehanna Company, and at this council, white men of ofiBoial position were pres- ent, lobbying the measure of repudiation on the part of the unskilled representatives of the forest; The untutored warrior, indeed, needs a glance of pity upon every page of aboriginal history. While it may be true that the Indians wore reported to have been ready to sell as often as they could find purchasers, still, this ground is an unsafe one, and conclusively untenable, when taking into consideration the fact that the whites, by diplomacy, were ever ready to open a legial way in which to convey titles, that in spirit, were as blind to the Indian, as was the code of Jus- tinian. The proprietaries of Pennsylvania, knowing of the determination of the Connecticut people to send out another colony, undertook to forestall this action, by leasing the valley to Charles Stuart, Amos Ogden, and John Jennings, conditioning in the indenture, that trading houses, for the accommodation of the Indiains, should be estab- lished, and that the country occupied by them be fortified sufficiently to guard themselves and their lessees from danger. Carrying out the intent of their contract, tliey erected aWock-house at Wy- THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF THE VALLEY. 15 oming, and stored it with th* necessaries of life, for a siege, as well as laying in a quantity of am- raanition. Th€y were in possession of the struc- ture, and of die valley, when forty men from New England arrived, six years after the lamentable butchery of the first settlement. And here commenced a series 6f battles, and a ■continuous campaign between the factions^ which for lack of chivalry, andcontemptible methods of •destruction and bloddshed, would equal anything id the line of carnage, which the savages had exhibited to that time. A detailed narrative of the events as they occurred, would make a com- piled volume of bloodthirsty deeds, which would cause a village of Delawares to blush. The lessees of the valley, intent ttpon obeying the instructions which' haid been given to them, arrested a few of the number by decoying them into the block-house. They were sent off to a distant prison, and were treated by their enemies in a manner, which does not heighten the pride of a Pennsylvanian when he reads the history of his forefathers. Reenforcements, coming on from Connecticut, seemed to inspire those already located, and in turn, structures of defense v/ere erected by them. In 17 6-9, the Governor of Pennsylvania made preparations to dispossess the intruders, as they were considered, by force ; and a detachment of armed men was sent to- accomplish the work. The colonists, being unable to stand a siege, capit-' iilated, and agreed to return to their homes in the east," on condition that they might leave a few families to secure the crops. No sooner had the mass departed, than Ogden, one of the parties who controlled the valley, plundered the whole colony, destroying the fields ofgrain, killing their cattle, and laying the settlement in ruins ; so that the families that remained were obliged to flee to escape starvation. In the spring following, the Connecticut colo- nists mustered courage afresh and returned to Wyoming, led by a man named Lazarus Stewart. They came in force suflBcient to htold their own, and taking advantage of Ogden's abscence, cap- tured his block-house, and his only piece of artil- lery. Skirmishing, arid partisan warfare ensued- for weeks, in which the Connecticut men were mostly masters of the field, when finally Ogden- was obliged to sue for terms, which were granted after the manner of the year before, viz : that Ogden might leave six men to take care of the property belonging to his side ; but the scenes of devastation of the year before could not be forgotten, and the Connecticut people in turn became the torch bearers, lighting up the valley with the flames of consuming property. Ogden, in September, had arisen to the rank of Captain, and boldly marched to' the scene of bloodshed again. He took the settlement by surprise, while the men were at work in the fields. The women and children were in the fort, and but few men reached it beifore the assault com- menced. It was carried in the night by Ogden's men; and, as Colonel Stone expresses it, — "the women and children were barbarously trampled under foot — and the whole settlement plundered and destroyed the following day, with more than Indian rapacity. The colonists wore made pris- oners and sent off to distant goals." Again, the hardy Yankees were deprived of their homes, and families broken up, many to meet again no more. The fort was stormed by the Yankees in Deceinber ; Stewart, a few allies from Lancaster, and many of the forces were obliged to take to the woods in a nude state, with those who were able to escape, while the remain- der, by far the greater portion, were taken priso- ners, and after being deprived of their property, were driven from the valley. "The parties to these controversies, which could not but engender all the bitterest passions in the nature of man — rendering what might have been a second Eden, a theatre of strife, dis- cord, and hell-born hate, — fought, of course, as they pretended, under the jurisdiction of the re- spective States to which they assumed to belong.'' — Stone's Life of Brant: The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania then took hold of the matter, and writs were issued for the arrest of certain named parties, and much ado was made by local officers, but the strife grew the more bitter, nor did it abate as to numbers. The Sheriff's posse was fired upon, and one of the Ogdens killed. Three hundred pounds reward was offered by the Governor of Pennsylvania, for the arrest of Captain Stewart. Meastires were adopted to rid the valley of the Yankees by the 16 THE WYOMING VALLEY. summoniDg of a larger force, and on the other hand, Colonel Zebulon Butler came into the val- ley at the head of seventy men, and united his force with Stewart's spare numbers. The contest now became warmer ; recruits were constantly arriving from Connecticut, which enabled the Yankees to carry on the war on a more extended scale. Fortifications were erected, and manned by a competent force. Ogden, in this strait, seeing himself about to be vanquished, performed one of the boldest indi- vidual feats on record. Leaving his garrison at night, he fastened a rope to. his person, which was attached on the other end to a large bundle. Throwing himself into the river, he struck boldly out, the bundle following in his wake. Knowing that if any object was perceived from the shore, it would be an enigma to the parties beholding it, and acting upon his knowledge of human na- ture, that the largest of the two moving sub- stances would be fired upon, he sailed on with defiance through the waters of the Susquehanna. The design met his expectations, and the bullets flew at the bale, many of them coming in close proximity to his body, as it is reported, that his hat and clothes were "riddled !" He escaped to Philadelphia. His report of the condition of affairs caused the government to order additional forces under Colonel Asher Clayton. This command was to separate in two columns of attack, one under Clayton, the other under Captain Dick. Butler's forces ambuscaded the approach, capturing a few men, as well as pack mules and provisions. Clayton finally, after a long siege, capitulated, agreeing with Ogden to leave the valley. 'The Connecticut people now looked to their Stat« for recognition and protection, and the Pennsylvanians retired for a time from the contest. Quiet once more reigned, and the colony fiour- ished, and was prosperous in the way of being treated with respect by surrounding settlements. The two States kept up a legal war, however, and mutterings were occasionally heard in halls of State. The Revolutionai-y war had just commenced at Lexington, between the British troops and the Colonies, when old feuds broke out afresh, which was the occasion for additional outrages. At this time the settlements consisted' of eight townships, viz : Lackawanna, Exeter, Kingston^ Wilkes-Barre, Plymouth,' Nanticoke, Huntingtouj and Salem ; each containing five miles square. The six townships, according to Almon's Remem- brancer for 1778, "were pretty full of inhabi- tants ; the two upper ones had comparatively few, thinly scattered." Congress now began to interpose its authority by way of mediatorial resolutions, for the cloud which hung over the entire country at the out- break of the American revolution, required that every arm should be nerved for the common cause of the people. This was to no purpose, and the Pennsylvanians sent into Wyoming, seven hundred men, under Colonel Plunkett. The reception given to this expedition is best described by Stone : "In ascending the west bank of the Susque- hanna, on coming to a narrow defile, naturally defended by a rocky buttress, their march was suddenly arrested by a volley of musketry. An instant afterward, the invaders discovered that the rocky parapets were covered with men brist- ling in arms — prepared for a Tyrolese defense of tumbling rocks down upon the foe, should their fire-arms prove insufficient to repel hiniL Taken thus suddenly and effectively by surprise, Plun- kett retreated with his forces, behind a point of rocks, for consultation. He next attempted to cross the river, and resume his march on the other side. But here, too, the people of Wyom- ing had been too quick for him. The invaders were so hotly received by a detachment in am- buscade on the other side, that they were con- strained to retreat, nor did they attempt to rally again." This Was the last military demonstration on the part of Pennsylvania, to drive from the val- ley the Connecticut settlers. The revolutionary war attracted the notice of the government to graver matters, and the Wy- oming settlements, now numbering five thousand souls, set about to assist the national cause. The Connecticut people, had formed themselves into a corporation, and owed allegiance to their State alone, hence the territory populated by them was named Westmoreland, and a county named Litch- field, in remembrance of former happy homes. ; THE EABLT SETTLEMENTS OF THE VALLEY. 17 The call for arms to defend the Continental cause, deprived the settlement of the most availa- ble men which could be mustered, and the annals show that from this locality alone, three compa- nies of regular troops were enlisted, besides more than a quota for so small -a district, of supplies, and provisions for field, camp, and hospital. Three thousand bushels of grain, as one item, were sent to the army during the first spring of the war, which attests the industry and prolific results of the valley. Besides the regular troops which had been sent away, there remained a creditable force of militia for garrison and outpost duty, which was essential in those days, when scouting parties of Indians were ever prowling on the outskirts of the settlements. The valley was withal, fortified at the points best calculated for defense, and the necessary material to keep these upon a war and defensive footing, was readily supplied from the fertile garden of the Susquehanna. Agriculture controlled the commercial interest of the plains, and nothing save the uncertainties of the Ameri- can-British war seemed to loom up to annoy or make afraid. The Tory element occasioned some uneasiness, but if any real alarm was anticipated from this faction, it was from those not of their own settlement, for the records , betray fear to but the "lurking ones,'' who were seen at intervals in their towns. A more peaceful and quiet popu- lation could not be found in America than the settlement as it then stood in Wyoming, and well and faithfully has Campbell portrayed the serene loveliness which dwelt in the happy skies of "fair Wyoming" before the fire-brand and hatchet had lain low both peasant and cot, through the length, and breadth of that classic vale. CHAPTER IV. THE APPEARANCE OF NEW ENEMIES— THE INVASION BY COLONEL JOHN BUTLER. AND THE INDIANS. "As when a flame the winding valley Alls, i ' " Ana runs on crackling shrubs between tne hills, Then oe'r the stubble, up the mountain files. Fires the high woods, and blazes to the skies. This way and that, the spreading torment roars. * * * * •'» * * * » * The pale inhabitants, some fall, some fly, And the red vapors purple all the sky." Illiad, XXI. 605 Of all the events connected with the Indian wars, and American border conflicts, wherein horror superseded horror, until the pages of his- tory became but a human slaughter-pen record, no one fragment of the congealed compilation stands out in bolder relief, than the melancholy story of Wyoming,, and the bloody scenes attend- ing it, on the third of July, 1778. From the day when the lovlie&t of American valleys was transformed into a Golgotha, — a "vale of skulls," and a mammoth butcher yard, — the ground upon which the gory deeds were enacted, has been consecrated by picture, bust, and song. The tourist dwells upon it until all of the detailed re- ality stands out afresh in its cruel aspect ; the pencil of the artist gathers inspiration at every touch, and the delineation betrays the keen sym- pathy with which the master hand has been guided ; the bard is led captive by the thrilling emotions which are begotten of the mournful tale, and his numbers die away in enrapturing melo- odies, over the beauty of the former scene, and the dirge of the muse for innocence slain, and hearthstones beclotted, rings echo to his numbers, immortal as plaintive, — real as terrible. The earliest tokens of the approaching storm, which was to annihilate the contented habitations of Wyoming, were manifested in the winter of 1778, in the month of January. During the year previous, St. Leger had been beseiging Fort Schuyler, in New York, miles above the secluded retreat on the Susquehanna, yet, notwithstanding the distance, it must be taken into consideration,, that in a war of magnitude, such as the American Kevolution was at that time to all of the inhabi- tants, it was deemed necessary to patrol the en- tire wilderness by scouting parties, made up from' the Tory and Indian forces, in order to acquaint the British with the exact measures which were being adopted at all points. It was from such parties that Wyoming first felt the sting of war, and although few in numbers and easily dispersed,, still the information which they communicated, as to the manufacture and disposition of powder on the part of the settlers, was suflScient to draw towards them, attention. During the beginning of this year, twenty-seven inhabitants were ar- rested on suspicion of being implicated in carry- ing much of the information which was beino- transmitted to the enemy, eighteen of whom were found guilty and sent to Hartford, in Connecticut, where they were imprisoned to await trial. Nine of the number were discharged for the want of sufBcient evidence to detain them, but no sooner were they free from the clutches of the local gov- ernment, than they fled to Connecticut, where they were joined by a aumber of those^ recently imprisoned, who had been set at large. THE APPEARANCE OP NEW ENEMIES. 19 This action oceasioned an open and definite partisan feeling between the Whigs and Tories, and from that time, the result was evident, in the frequent visits of strange Indians, prowling around the outskirts, and occasionally venturing into the villages. The more powerful tribes, far in the interior, were consulted as to these spying parties, by the anxious settlers, and in all cases assurances of good will were received, together with a de- sire for further peace, and a clear understanding, as to all that existed between each other. These warm protestations of friendship were ■ well calculated to allay any fears, and the thrifty little villages buzzed along again in their daily routine of hum and industry. It was not long before the more sagacious could discern external action, which could not consistently meet the assurances of the Indians, and the most far-seeing were clearly right when they denounced the allegations of the tribes as deceptive. During the month of March, an Indian, one of a small party, whose purpose was evidently that of scouting, became intoxicated and very demon- strative in his language concerning the future action of his tribe, . 23 that neitier Brant, nor any of his command were present at the battle. The greater portion of the warriors who came to Wyoming, had been with Butler as far west as Detroit, and from indisputable traces, more than one nation and type were found in the five hundred who were attached to the expedition. They had no demands upon the new villages, farther than their code of warfare permitted 'them to exact ; the tactics to be pursued by them did not call for more strenuous efforts than they had displayed at the lakes, and in western New York forests, although their actions proved that •they overreached former precedents, not from any desire or motive of their own, but because of the instigation upon the part of the Tory whites ■which allured them to deeds unparalleled in their former history, and for which, it is here endeav- ored to hold them, as principals, guilty, not the accessories. Take for illustration, as an instance of histori- cal irregularity, from which affairs at Wyoming have been misrepresented, — that of Marshall, in his Life of Washington, — and who does not re- vere the name of the venerable historian ? Yet, •even his diligent care and research did not pre- vent him from falling into error concerning this vexed question of Wyoming. A quarter of a century afterward, Mr. Chas. Miner, an eminent historian, a resident of Wilkes-Barre, who had become as familiar with the valley and its historic incidents as one could be, he too, has accepted jtradition, which has rendered his account of the massacre as unacceptable, in so far as he alleges the Indian element to have been led on by Brant. Writers without number, — even our own, and England's gifted poets have wooed the Muse to enable them to portray the eventful day at Wy- oming, yet all borrow heavily upon imagination. With these, a few of the thoughts which crowd upon an earnest investigation, the disconnected thread is again taken up; and the position of Colonel John Butler, on the night of the thirtieth of June, is to be canvassed in detail, and experi- enced soldiers can readily notice the irregularity of accepted record. Marshall, in his Life of Washington, after de- tscribing the manner in which the British and Indians descended the Susquehanna, states that the forces entered the valley of Wyoming through a gap of the mountain near its northern extremity. To' every resident of the valley it is clearly plain, that Marshall meant the head of the valley, at the confluence of the Lackawanna and the Susquehanna rivers. Marshall did not commit himself as to a minute narration of the march of Colonel John Butler, after arriving at that.point. Colonel Stone, the biographer of Brant, whose authority must be acknowledged as creditable, records that "they," meaning the British and In- dian forces, "took possession of two small forts on the 2ud of July, the first of which was called the Exeter fort." He calls the other fort below, "Lackawanna." According to the Westmoreland records, which were the local minutes of all that transpired, and which should be taken as the most reliable. Col- onel Stone must be understood, when naming the upper fort "Exeter" as meaning Fort Jenkins. The second fort he named "Wintermoot," which is correct, and agreed to on the part of every historian of the valley. Almon's Semembrancer, which was intended to be a full and perfect diary of the proceedings of the day, gives no authority which would underrate Stone. Chapman, Miner, and Pearce, all versed in every tradition and memorable event of the val- ley, do not carry a clear conviction as to the mil- itary movements on the part of Butler. Hollister, in his second edition, states that "on the 30th of June, just at the edge of the evening, they arrived on the western mountain, a little distance above the Tory fort of Wintermoot's. This fort, standing about one mile below Fort Jenkins, probably owed its inception to some ulterior design of the British and Tories, whom it served so well." Dr. Peck, who had facilities for research which can be considered in no other light than enviable, says, ''on the 29th or 30th of June, 1778, Colonel John Butler, with about four hun- dred British provincials, partly mUde up of Tories together with six or seven hundred Indians, en- . tered the head of the valley, and took possession of Fort Wintermoot without opposition.'' With all historical dates and facts, none bear the mark of precision as to the movements of tha 24 THE WYOMING VALLEY. British forces upon the first night's encampment at the head of the valley. It must he taken for granted, that on the thir- tieth of June, Butler was at the head of the val- ley, with his command, for no authority gives a later date for his appearance. If, this point be admitted, then arises the question, what in the name of common sense was Butler doing for the next two days, if the battle at Wyoming occyrred three days after. His movements must have been directed by his will for he was the superior in command, and being an experienced ofBcer, it is presumed that he acted as any man in like circumstances would. The motflent his forces had gained the first view of the valley, on the evening of the thirtieth of June, the picket line Gf the entire encampment must have been placed for the night, for the reserve encampment was in sight of Forts Wintermoot and Jenkins, on their own side of the river, while it^ would not be a flagrant stretch to state that the three Pittstown Stockades directly across were in full view. With an enemy thus in close proximity, the British and Indian lines must have been well strerigthened for the night. That patrols were sent out in different directions to study the exact state of things, is but in accordance with the natural order of things under such circumstances, but proof is had of one of these parties being far to the left of their own lines, away in the town- ship of Exeter. Eight persons had left Fort Jenkins during'the day to repair to their daily labor upon the small farms which were tilled up the valley. That Butler's movements had been soldier-like and rapid, is known by the fact that these men were totally unaware of any force of the enemy being at hand, yet according to the most accurate ac- •oonnts, Butler must have gone into camp as early as six o'clock in the evening, and about the same hour, these men were engaged by a scout- ing party which had gone out in a direction at right angles to the line of Butler's column as it mooted down tl»e Susquehanna. The settlers had taken the precaution to arm themselves as, they ■ set out for their work, and were thus prepared to show fight with the enemy's patrol. This little affray must have been a close and stubborn one, for of the eight, four were stricken down, while both' the attacking party lost five, a proportion on sides to the number engaged, which clearly monstrates the vindictive manner in whio men fought in the early days of forest warfare. Ih:^ firing at the foot of Campbell's Ledge, at the ap- proaching enemy was certainly heard at Wmter- moot's, Jenkins's and across the river in the stockades. Miner mentions the fact, that Zebu- Ion Marcy who was on the opposite side of the river shot two Indians who were endeavoring to decoy any of the friends of the slain who might under cover of the night attempt to secure the bodies. Taking this fact in conjunction with the skirmish as it opened upon the farms in Exeter^ and it is clearly proven that the affray was a run- ning skirmish fight, and the eight by successful maneuvering had almost reached Fort Jenkins,, and that some of the dead bodies were in a posi- tion to be seen from across the river by Marcy, thisi then brings the skirmish lines of Butler down to the river. It seems that the British commander approached the two forts. Winter- moot and Jenkins, with due caution, and an am- ple allowance of time, as will be seen by dates^ hereafter mentioned, for, taking the greater por- tion of his force himself, he approached the for- mer, while a detachment under Captain Caldwell neared Jenkins a mile above the main force, and both forts yielded without a struggle. „ Wintermoot was filled with Tories, and there is every reason to believe that the occupants of this structure assisted with their might in paying off old scores, on the fated 3d of July following. John Butler established his headquarters at Wintermoot on the 1st of July. There is a vari- ance of record upon nearly every step from this- time on to the battle which closed the drama. Colonel John Butler, in his report dated the 8th of July, I'Z^S, five days after the battle, says :. "On the 30th of June I arrived with about 500 Rangers and Indians at Wyoming, and en- camped on an eminence which overlooks the greatest part of the settlement, from which I sent out parties to discover the situation and strength of the enemy, who brought in eight prisoners- and scalps.'' This portion of his report agrees exactly with the theory which' has been herein advanced, as to Butler's resting until he could hear from his- BUTTERMILK FALLS. On the Lehigh Valley R. R. COLONEL ZEBULON BUTLER IN COMMAND. 25 scouting parties. His eight prisoners were not captured in Exeter, for the real state of the case, after all authorities are examined, explains itself here, — that four of eight fell, whether mortally wounded or killed does not appear, nor can it on a running skirmish fight. Hollister says, "three were taken alive, while a single boy leaped into the river, and, aided by the gray twilight of evening, was enabled to escape by a hundred pursuing bullets." Every citizen of the valley knows the width of the river at this point, and this knowledge will convince any miijd, that the boy who escaped had space sufiicient between him and the enemy to let him swim with ease. The accounts of war are ever overdrawn, and it would be a plainer way to express the matter, — that a clever fire was thrown 0k the;, youth when he jumped into the river. The whole number of the eight are here accounted for. Butler does not say how many scalps were taken, not would it be in the province of him as commander to inquire. The commanding ofiicer of a body of men, does not enter into a knowledge of matters that are considered ^ordinary, much less would Butler, or any educated representative of the profession, ask concerning every scalp that was hung upon the poles of the red-skined allies for the night. His statement as to having arrived at Wyoming was a general one, for both Lackawanna, and the Wyoming valley were included in that term, and in many military writings a goodly portion of the country up the Susquehanna as far as Meshop- pen was designated by that name. Then the scalps and the eight prisoners must have come from another quarter than Exeter. John Butler is not lonest in his report as to the number that encamped with him after the march. He says, "500 Rangers and Indians." Dr. Peck, in a note subjoined to Butler's re- port, says, "it has always been believed in Wy- oming that the members of Butler's army were between 700 and 1000. A scout went up to the place of debarkation the day before the battle, and from the number of their boats they estimat- ed their force at over 1000." If the allegations of a scout are to be taken as supreme, the method of settling disputed battles as to the force engaged, would bewilder the best genius of the world. Scouting reports have oc- casioned more smiles at headquarter tents, than any other idea which can be singled. Stone puts the white force at three hundred, and adds, that they consisted "in part of regular troops, but mostly of refugee Loyalists." As a general assertion the latter clause might have weight, but when the minimum number of Brit- ish troops was ordinarily kept up, and especially would that proportion be full on the outstarting of an important campaign, it is here believed, that from the number of line officers which ac- companied the expedition, the regular troops numbered over two hundred and fifty, and that the accession of Tories, on the descent of the Sus- quehanna, more than doubled that number, be- fore Campbell's Ledge was reached, and before Wintermoot's vomited its force to still further in- crease Butler's strength. The report of 'the scout is a trifle comical as to the time "he went up," — "the day before the battle." Does he mean the skirmish which oc- curred immediately after the debarkation, or the battle the fourth day after ? In the report of the British officer, following the matter already given, occurs the following : "Two Loyalists who came into my camp, in- formed me that the rebels could muster about eight hundred men, who were all assembled ia 'their forts." CHAPTER VI. THE RETREAT AND PURSUIT DOWN THE VALLEY— OFFICIAL REPORTS FROM BOTH COMMANDERS. "Tet neither of them would disparage By uttering of his mind his courage." —Butler. "Ha! thou hast rous'd The lion in his den: he stalks abroad, And the wide forest trembles at his roar. I And the danger now," . With Butler's lines resting on the river on the Tiight of the 30th of June, every soldier will agree that all of the loyalists, 'including the Winter- moots, had full communication with the British forces, how ingenious and apt is the report of Butler, as to "two loyalists." That every occu- pant of Wintermoot's should be listened to was not necessary, and therefore, Butler was truthful in his military report in alleging that 'two' talked with him. They were the representative two, however, and the knowledge of that ambiguous couple satisfied all Tory ends. Dr. Peck, in a note, has subjoined, "probably the Wintermoots." It is hard for any writer to prove that any person bearing the name was at the fort; at the time. Colonel Stone statesTin a note, not in his text, that Wintermoot "was active in bringing destruc- tion upon the valley,fand after doing all the mis- chief he could to the settlement, removed to Canada." Wh-en he removed, and what was the nature of the "mischief he could do," is buried with many a record which warriors never allow to leak. Wintermoot was in the valley in the spring,— even that is indefinite, but there is no evidence that he was in the fort when Butler took possession of the river. It is easy to surmise where he might have been, and a farther supposition might involve a protracted contro- versy. The information conveyed by the two loyalists, had more to do with what followed than — Oroonoko Act XXL Sc. 2. « history records, therefore additional proof is of- fered as to subsequent transactions. Colonel John Butler follows in the next sen- tence to explain what course of proceedings were had on his part on July 1st, when he claims to have taken Fort Wintermoot. The taking was a mild one on the field, but creditable on paper. The other lines need a consideration, for it is the purpose of this work to report fully on each days proceedings and thereby avoid confusion. The firing at the skirmish on the evening of June 30th, was not a signal for a panic, by any means. In those days men were accustomed to be ready, and willing to enter into whatsoever cause summoned them. The shots reverberating along the valley, and bounding against the hills, till echo answered echo, had awakened many a bluff settler, who cared neither for red-skin or red-coat. It was all the same in gun-powder days, — there was to be' a fight. Stone says that "the inhabitants, on receiving intelligence 'of the approach of the invaders, as- sembled within a fortification four miles below, called Fort Forty. * * Colonel Zebulon Butler * * * was in command of about sixty regu- lar troops, and he now made every exertion to muster the militia of the settlements." Dr. Peck gives his own authority' in the space of eleven lines, as to the ski-rmish in Exeter, which he says occurred "three miles above'' — of THE RETREAT AND PURSUIT DOWN THE VALLEY. 27 course meaning the fort. The theory herein ad- vanced is, that whether three miles abore, or more, and the better authority favors the latter idea, that in retreating, the farmers deceived the Indians as to the direct route to the fort, hence in tracking the course of the skirmish fight, a longer distance was traveled in the retreat in or- der to delude the attacking party. It will not do to allege that the early foresters were depriv- ed of the first rudiments of warfare, however much they may have been ignorant of the sci- ence of arms and its glory, as Virgil intends to convey in the first line of the ^nied. Colonel Stone records that "the inhabitants, on receiving intelligence of the approach of the invaders, assembled within a fortification four miles below, called Forty Forfc'' As attention has be'^ti called to this fact before, it is necessary to recur to it again. Stone writes the history of all the Border Wars. He pays but little atten- tion to detailed events in any one location, hence this general way of expressing himself. The remainder of the report of the British But- ler is here given, in order to lay the ground up- on which further reasoning is based : "July the 1st I marched to the distance of half a mile of Wiiitermoot's Fort, and sent in Lieutenant Turney with a flag to demand imme- diate possession of it, which was soon agreed to. A flag was then sent to Jenkins's Fort, which surrendered on nearly the same conditions as Wintermoot's, both of which are inclosed. I next summoned Forty Fort, the commandant of which refused the conditions I sent him. July 3d, parties were sent out to collect cattle, who informed me that the rebels were preparing to attack me. This pleased the Indians highly, who observed they should be on equal footing with them in the woods. At two o'clock we observed the rebels upon their march, in number about four or five hundred. Between four and ■Rve o'clock they were advanced within a mile of us. Finding them determined, I ordered the fort to be set on fire, which deceived the enemy into an opinion that we had retreated. We then posted ourselves in a fine open wood, and, for our greater safety, lay flat upon the ground, wait- ing their approach. When they.were within two hundred yards of ns, they began firing. We still continued upon the ground, without returning their fire, until they had fired three volleys. By this time they had advanced within one hundred yards of us, and being quite near enough, Gucin- gerachton ordered his Indians, who were upon the right, to begin the attack upon our part, which was immediately well seconded by the Eangers upon the left. Our fire was so close and well directed that the affair was soon over, not lasting a half an hour, from the tiipe they gave us their first fire, to their flight. In this action were taken 257 scalps and only five prisoners. The Indians were so exasperated with their loss last year near Fort Stanwix that it was with the greatest difficulty I could save the lives of these few. Colonel Dennison, who came in next day with a minister and two others to treat for the remainder of the settlement of Westmoreland, as- sured us that they lost one colonel, two majors, seven captains, thirteen lieutenants, eleven en- signs, two hundred and sixty-eight privates. On our side were killed one Indian, two Rangers, and eight Indians were wounded. In this incur- sion we have taken eight palisades, (six) forts, and burned about one thousand dwelling-houses, all their mills, etc. We have also killed and drove off aboat one thousand head of horned cat- tle, and sheep and swine in great numbers. But what gives me the sincerest satisfaction is that I can with great truth assure you that in the de- truction of this settlement not a single person has been hurt of the inhabitants but such as were in arms ; to these, indeed, the Indians gave no quar- ter. "I have also the pleasure to inform you that the oflicers and Hangers behaved during this short action highly to my satisfaction, and have always supported themselves through hunger,and fatigue with great cheerfulness. "I have this day sent a party of men to the Delaware to destroy a small settlement there, and to bring off prisoners. In two or thuee days I shall send out other parties for the same purpose, if I can supply myself with provisions. I shall harrass the adjacent country, and prevent them from getting in their harvest. "The settlement of Scohary or Minisinks will be my next object, both of which abound in corn and cattle, the destruction of which cannot fail of 28 THE WYOMING VALLET. greatly distressing the rebels. I have not yet been able to hear anything of the expresses I sent to the Generals Howe and Clinton ; but as I sent them by ten different routes, I am in hopes that some of them will be able to make their way to them and return. "In a few days I will do myself the honor of writing to you more fully, and send you a jour- nal of my proceedings since I left Niagara.^ "I am, sir, with respect, your most obedient and very humble servant, (Signed), "John Butlee." Two days after the report of the British But- ler, Colonel Zebulon Butler forwarded his report .of the battle, to the Board of War. The follow- ing is a transcript, which will enable it to be better understood, following close upon the read- ing of the report of the other side. It is dated, "Guadenhutten, Penn Township,; July 10th, 1T78." "On my arrival at Westmoreland, which was only four days after I left Yorktown, I found there w^s a large body of the enemy advancing on that settlement. On the 1st of July we mus- tered the militia, and marched towai'd them by the river above the settlement — found and killed two Indians at a place where, the day before, they had murdered nine men engaged in hoeing corn. We found some canoes, etc., but, finding no men above their main body, it was judged prudent to return ; and as every man had to go to his own house for his provisions, we could not muster again till the 3d of July. In the mean time the enemy had got possession of two forts, one of which we had reason to believe was de- signed for them, though they burned them both. The inhabitants had some forts for the security of th«ir women and children, extending about ten miles on the riVer, and too many men would stay in them to take care of them ; but, after col- lecting about three hundred of the most spirited of them, including Captain Hewitt's company, I held a council with the ofBcers, who all agreed that it was best to attack the enemy before they got any farther. We accordingly marched, found their situation, formed a front of the same extension of the enemy's, and attacked from right to left at the same time. Our men stood the fire well for three or four shots, till some part of the enemy gave way ; but, unfortunately for us, throiigh some mistake, the word retreat was un- derstood from some officer on the left, which took so quick that it was not in the power of the officers to form them again, though I believe, that if they had stood three minutes longer, the ene- my would have been beaten. The utmost pains were taken by the officers who mostly fell. A lieutenant colonel, a major, and five captains, wh» were in commission in the militia, all fell. Col- onel Dui'kee, and Captains Hewitt and Eansom^ were likewise killed. In the whole, about two hundred men lost their lives in the action on our side. What number of the enemy were killed is as yet uncertain, though I believe a very consid- erable number. The loss of these men so intim- idated the inhabitants that they gave up the matter of fighting. Great numbers ran oftj and others would comply with the terms which I had refused. The enemy sent flags frequently ; the terms you will see in the inclosed letter. They repeatedly said they had nothing to do with any but the inhabitants, and did not want to treat with me. Colonel Dennison, by desire of the in- habitants, went and complied, which made it necessary for me and the little remains of Cap- tain Hewitt's company to leave the place. In- deed, it was determined by the enemy to spare' the inhabitants after the agreement, and that my- self and the few Continental soldiers should be delivered up to the savages"; upon which I left the place, and came away, scarcely able to move, as I have had no rest since I left Yorktown. It has not been in my power to find a horse or man to wait upon the Board till now. I must sub- mit to the Board what must be the next step. The little remains of Hewitt's company, which are about fifteen, are gone to Shamokin, and Cap- tain Spaulding's company, I have heard; are on the Delaware. Several hundred of the inhabi- tants are strolling in the country destitute of provisions, who have large fields of grain J and other necessaries of life at Westmoreland. In short, if the inhabitants can go back, there inay yet be secured double the quantity of provisions to support themselves, otherwise they must be beggars, and a burden to the world. "I have heard from men that came from the place since the people gave up, that the [Indians THE &ETBEAT AND PURSUIT DOWN THE VALLEY. 29 have killed no persons since, but have burned most of the buildings, and are collecting all the horses they can, and are moving up the river. They likevfise say the enemy were eight hun- dred, one half white men. I should be glad that if possible, there might be a sufficient guard sent for the defense of the place, which will be the means of saving thousands from poverty, but must submit to the wisdom of Congress. I de- sire further orders from the honorable Board of War with respect to myself and^^the soldiers un- der my direction. "I have the honor'to be your honor's most obedient humble servant, Zebulon Butler." It will be seen by referring back to Colonel John Butler's report, that he did not take formal possession of Jenkins and Wintermoot until the day after his. arrival, although his lines almost touched them through the night, neither did he send in a flag asking surrender until July 1st, the day upon which he occupied them. His report jumps from early morning, July 1st, to the sum- moning of Forty Fort. It is strange that he does not notice a force moving toward him under the American Butler, who says that he fell in with a scout of Indians "of whom we killed two. These savages had just murdered nine men engaged at work in a corn field.'' The previous account makes it eight. Was not Zebulon Butler, the American officer, a trifle late ? The British But- ler was the best military officer, why should it not be taken for granted. Zebulon Butler was late enough to swell the number to nine, which looks badly in a thoroughly strict report. Now, here comes a state of facts which it is hard for posterity to understand. The proof is given here that Marcy shot the boy who swam the river, under cover of the twilight. Then that was June 30th, as this work claims. Yet, notwithstanding the attack, which we claim was unexpectedly sudden. Colonel Zebulon Butler collects, on the spur of the moment, "three hundred of the mili- tia," (although he was in command of but sixty reo^ular troops which we are willing to include), leaving two hundred and forty militia, and these were raised in'the first alarm, when John Butler struck the valley. Any soldier who will exam- ine the history of the valley, and notice how small were the villages, and how scattered the farms, will have some little food for thought CHAPTER Vir. INCIDENTS OF TORY CRUELTY— THE CAPITULATION AT WYOMING. "Let others flatter crime where it Bits throned In brief omnipotence ; secure are they : For Justice, when triumphant, will weep down Pity, not punishment, on her own wrongs, Too much avenged by those who err." I — Prometheus JJnbou-nd. The American Butler, not being supplied with provisions, was obliged to fall back upon Fort Forty. They mustered again on the 3d, and a council of war was convened. The cause of this muster is explained by the American Butler on this wise : "As every man had to go to his own house for his provisions, we could not muster again till the 3d of July." Did he lack military knowledge in disposing of his men for a moment, or did he consider himself safe in his position ? If he did not know what the British Butler in- tended to do, and if he was a thorough soldier, he should have acted upon a military principle which is adopted by the grandest minds — that of giving credit to an enemy for all that lie is able to do. But herein comes a point which is stronger than all — "messengers were dispatched to the headquarters of General Washington for assistance immediately [Rafter the enemy's move- ments were known at Wyoming" — so says Col- Stone. If he had not said it, or if no one had given evidence of the fact, here is the proof as to the time which .was consumed. It is well known that the day before the bat- tle a council was held, and that much debating was had, as to what was judicious in future ac- tiop, and Colonel Stone says, "the messengers had already been gone so long, that it was supposed they had been cut off, and consequently that General Washington was ignorant of their situa- tion. In that case' no reinforcements could reach them in season to save their valley from being ravaged ; and as the enemy's forces were daily increasing, it was held to be the part of wisdom tw attack him at once. Attention is called here, not so much to the determination of a weak force to attack a stronger one, as to the fact of the enemy's force increasinff. Not by soldiers did they increase, but by the Tories, who could be gathered in less time, and with better facilities in those days, than the American farmers. Again, here is another point, — while the ques- tion as to the to-morrow's battle was pending, five officers arrived from the Continental army, who, on hearing the tidings of the meditated in- vasion, had thrown up their commissions and hastened home to protect their families. They had heard nothing of the messengers, and inti- mated that there was no "prospect of speedy as- sistance," so says Chapman. That the messengers ever succeeded in the red- tape way of securing reinforcements, no one ad- mits, but that they sought the frieteds nearest and dearest to the settlements, must be believed. Colonel Zebulon Butler, in his report, does not commit himself on anything that occurred from his scouting expedition to the end of the debate with his oflBcers, when it was determined to move against the enemy. Butler yielded to the decision of that council and set forward at the head of his command, which Stone says numbered four hundred men. It is said that, when mounting his horse, he ex- claimed, "I tell you we are in great danger, but I can go as far as any of you." This smacks of TORY CRUELTY AND THE CAPITULATION. 31 truth, after he has been defeated in opinion in the council, and the first clause of his expression signalizes him as a man of excellent judgment, if he was not an accomplished warrior. Before the battle. Colonel John Butler did one act which showed a thorough soldierly spirit, in that he sent of his prisoners which were cap- tured in Exeter, to the American Butler, on the morning of the battle, accompanied by both a Tory and an Indian, — mark the discretion, — whose services were to be — demanding the im- ' mediate surrender, not only of the fort he com- manded, but of all others in the valley, with all the public property. As Dr, Hollister has ex- pressed it, "it can be said to his credit, that he also suggested to the commander of Forty Fort the propriety of destroying allintoxicating drinks, provided these considerate terms were rejected ; for, said the British Butler, drunken savages can't be controlled,'" Be it said to the praise of nearly all the Wyoming people that they ap- proved the sentiment, and the stigma which has been cast upon the Indians, although they com- mitted crime, rests nearly wholly upon the Tories who helped the Indians to what liquor they wanted. The same author adds : "With the colonial developement in West- moreland, had grown the love of rum. So fixed, so general, in fact, had become this pernicious and unmanning habit — so essential was whiskey regarded in its sanative and commercial aspect, that one of the first buildings of a public charac- ter erected in the colony, after a stockade or fort, was a still or brew-house. In a note subjoined to the above, is an extract from the Pennsylvania archives, that in 1783, the Pennsylvania troops stationed at Wyoming, were supplied with "two and a half Gill of Liquor," to one' pound of bread. The testimony of Mrs. Deborah Bedford, sub- stantiates the fact, in accordance with the re- quest of Colonel Butler, all the liquor in the fort was rolled out, and emptied into the Susquehanna with the exception of a single barrel of whiskey, spared for medicinal purposes. The head of this was knocked in .during the council of war, and as the debates are said to have been conducted with much warmth and annimation, Dr. Hollister suggests, "it is more than possible that the in- spiring influence of this barrel contributed, to a certain extent, toward the result of the delibera- tions." In the language of Mrs. Bedford, who was in the fort at the time, and whose recollections were- ever clear, — "A hard fight was expected up the valley, and as the drum and fife struck up an an- imating air, while the soldiers marched out of the fort one by one, a gourd-shell, floating in the- inviting beverage, was filled, and passed to each comrade, and drank." Some amount of speculation has entered into- the fate of Wyoming when considering this^ liquor question, but the fight showed that the men had their senses — that it was like nearly all other battles — ^that it was but a plain one at that, although very destructive to the Americans, who suffered themselves to be decoyed into the jaws of the enemy. The real intention of Colonel Zebulon Butler was to take the enemy unawares, and his march was quite rapid in the direction of the enemy, to within about two miles of Wintermoot, now Pittston, when he halted, and sent forward a scouting party, which succeeded admirably in discovering the British in camp, perfectly at ease. Upon the return of the scouts, they fell in with a lone scout from the ever-wary Indians, who fired and gave the alarm. The Americans now pushed forward with vim, in the hope of being able to strike before the opposing force could prepare for defense, but the thought, though a good one, was a trifle too late, for the enemy had formed a line directly in front of the camp. Col- onel Zebulon Bntler, who had up to this time pushed on in column, deployed his force, upon catching view of the line, and opened a vigorous attack the length of his whole front. (See his report. ) And here began the battle, which in these days would be termed a skirmish, but which in the early forest warfare was considered a won- derful combat of forces. The right of the Americans was commanded by their own Butler, while the left of the British had the supervision of the superior in command. Colonel John Butler. The left of the Provincial side was commanded by Colonel Dennison, who was obliged to face the Indians oovered^by woods, a position that was all in all to them. ^2 THE WYOMING VALLEY. Colonel Stone says, "the battle commenced at about forty rods distance, without much execu- tion at the outset, as the brush- wood interposed obstacles to the sight." ' The description of the manner of commencing the battle, as given by some of the historians of the valley, with all of the speeches made upon the occasion, and the bombastic style of exhort- ing men who were accustomed to hardships, must pass here unnoticed. Such military litera- ture may inspire the youth of the land, but the theory here maintained is, that fighting com- menced, ^and men fought as a ' business matter. A deal of romance connected with the history of battles deserves a contempt which soldiers are able to bestow. The two Butlers, it seems, opposed each other moderately, neither suffering much, for the fire was but a moderate one with the earlier style of arms, but Dennison, who was opposed to the hidden force of Indians, must have received from the woods, a fire which would have staggered troops of the same number, -in any part of the world. As Colonel John Butler expresses it in his re- port, "this pleased the Indians highly, who ob- served they should be on an equal footing with them in the woods-'' Colonel Stone state?, after noticing the firing on the American right, — "unluciily, just at this moment the appalling war-whoop of the Indians rang in the rear of the American left — the Indi- an leader having conducted a large party of his warriors through the marsh, and succeeded in turning Dennison's jflank.'' Even on the other flank, the British Butler, in his report says, that "we posted ourselves in a fine open wood, and for our greater safety, lay flat upon the ground, wait- ing their approach.'' But there, it was white against white, while Dennison was pushing on into a forest which the Indians had selected, and where the penalty was paid in approaching the position, as it ever was in Indian warfare. In the confusion which followed the terrific fire, Dennison ordered his men to "fall back" not as a retreat, but to prevent a lapping over on his flank, on the part of the Indians who would have soon surrounded him. His men mistook his meaning, and the consequence was — a panic, which determined the battle. This is all that could have been of the occa- sion, and volume^ written upon the matter can- not change the result. The American ofiicers must have been of stern metal, for nearly all fell, but the men " had been seized with the panic, and no force on the face of the earth could hold them. It nfeeds only to cite Chancellorsville to determine upon how large a scale a reason-lost host will plunge into madness, and taking into consideration, the wild and hellish-like yell of the Indians who followed the fugitives, one can gather why the slaughter became so general on the American side. Col- onel John Butler states in his reportj in men- tioning the firing, "that the affair was soon over, not lasting half an hour from the time they gave us the first fire lo their flight." It has been sup- posed that many of the Americans were scalped by the Indians after they had surrendered and asked quarter, be that as it may, they were upon the field when they fell, and in those early days when every man would fight for himsel:^ it is safe to presume that many an Indian paid the penalty of his life when close quarters were entered into. The pioneers of the valley did not die likelright- ened fawns, and if such a large number were stricken upon the plains, it was because they were overwhelmed by the Indians. The Tory force was there, too, and right heart- ily did they enter into the "wild, demoniac spirit of slaughtering the Americans. Take but one instance to prove the spirit of revenge which was manifested, and any historian is defied to match it on the part of the so-called red-skinned savage. Stone calls it Cain-like barbarity, but that is drawn mild, for Cain deserves more pity than many a theological student will tender his mem- ory. A short distance down the Susquehanna, upon the line of retreat is an island, called Monocko- nock. To reach this island, the retreating fugi- tives were obliged to swim. In doing this they had divested themselves of every incumbrance, including arms. Their retreat being discovered, the local Tories followed them. Even Colonel Stone, who writes partially, leaning upon the British side, says,j "and though obliged to swim, yet so intent were they upon the work of death, that they succeeded in taking their guns with TORY CRUELTY AND THE CAPITULATION. 33 them. Arriving upon the isljind, they deliberately wiped their gun-looks, recharged their pieces, and commenced searching for the fugitives.'' It seems that two were concealed in sight of each other, and' one escaped to tell the story, but as the historians all agree, a sight was be- holden by him which would stagger a savage. One of the pursuing party came upon a concealed person, who proved to be his own brother. His salutation was— "So it is you is it ?" The wretch- ed man, who was unarmed, came forward, and falling upon his knees, begged for mercy, prom- ising to live with his brother the remainder of his life, and serve him forever, if he would but spare him. What was the answer ? "All this is mighty fine, but you are a d d rebel," upon which he shot him on the spot.. That is the type of the massacre of Wyoming ! That is the spirit which inaugurated the cold-blooded cruelty! Did anyone ever know of soldiers who were strangers to each other, carrying vengeance after surrender ? And, did anyone ever know parti- sans — not soldiers, who would not do it ? The instance here quoted is but one, but when will all the feuds, existing between families, be brought to light,' as they displayed themselves at Wyoming ? The reader must observe, that before this bat- tle at Wyoming, neighbors had suckled the ven- om of revenge for ten years previous, but notice that ten years of bitter hatred as neighbors, -will engender more vindictive hate, than all the pages of red-skin atrocities can assume. Another instance, and one well in point, — that of Windecker, a Tory who had lived amongst the settlers of Wyoming, and who had been treated by Elijah Shoemaker with the tenderness of a child of his loins. During the progress of the flight. Shoemaker was obliged to seek the river, but was unable to swim. Windecker ob- served him wading in the water, and hailed him : "Come out Shoemaker." Said the old man in reply, "I amvafraid you will give me up to the Indians." No, I sha'n't, I will save you, they sha'n't hurt yon." The confiding Shoemaker, indeed, thought he could recognize a claim for former acts of kindness, and trusting in the de- ceiving tones of Windecker, hastened toward him. No sooner had he set foot upon the shore 4 than the eternally branded Windecker sent a a tomahawk into the brain of his former bene- factor, and threw the body back into the Susque- hanna. Providential means, allowed Esquire Carpenter, and Anning Owen, who were con- cealed in a tree, to witness this brutal act, that the real motives might be transmitted to poster- ity. What may have been the fate of the Tory, Windecker, cannot here be recorded, but the fratricide met a doom becoming such a wretch, —that of being consumed and eaten piece-meal, to his heart strings by a pack of hungry wolves, away in a dense forest of Canada. If a figure of speech were necessary to meet this case, it would fail in force, for what more significant and perti- nent than the reality — a lean wolf whose eyes were bulging with ferocious appetite, satisfactori- ly lapping every jet which his exposed heart forced through the valves. Indeed vengeance does not belong to man. These illustrations find place in this work, in order to meet the theory which has been ad- vanced, and herein, for want of further space, other cases, and numerous ones, must be crowded out, in order to make room for later days in the valley. The morning] after thebattle, July 4th, the British commander with his entire force appeared at Fort Wyoming and demanded its surrender. It is claimed by more than one writer, that in the first, and every instance. Colonel Zebuloc Butler woulH not be recognized by his name- sake on the British side, the latter refusing to have anything whatever to do with him, as an oflBcial head of the American forces. Following this statement, it is said that John Butler, asked in his demand, to treat with an officer other than Zebulon Butler. The reader will observe in the latter's oflScial letter, that he refers to this matter, still not in such a manner as will refute either side. Colonel Stone takes another view, — that of the inhabitants both within and without the fort be- traying Colonel Zebulon, by their weakness and fear. The following extract is from Stone's his- tory, and needs some qualifications : "The inhabitants, both within and without the fort, did not, on that emergency, sustain a char- acter for courage becoming men of spirit in ad 34 THE WYOMING VALLEY. versity. They were so intimidated as to give up without fighting; great numbers ran off; and those who remained, all but betrayed Colonel Zebulon Butler, their commander. The British Colonel Butler sent several flags, requiring an unconditional surrender of his opposing name- sake, and the few Continental troops yet remain- ing, but offering to spare the inhabitants their property and effects, but with the American Colonel the victor would not treat on any terms, and the people therefore compelled Colonel Den- nison to comply with conditions which his com- mander had refused." The consequence was, therefore, that the American commander, with the remains of Cap- tain Hewitt's company of regulars, left the fort, leaving Colonel Dennison to complete the articles of capitulation, as follows : "Capitulation Agebbmbnt — Made and com- pleted between John Butler, in behalf of his ma- jesty king George the Third, and Colonel Nathan Denniaon, of the United States of America : "Art. I. It is agreed that the settlement lay down their arms, and their garrison be demol- ished. "Art. II. That the inhabitants occupy their farms peaceably, and the lives of the inhabitants be preserved entire and unhurt. "Art. III. That the Continental stores are to be given up. "Art. IV. That Colonel Butler will use his utmost influence thst the private property of the inhabitants shall be preserved entire to them. "Art. V. That the prisoners in Forty Fort be delivered up. "Art. VI. That the property taken from the people called Tories be made good ; and that they remain in peaceable possession of their farms, and unmolested in a free trade throughout this settlement. "Art. VII. That the inhabitants which Col- onel Dennison capitulates for, together with him- self, do not. take up arms during this contest. (Signed), "John Butler, "Nathan Dennison." On the 2nd of July, the day following the sign- ing of the above articles, the gates of the fort were opened and the victors entered. The terms which had been agreed upon by the officers commanding, were not strictly ad- hered to. If the accounts given from newspaper columns of the day, are to be credited, then Wy- oming would cause a shudder whenever the name was uttered. It is strange that such writers as Ramsay, and Gordon, and Marshall, — nay, even the British historians, should have allowed themselves t» have written such gross exaggerations. Chief Justice Marshall, however, left to the world his admission of the error after having; been convinced by Mr. Charles Miner, of Wilkes- Barre, an historian who was ^accurate in every- thing save matters' of local prejudice. Then, again, such monstrosities as have been narrated in such works as Thatcher's Military Journal, and Drake's Book of the Indians, including a host of others whose names are unworthy of note — are' hardly deserving of consideration were it not that they are adhered to and believed with so stern a tenacity. It was to be but natural on the part of the Indians, after the battle in general to pursue their time-honored and loved carousals over the selected victims of torture, and therefore, when the whites had stacked their arras, the Indians were just beginning to devour the sweets of the victory at "Bloody Rock,'' sometimes called 'Queen Esther's Rock." There is a record worthy of belief that but eighteen in all were taken to this place of torture. Eleven were sub- jected to the forest victor's vengeance, two escap- ing from the horrid scenes, while others .were reserved for a future occasion. This rock is about at the base of Campbell's Ledge, a view of which is given in Part I. of this work, ar.d is a huge conglomerate, mixed largely with qu.artz, upon which some had their brains dashed out, to preserve a method which had been sanctioned by the red men for time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. It is said that this Queen Esther, whose name was Catherine Montour, presided over the orgies. There can be no doubt of this, for the quasi chiv- alry of the savages demanded some one for this honorable station, and it seemed fitting that her eminence entitled her to the post of distinction. She was a half-breed, and had been well edu- TORT CRUELTY AND THE CAPJTULATION. 35 cated in Canada. Stone says, "her reputed fath- er was one of the French governors of that pro- vince when appertaining to the crown of France, and she herself was a lady of comparative refine- ment. She was much caressed in Philadelphia, and mingled in the best society ; hence the re- motest belief cannot be entertained that she was the Hecate of that fell night.'' It would seem from many acts of her life which have passed into history, that her refined nature would have revolted against such scenes, but that does not materially affect the matter, for she was but occupying an official position which in her own race was considered honorable and ancient. There is too much direct 'evidenfie from the lips of those who saw her there, although the same testimony greatly exaggerates her actions, hence our space will not be profited by going in- to an examination of all authorities, which are numerous, and woefully conflicting. Beyond these extra field measures nothing can be shown that there was a massacre at Wy- oming. So far it has been shown herein that it was a'fair and square fight, and the A.mericans got the worst of it, which was but paying for their own folly in leaving Forty Fort to go out to attack a superior force, especially when in the debate the night before the battle the semi- mob were urged to abandon the attack by the best military minds of their number. Such results invariably follow such causes, and Wyoming happened to be the scene where the strongest corroboration was ever given by the same number of men engaged. The fighting is here ended, and it devolves upon us to show what followed in the shape of a massacre, and here it will do to premise that, there was no massacre, nothing of the nature of one, and nothing that could be any resemblance to such a scene, unless it is contained in the fol- lowing : When the gates of the fort were thrown open, the Indians marched in — under Sutler, not as a horde of savages, and after examining everything with the curiosity of which a savage is capable, went out again, and all through that day, the 6th, molested no one, nor the property of friend or foe. On the 6th they commenced plundering in some parts of the settlement, and toward evening many of them were drunk, when the ravaging of property became more general. At the first in- stance. Colonel Dennison sent for Butler and re- monstrated with him, alleging that the conduct of the Indians under his command was a breach of the stipulated articles which existed between them. Butler promptly replied, "my men shall not molest the people, I will put a stop to it." As a military officer, it is but just to say that Butler attempted to arrest everji inclination of the plunderers, but it proved in vain, for the real malicious spirit which prompted these overt acts had its origin in the hatred of the Tories to their old neighbors. What more natural than to pay off old scores ? Did not the early settlers visit summary punishment upon the Tory element, by sending many of their number away to prison in Connect'cut ? Were not several of the families proscribed, as we have shown in a former page ? Then who was paying the old score, the Indians or the Tories ? Colonel Butler was sent for again before even- ing, after the Indians became drunk and unman- ageable, and Dennison had another conversation with him. Butler's concluding remarks were, "To tell you the truth, I can do nothipg with them.'' Colonel Dennison on his part chided the British commander, but the same words were repeated, and who does not think more of John Butler for his honesty. Do nothing with them ? The whole military force of Great Britain, were they present, could not control them but by ousting them from the place, for the Tories had furnished the whiskey, and put them upon the track. No reader will be silly enough to believe that the early settlers of the valley who were subjugated, and who knew as well as dreaded the Indian character, would put the fire-water into an Indian's mouth, nor will any candid ob- server, who has ever seen anything of military life, believe that John Butler and the soldiers under him, would have sanctioned snch action, especially i after the caution which was sent to the fort before the battle, requesting all liquor to be destroyed. Then there could be but the diabolical spirit of 36 THE WYOMING VALLEY. the Tories to originate and consuminate the cow- ardly scheme. But, even with this view, — with property plundered, with women and children frightened, no one was hurt, and we fail to find a massacre. How suggestive, indeed, are the words of Chief Justice Marshall, who candidly and forci- bly throws light upon the feeling which pervaded the people in the earlier days. He says, after admitting his error in overdrawing the account of Wyoming : "It was certainly our policy dur- ing the war to excite the utmost possible irrita- tion against or* enemy, and it is not surprising that we should not always have been very mind- ful of the verity of our publications ; but when we come to the insertion of facts in serious his- tory, truth ought never to be disregarded." Five days after the battle of the 3d of July, Butler left the valley ^with his entire force ; hence, up to this time nothing 'is recorded of cruelty, excepting destroying property, which is herein claimed was the work of the Tories, as principals. A melancholy aspect attaches to the event be- cause of much bodily suffering consequent there- on. The retreat on the day of the battle, fright- ened many women and children from their homes, and others joined them on the 6th, aftdr the violent demonstrations on the part of the In- dians. Families were broken up and dispersed, children were carried away into captivity, while far the greater number fled to the mountains, en- deavoring to cross them and reach the older set- tlements. They plunged into a wilderness where but little could be found to nourish them, where many died of wounds, others from want and fa- tigue, and from keen suffering and deprivation. That wilderness and swamp leading from the mountains bordering the valley, looking toward the Delaware, has acquired a name which it yet retains, — The Shades of Death. Butler, in his march northward, after having burned the houses, mills, etc., states in his report that "we have also killed and drove off about one thousand head of horned cattle, and sheep and swine in great numbers.'' This was in reality an almost entire destruction of the valley. Even Zebulon Butler, in his re- port on the American side states : "I have heard from men that came from the place since the people gave up, that the Indians have killed no persons since, but have burned most of the buildings, and are collecting all the horses they can, and are moving up the river.'' After the lapse of two weeks, from the day of the battle, a rumor flew to the few remaining outskirts, from those who remained in the fort, that the valley was again to be scourged by an approaching body composed of Tories and In- dians. This had the effect of clearing the valley of all that had any intentions of remaining, and again the troubled Eden was emptied of its white inhabitants. This approaching expedition proved to be a small party of Rangers and In- dians, who had been operating after a bush- whacking style of fighting, along the Delaware, and who moved up country by way of Wyoming up the Lackawanna, thence on, to join the main force of John Butler, from which they had been originally detailed for such a scouting expedition. ■They found little to encounter around Wyoming, but in the Lackawanna region, they overtook two men on Keiser's Creek, named Leach and St. John, whose scalps they carried away with them, and at Capoose, a Mr. Hickman, who was attend- ing to his crops, was murdered, as were his wife and child. This bushwhacking party, composed only of Tories and Indians, and being under no regular military discipline, were capable of doing such work, and had it not been for the presence of Biitish troops and strict discipline, it could not be here recorded that one hundred and forty escaped, while but one hundred and sixty fell at Wyoming. The facts recorded in the foregoing chapter are truly painful, and purely the results of war, but the specific acts are all given, which tend to make it doubly painful. Beyond these, the much abused, and ever agitated chapter of the waste and destruction of the valley, ends here. CHAPTER VIII. JOSEPH BRANT— THAYENDANEGEA, THE GREAT WAR-CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS. WAS HE AT WYOMING? A areary sea now flows between, But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, Shall wholly do away I ween The marKS of that which once hath been. — Col^Hdge^s ChristabeL , What If his dull forefathers us'd that cry, Could he not let a bad example die 1 The real vexed question concerning Wyoming, in later years is — did Thayendanegea, the "Great Chief of the Six Nations," or in other words Jo- seph Brant, which was his English name, lead the Indians to the so-called massacre at Wyom- ing. Historians have endeavored to prove that he did; not so much because Brant was more than a man himself, but for the reason that, could it be proven that he was the immediate leader on the occasion, it would give to history an enormous and dire calamity to record, for Brant was the typical exponent of might, in the grand conclave of nations, which, when reduced to its smallest compass, meant "The Six Nations," and that title in forest warfare days was terrible in the minds of pioneers, far beyond modern re- alization. The reader will recall the first chapters in this work, to know that the Six Nations, which meant that number of larger nations, encompassed the ten-itory of many hundred subordinate, distinct tribes, whose arms then grasped still smaller clans as adjuncts of power. The sovereignty of the whole combined, vested in the "Great Chief,'' who, at the time of the expedition into Wyoming, was Brant. It is easy to see the motive of the early settlers in laying everything against the account of the mighty Iroqu-^is Chief, which title covered his domain. Take one instance of hundreds, to illus- trate the terror of settlers, who knew nothing of -Pope. the real condition of the country, save what was gathered by hearsay from every rumor of the forest, and the forest, at the date here referred to, includes the powerful combination of landed title covered by the Iroquois when they were de- nominated the "Five Nations," at the time in which they were engaged in war with the Mo- hicans, from which James Feniraore Cooper has extracted so many deep figures. During this period, if a strange Indian was seen in the vicinity, the cry was raised, and car- ried from hill to hill, A Mohawk 1 A Mohawk ! upon which the terror-stricken Red-skins fled like sheep, making no resistance or defense on their side. "Some years after, a wandering Mo- hawk had straggled away from the ancient home of his tribe, as far as the State of Maine, and pre- sented himself one day, in the streets of a small town not far from the Penobscot river. Indian forms and faces were not strangers in this little community, there being a remnant of the Penob- scots yet existing in the neighborhood, who were in the habit of visiting the place four or five times a year, for the purchase of such necessaries as their means could command. It happened that a party of them had come in on the very day of the Mohawk's arrival ; and as he was lounging through the street, he came suddenly upon them in turning a corner. The recognition on their part was instantaneous, and was evidently accompanied by emotions of alarm and distrust. 3a THE WYOMING VALLEY. "M(^awk, Mohawk, was muttered by one and another, and so long as he remained in sight, their eyes were fixed upon him with an evident expression of uneasiness. As for the Mohawk,' he condescended to give them only a passing glance, and went on his way with the same lounging, indiflferent step that he had exhibited from the first. He was a superb looking fellow, of about 25, full six feet in height, and could easily have demolished three or four of the dwarfish and effeminate Penobscots." — Stone^s Border Wars. The attitude of the early settlers partook large- ly of this spirit in reference to Brant, the mighty Mohawk. Aside from his connection with earlier wars, his name was terrible in every American ear, during the war of Independence, and was long afterward associated with every- thing bloody, ferocious, and hateful. As the master spirit of the Indians engaged in the Brit- ish service during the war of the revolution, not only were all the border massacres charged di- rectly upon him, but upon his head fell the 'pub- lic maledictions for every individual act of atro- city, whether committed" by Indians, or tories, or by the exasperated regular soldiery. Aside from all this, the most candid of Amer- ican writers do not hesitate to admit that it was the policy of those in authority, not only to mag- nify actual occurrences, but sometimes, when these were wanting, to draw upon their imagina- tions for accounts of such deeds of ferocity and blood, as might best serve to keep alive the strongest feelings of indignation against the pa- rent country, and likewise induce the people to take the field for revenge, if not driven thither by the nobler impulse of patriotism. The birth of Joseph Brant, otherwise of Thay- endanegea, his proper name, which means two- sticks-of-wood-hound-together, denoting strength, seems involved in uncertainty. It seems to be settled, however, that he was a half-breed, but even at this point the birth and parentage seem obscured with doubt. There seems to be no limit to the theories of the best authorities, and the reader is referred to the more elaborate works devoted especially to his life and career. The earliest accounts on record state that he was but thirteen years of age when he first took the war- path. At this time he joined the warriors of his tribe, under Sir William Johnson, and was pres- ent at the memorable battle of Lake George, in which the French were defeated and their com- mander, the Baron Dieskau, mortally wounded. It is reported, that in relating the particulars of this blood) engagement to Doctor Stewart, the youthful warrior acknowledged, "That this being the first action at which he was present, he was seized with such a tremor when the firing began, that he was obliged to take hold of a small sapling to steady himself; but that after the dis- charge of a few volleys, he recovered the use of his limbs and the composure of his mind, so as to support the character of a brave man, of which he was exceedingly ambitious." The young warrior continued on the war-path until he was nineteen years of age, when, through the instrumentality of Sir William Johnson, he was sent to the "Moor Charity School," estab- lished at Lebanon, Connecticut, under the imme- diate direction of the Rev. Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, afterwards President of Dartmouth College, of which by its transfer, that school became the foundation. In this school he manifested such an interest in study and in the modes of life of white men that he was favorably noticed by many of the literary minds of the day. In after years, the Bev. Dr. Wheelock, in commenting upon his knowledge of Brant, concluded a letter as fol- lows : — "He went out with a company against the Indians, and was useful in the war, in which he behaved so much like the Christian and the soldier, that he gained great esteem. He now lives in a decent manner, and endeavors to teach his poor brethren the things of God, in which his own heart seems much engaged. His house is an asylum forthe missionaries in that wilderness." His life abounded in excellent traits of charac- ter from the time he entered the forests as a war- rior until his death. The above events connect- ed with his life were given to illustrate the im- portance of judging him in his proper sphere. To the matter then in point, — did Brant lead the Indians on July 3d, 1778, during the battle? The early settlers were stern in their adherence to the affirmative of this issue, and many and long have been the tales at log cabin firesides' BRANT, THE GREAT WAR CHIEF. 39 ■which have wrought upon the sympathies of a patient, listening posterity a tenacious fidelity to the original belief. But, tradition alone, how- ever pure the channel through which it has coursed, must in its ceaseless wash, carry along many foreign particles which need casting out, in -order to identify the true original. Mr. Chapman, a historian of the valley follows tradition. The Hon. Wm. W. Campbell, of Cherry Valley, the historian of Tryon county, takes the same view ; Thomas Campbell, the British poet, along with Halleck and Whittier, our own, immortalize in song the sufferings of the early settlers, all agreeing upon Brant's pres- ence at the bloody scenes in Wyoming. Colonel Stone, the biographer of Brant, denies it stoutly, giving forcible reasons to induce a ■charitable feeling for his subject, while Mr. Chas. Miner neither afiirms or disputes either position. The history published a few years since by Rev. George Peck, D. D., takes firm ground against popular tradition, and proves an alibi, giving •dates and circumstances with commendable pre- cision. The fact that Brant was accustomed to lead the Indians into battle, under the generalship of ■Colonel John Butler, that he did so at Oriskany a year before the Wyoming campaign, and that he fought in the same capacity on the Chemung a year later, when General Sullivan advanced into the lake country, lends great weight to the op- posite side who clai.n that he too lad the sav- ages, acting in conjunction with Colonel John Butler on the invasion of the Wyoming valley. A thorough investigation of the subject will not warrant such a belief, for it is definitely cer- tain that Brant's base of opperations during the entire summer of 1778 was in the Valley of the Mohawk, and at the head waters of the Susque- hanna, with headquarters at or near Una- dilla. In June he burned the settlement at Springfield, near the head of Otsego Lake. On the 3d of July, 1778, occurred the conflict at Wyoming. Two days after, July 5th, Brant purchased corn and provision at Unadilla, and gave a receipt in his own handwriting, which was shown by the younger Brant to C. L. Ward, of Towanda, whose authority on pioneer literature was ever help reliable. A few days before the battle, he was at the head of four hundred Indians, resisting a party of regular troops and Schoharie militia on the upper branch of the Cobelskill. He is easily traced after this fight, all the way to Unadilla, by the following circumstances : — Capt. M'Kean, with five men, who were out scouting his whereabouts came upon his track in the town of Laurens, about nine miles north of the present town of Oneonta, and seventeen miles north of Brant's headquarters. Here a Quaker by the name of Sleeper, whose descendants still remain in that region, informed M'Kean that Bi'ant, with fifty men, had been at his house that day. As the old Sleeper house is still standing, it is easy to track the course of Brant's command down the Susquehanna. It was at this point in Laurens that Capt. M'Kean wrote a letter which occasioned Brant's answre on July 9th. M'Kean challenged Brant to meet him in single combat, or to meet in fair fight, an equal number of the patriots with his Indians, telling him they would make a goose of him — referring to his name — if he ever came to Cherry Valley. He tied the letter to a stick which he stuck in an Indian path. Brant received it, and mentioned it afterwards with an equally bitter spirit. While this was transpiring on July 2d John Butler was in front of Fort Wintermoot, three days march distant down the Susquehanna. This fact itself should acquit Brant of the charges against him, while the receipt for corn two days after the battle certainly would, for it would be impossible for him to be in Unadilla on the 5th of July and at the same time commanding the the drunken Indians in Fort Forty. Additional evidence of Brant's abscence is fur- nished from the Documents relating to the Colo- nial History of the State of New York, Vol. VIII. p. 752, wherein is published a dispatch from Co). Guy Johnson to Lord George Germaine, dated September 10, 1778. The reader will readily observe that the lapse of time, from the engage- ments both on the head waters of the Susque- hanna and at Wyoming, is suflScient to enable Colonel Johnson to report on the campaign with definite military precision. The following is a portion of the report : 40 THE WYOMING VALLEY. "Your lordship will have heavd before this can reach you, of the successful incursions of the In- dians and the Loyalists from the northward. In conformity to the instructions I conveyed to my officers, they assembled their forces early in May, and one division under one of my deputies (Mr. Butler), proceeded down the Susquehanna, de- stroying the forts and settlements at Wyoming, augmenting their number with many loyalists, and alarming all the country, while another division, under Mr. Brant, the Indian chief, cut off 294 men near Schoharie, and destroyed the adjacent settlements, with several magazines from whence the rebels had derived great re- sources, thereby affording encouragement and opportunity to many friends of government to join them." Another fact, which is given by Dr. Peck, in support of this side of the question, is that of a certificate of protection, given to one of the set- tlers, dated "Westmoreland, July 5th, 1V78," and signed by "John Bntier" and "Kayenguaurton." Colonel Stone and Mr. Lossing give the name, "Gi-en-gwa-tah," which signifies. He who goes in the smoke. The name of the chief was prob- ably written by Colonel Butler but a turtle drawn at the end of the name, indicates that the chief himself set it there as his mark and seal. This argument is a strong one, for had Brant himself commanded the Indian wing of the forces, his signature would have joined that of Colonel Butler in giving protection. Again, and the strongest evidence which can be adduced, is the report of Colonel Butler him- self, who commanded the entire British, Tory, and Indian force at the battle. He states that the Indians were led on by a Seneca chief by the name of Gucingeracton. This name is but an- other version of the one mentioned by Lossing and Stone. There can now no longer remain any doubt upon the matter, but, were it necessary to en- large upon the subject, it is quite evident that a process of military reasoning could demonstrate beyond a doubt, that Brant, commanding a force ranging in numbers from four to seven hundred men, could not march over the country swifter than the cavalry forces of the late war were ac- customed to move. Indeed, with his base of supplies at Unadilla, with primitive roads, sparsely settled settlements, and the impedimenta which usually characterized an Indian campaign, includ- ing even the squaws, it wonld be simply impossi- ble to be at Wyoming with his force. Then was he there in person? The proofs above given are sufficient to convince intelligent minds beyond a reasonable doubt, that lie was at the head waters of the Susquehanna, while there is not a particle of reasoning given from any source, which would induce the reader to believe- that Brant had left command of the forces above, and had repaired with extraordinary haste to another scene of action. Proof abundant is given to argue a belief in Brant's abscence from Wyoming, and the evi- dence is conclusively sufficient to satisfy any mind beyond a reasonable doubt, of bis presence at Unadilla. Now as to cumulative testimony :; Long after the war had been settled, and dur- ing years of peace, while residing in Canada,. Thayendanegea himself, declared times without number to literary minds of many nations who visited him, that he was not present at Wyom- ing, and in every case gave sufficient reasons to convince his attentive listeners that such was the truthful state of facts. All British officers who accompanied the ex- pedition have lent their soldierly honor to clear the Indian warrior of the stigma which rested upon his name. Philip R. Frey, esq., who was ensign in H. B» M's Eighth Eegiment, and who with his regi- ment was engaged in the campaign and battle of Wyoming, has left behind him for posterity to consider, a very accurate and detailed account of the events connected with this subject, in which he declares with vehemence that Brant was not with the command. Captain Walter N. Butler, who commanded a corps of Rangers, on the Tory side, states posi- tively, barring any mental reservation, that Brant was not at Wyoming. Another reason — many of the Masonic fratern- ity of the forests of New York, who were con- temporaries, bore testimony until death that Brant was not on the expeditian, for they had. means of knowing, and here let it be understood that the cases are numerous by tradition in Ma- BRANT, THE GREAT WAR CHIEF. 41 sonic Lodges of New York, of the sterling worth of Brant in rescuing many of their number when in distress. Cases are given elsewhere, one of which is the case of Jonathan Maynard, esq., of Farmingham (near Boston), Massachusetts, formerly a member of the Senate of that State. He was actively engaged in the Ee\olution, and at one time was taken prisoner, and carried away to the western part of New York by the Indians, who were of Brant's command. He was condemned to death, and preparations were being made by stripping him, when Brant discovered the symbols of Free Masonry marked upon his arm, which led him to interpose and save his life. A number of these incidents could be enumer- ated, but space ^forbids, and tHe subject has lost its thread. To return to proof : — Campbell's "Gertrude of Wyominff,^' dealt the heaviest blow in the following verses :. "But this is not the time,"— he started up And smote his heart with woe-aenouncing Ijand— This is no time to flU 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 Avfake 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! Scorning to wield the hatchet for his tribe, 'Gainst Brant' himself I went to battle forth: Accursed Brant! he left of all my tribe Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth : No 1 not the dog that watoh'd my household hearth Escaped that night of blood, upon our plains ! All perish'd- 1 alone am left on earth ! To whom nor relatives, nor blood remains, No!— not a kindred drop that runs In human veins !" This stroke left a wound in the feelings of the family, and accordingly, John Brant, son of Thay- endanegea, visited England, prepared with docu- ments to prove his father's innocence. Mr. Campbell received him, and listened to his griev- ' ous tale until he became convinced of his error, and promised in the next edition, then soon to be published, a correction. This correction was not made in the manner promised, but in a note as follows : ''I took the character of Brant in the poem of Gertrude, from the common histories of England, all of which represented him as a bloody and bad man, (evrn among savages), and chief agent in the horrible desolation of Wyoming. Some years after this poem appeared, the son of Brant,, a most interesting asd intelligent youth, came over to England, and I formed an acquaintance with, him, on which I still look back with pleas- ure. He appealed to my sense of honor and jus- tice, on his own part and on that of his sister, to retract the unfair assertion, which unconscious of its unfairness, I had cast on his father's memory.. He then referred to documents which completely satisfied me that the common accounts of Brant's cruelties at Wyoming, which I had found in books of travels, and in Adolphus's and similar histories of England, were gross errors ; and that, in point of fact. Brant was not even present at that scene of desolation. *****! ascer- tained, also, that he often strove to mitigate the cruelty of Indian warfare. The name of Brant therefore, remains in my poem, a pure and de- clared character of fiction." Truly, as Colonel Stone has remarked : — "this is something like knocking a man down, and then desiring that he would regard the blow as purely a phantasy of the imagination." Thus, has Brant, the mighty Mohawk, passed into history^ but posterity will learn to tone down the irregular traits which have been as- cribed to him, and when men, who in their day were glorified for fictitious heroism, shall have their memories buried as deep as the entombed slabs of Assyria, tradition will kindle a flame on the shrine of a man who was savage by name but a nobleman by nature. CHAPTER IX. GENERAL SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION FROM WYOMING TO THE LAKES. THE STORY OF FRANCES SLOCUM— MA-CON-A-QUA, THE CAPTIVE GIRL. " 'Your ancient house t' No more. I can not see The wondrous merits of a pedigree : Nor of a proud display Of smoky ancestors in wax and clay." — Gifford^s Journal, IThey came and questioned me, but, -when they heard My voice, they became silent, and they stood And moved as men in whom new jove had stirred Deep thoughts. — TJie Revolt of I&la/m. It would be only a sequence to allege that the expedition under Colonel John Butler was met by punishment. The Continental forces were not able to succor Wyoming when in need, but now, having learned of the disaster to the valley, Gen- eral Sullivan was dispatched to punish the In- dians for their greedy love of conquest. In the interim, many matters of minor detail had been considered. Upon the first reception of the disastrous nevps, Colonel Hartley, with his regiment, was ordered to proceed forthwith, with instructions from Con- gress to remain upon the frontier until further orders. He was soon joined by other companies, many of them militia, and among the officers who associated with him was Colonel Dennison, who, in the stipulated articles at Wyoming, had agreed not to serve again in hostility against the British troops. Dennison accompanied Hartley up the Susquehanna as far as Windsor, destroying sev- eral small Tory towns and Indian villages. This expedition aroused the people above, and soon force sufficient was gathered to compel Hartley to retreat. It is claimed by Walter Butler, in defense of the atrocities at Cherry Valley, that Dennison violated his parol. Dennison justifies himself on the ground that the Indians and Torys were first to break over the rules of war. A dis- interested mind, at this day, in reviewing the state of facts as then existing, can but conclude that both were guilty of every charge which is brought against them as far as the point of honor is concerned. Colonel Zebulon Butler returned to the valley and built another fort which he occupied, until the following year, when General Sullivan en- tered the region and assumed entire command. The Sullivan expedition was purely one of retali- ation. There was nothing to be gained by send- ing a force up the country against the numerous tribes of Indians, but the one feature.of teaching the red-skins a lesson after their own tactics. General Sullivan collected his forces at Wilkes- Barre, and by great energy succeeded in trans- porting the cumbersome luggage of an army of those days, besides the unwieldy artillery, up the Susquehanna as far as Tioga point. Here he was joined by General Clinton, who swelled the numbers to such magnitude, that Colonel John Butler, who was the victor at Wyoming, was now compelled to fly with nearly two thousand men, after making a creditable stand below New- ton, on the Chemung Eiver. The country was flowing as with ''milk and honey ;" the crops promised everything to the British and Torys, but the avenging host of Sul- livan put everything to waste and desolation. Every Indian who fell into the hands of Sullivan's GENERAL SOLLIVAK'S EXPEDITION. 43 command, even by surrender, was instantly des- patched ! ! The reader will please note this fact. Miner gives the following account of the havoc made in th3 country ; "Not a moment of delay was allowed. Being now in the Indian country, hundreds of fields, teeming with corn, beans, and other vegetables, were laid waste with rigid severity. Every house, hut, and wigwam was consumed. Culti- vated in rude Indian fashion for centuries, or- chards abounded, and near a town between the Seneca and Cayuga Lakes there were fifteen hun- dred peach-trees, bending under ripe and ripen- ing fruit : all were cut down. The besom of de- struction swept, if with regret and pity, still with firm hand, through all their fair fields and fertile plains. Deeply were they made to drink of the chalice they had so often forced remorselessly to the lips of tte frontier settlers within their reach. Some idea of the extent of country inhabited by the Indians, the number of their towns, and the great quantity of produce to be destroyed, may be formed, when it is stated that an army of four thousand men were employed, without a day's (except indispensable) remission, from- the 29th of August until the 28th of September, in accom- plishing the work of destruction. The farthest north (vest extent of General Sullivan's advance was to Genesee Castle, at the large flats of the beautiful river of that name." It may be well to record as a matter of history, that William McClay, in April, l'?79, ofi'ered a proposition to the authorities of Pennsylvania, to hunt the Indians of the Lackawanna and Wy- oming valleys with dogs, saying that "a single troop of Light Horse aUended by dogs, would destroy more Indians than five thousand men stationed in forts along the frontiers.'' Sullivan penetrated the Indian region to the Lakes, in July, 1779, and burned eighteen of the villages, destroying crops, orchards, and in fact, everything upon which a human being could sub- sist. He returned to Wyoming, October 7th, having lost but forty men. The force then marched up the Lackawanna and from thence joined the main command of Washington. This grand expedition had a salutary effect in teaching a lesson, but it did not prevent incur- sions of small bands. For three years afterward, prowling detachments were on every hand, scout- ing the valley, and carrying away their victims. Among the many who were kidnapped, was one who has passed into history, whose life has been studied with as keen relish as was ever a fairy tale : — that of Frances Slocum, who was carried away when but five years of age, by a party of Delawares, and who lived with them un- til her death, March 9th, 1847. The Slocums came from Warwick, Rhode Is- land, and Jonathan Slocum, the father of the far famed captive girl, emigrated in 1777, with a wife and nine children. They located near one of the forts, upon a spot of ground which is at present covered by the city of Wilkes-Barre. The early training of the family had been on principles averse to war, and Jonathan was loath to mix with the tumult of the valley. * A son by the name of Giles, of a fiery spirit, could not brook the evident intentions of the Torys and British, and consequently he shouldered his mus- ket and was one to take part in the battle of July 3d, 1778. The prowling clans of savages and bushwhack- ing Torys which continued to harrass the valley, occasioned much mischief in difi^erent parts, and in the month of November, following the battle, it was the misfortune of the Slocum family to be visited by a party of these Delawares, who ap- proached the cabin, in front of which two Kings- ley boys were engaged at a grind stone, sharpen- ing a knife. The elder had on a Continental coat, which aroused the ire of the savages, and he was shot down without warning and scalped by the very knife which he had put edge to. The report aroused the inmates of the house, and Mrs. Slocum had reached the door in time sufficient to see the boy of her neighbor scalped. An older daughter seized a young child two years old, and flew with terror to the woods. It is said that her impetuosity in escaping caused the Indians to roar with laughter. They were about to take away a boy, when Mrs. Slocum pointed to a lame foot exclaiming — "The child is lame, he can do thee no good." They dropped the boy, and discovered little Frances hidden away under the staircase. It was but the act of a moment to secure her, and when they bore her 44 THE WYOMING VALLEY. away the tender child could but look over the Indian's shoulder and scream "mamma." The dlarm soon spread, but the elasticity of a Delaware's step had carried the party away into the mountains. Mr. Slocum was absent at the time of the cap- ture, and upon returning at night learned the sad news. The family's trials did not end here. Miner, who is ever in sympathy with the early annals of Wyoming, thus depicts the scenes which occurred afterward : '■The cup of vengeance was not yet full. De- cember 16th, Mr. Slocum and Isaac Tripp, esq., his father-in law, an aged man, with William Slocum, a youth of nineteen or twenty, were feeding cattle from a stack in the meadow, in sight of the fort, when they were fired upon by Indians. Mr. Slocum was shot dead ; Mr. Tripp wounded, speared, and tomahawked; both were scalped. William, wounded by a spent ball in the heel, escaped and gave the alarm, but the alert and wily foe had retreated to his hiding place in the mountain. This deed, bold as it was cruel, was perpetrated within the town plot, in the centre of which the fortress was located. Thus, in little more than a month, Mrs. Slocum had lost a beloved child, carried into captivity; the doorway had been drenched in blood by the murder of a member of the family ; two others of the household had been taken away prisoners ; and now her husband and father were both stricken down to the grave, murdered and man- gled by the merciless Indians. Verily, the an- nals of Indian atrocities, written in blood, record few instances of desolation and woe to equal this." In 1784, after peace had settled upon the coun- try, two of the Slocum brothers visited Niagara, in hopes of learning something of the where- abouts of the lost sister, but to no purpose. Large rewards were offered, but money will not extract a confession from an Indian which will break into the family circle. Little Frances all this time was widely known by many tribes of Indians, but she had become one of them, hence the mystery which enshroud- ed her fate. The efforts of the family were untiring. Sev- eral trips were made westward, and each resulted in vain. A large number of Indians of different tribes were convened, in lV89, at Tioga Point,, to effect a treaty with Colonel Proctor. This opportunity seemed to be the fitting one, for one visit could reach several tribes, but Mrs. Slocum,^ after spending weeks of inquiry among them, was- again obliged to return home in sorrow, and almost despair. The Bruthers took a journey in 1797, occupy- ing nearly the whole summer, in traversing the wilderness and Indian settlements of the west^ but to tio purpose. Once, indeed, a ray of hope seemed to glimmer upon the domestic darkness,, for a female captive responded to the many and urgent inquiries, but Mrs. Slocum discovered at once that it was not her Frances. The mother of the lost child went down to the grave, having^ never heard from her daughter since she was- carried away captive. In 1826, Mr. Joseph Slocum, hearing of a prominent Wyandot chief who had a white wo- man for a wife, repaired to Sandusky, but was disappointed when he beheld the woman who he- knew to a certainty could not be Frances. Hope had become almost abandoned, and the familv was allowing the memory of the lost girl to sink into forgetfulness, when one of those strange freaks of circumstances which seem so mysteri- ous to humanity, but which are the ordinary actions of Infinity, brought to light the history^ and the person of the captive girl of Wyoming^ Colonel Ewing, who was connected with Indian service, hid occasion to rest with a tribe on the- Wabash, when he discovered a woman whose- outlines and textuie convinced him that she must be a white woman, although her face was as red as any squaw's could be. He made inquiries,, and she admitted that she had been taken from her parents when young, that her name was Slo- cum, and that she was now so old that she had no objections to having her relations know of her whereabouts. 'The Colonel knew full well, how anxious many eastern hearts were to hear of the lost one of earlier days, and thinking that he would do a charitable service, he addressed the following letter to the Postmaster of Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania : FRANCES SLOCUM, THE CAPTIVE 6IEL. 45 Logansport, Inaiana, January 20, 1835. "Dear Sik, — In the hope that some good may result from it, I have taken this means of giving to your fellow-citizens — say the descendants of the early settlers of the Susquehanna — the follow- ing information ; and if there be any now living whose name is Slocnm, to them, I hope, the following may be communicated through the public prints of your place. "There is now living near this place, among the Miami tribe of Indians, an aged white woman, who a few days ago told me, while I lodged in the camp one night, that she was taken away from her father's house, on or near the Susque- hanna river, when she was very young — say from five to eight years old, as she thinks — by the Delaware Indians, who wefe then hostile toward the whites. She says her father's name was Slocum ; that he was a Quaker, rather small in stature, and wore a large-brimmed hat ;, was of sandy hair and light complexion, and much freckled ; that he lived about a half a mile from a town -where there was a fort ; that they lived in a wooden house of two stories high, and had a 'spring near the house. She says three Delawares came to the house in the day time, when all were absent but herself, and perhaps two other children : her father and brothers were absent making ^hay. The Indians carried her ofi", and she was adopted into a family of Delawares, who raised her and treated her as their own child. They died about forty years ago, somewhere in Ohio. She was then married to a Miami, by whom she had four children ; two of them are now living — they are both daughters — and she lives with them. Her husband is dead ; she is old and feeble and thinks she will not live long. ''These considerations induced her to give the present history of herself, which she would never do before, fearing that her kindred would come and force her away. She has lived long and happy as an Indian, and, but for her^color, would not be suspected of being anything else but such. She is very respectable and wealthy, sober and honest. Her name is without reproach. She says her father had a large family, say eight chil- dren in all — six older than herself, one ynuuger, as well as she can recollect ; and she doubts not that there are still living many of their descend- ants, but seems to think that all her brothers and sisters must be dead, as she is very old herself, not far from the age of eighty. She thinks she was taken prisoner before the two last wars, which must mean the Eevolutionary war, as Wayne's war and the late war have been since that one. She has entirely lost her mother tongue, and speaks only in Indian, which I also understand, and she gave me a full history of herself. "Her own Christian name she has forgotten, but says her father's name was Slocum, and he was a Quaker. She also recollects that it was on the Susquehanna River that they lived. I have thought that from this letter you might cause something to be inserted in the newspapers of ypur county that might possibly catch the eye of some of the descendants of the Slocnm family, who have knowledge of a girl having been car- ried oflf by the Indians some seventy years ago. This they might know from family tradition. If so, and they will come here, -I will carry them where they may see the object of my letter alive and happy, though old and far advanced in life. "I can form no idea whereabouts on the Sus- quehanna River this family could have lived at that early period, namely, about the time of the Revolutioiiary war, but perhaps you can ascertain more about it. If so, I hope you will interest yourself, and, if possible, le+ her brothers and sis- ters, if any be alive, — if not, their children — know where they may once more see a relative whose fate Las been wrapped in mystery for sev- enty years, and for whom her bereaved and af- flicted parents doubtless shed many a bitter tear. They have long since found their graves, though their lost child they never found. I have been much affected with the disclosure, and hope the surviving friends may obtain, through your good- ness, the information I desire for them. If I can be of any service to them, they may command me. In the mean time, I hope you will excuse me for the freedom I have taken with you, a total stranger, and believe me to be, sir, with much respect, your obedient servant, "Geo. W. Ewing." This letter met the fate of many others of im- portance — it was flung away as a wild*story. 46 THE WYOMING VALLEY. The student of human nature readily sees the advantage of many a trivial affair, but the Post- master of Lancaster could not grasp the intent of a superior mind, and Evping's letter went to the waste basket. Dr. Peck, the venerable preacher of the Mtth- odist church, states in his history, that "there was a providence in the discovery of the lost one, and will that providence, which was concerned in the first developement, allow the light to die out, and the whole matter to be hid from the vision of those so deeply interested in the revela- tion ?" It seems that there is an overruling Power who ordains and controls events, as will be seen in this case. The Postmaster died, and had been in his grave time sufficient to allow the wife an oppor- tunity of straightening his affairs. She was in the act of overhauling a mass of papers belong- ing to her husband's business, when she encoun- tered the letter of Colonel Ewing. A woman's pei'ceptions are keen and quick, and the tender emotions which were begotten in her mind, were but the responses of her better nature. Her sympathy yearned for one of her sex, and she could do no more than proclaim the story to the world. Accordingly she sent the letter to the editor of the Lancaster Intelligencer, and therein it was published. Newspapers of limited circulation may net revolutionize matters of great importance, but they have their sphere in detail, and when the aggregate is summed up, they accomplisb more than the mighty engines of larger mediums. It was so in this case, — the Lancaster paper was about issuing an extra for temperance pur- poses, and this letter happened to go into the form to help "fill up," as poor printers sometimes express it. The Lancaster office was not poor, — but the foreman did "fill up" with the Ewing let- ter. Rev. Samuel Bowman, of Wilkes-Barre, by chance saw a copy. He knew the Slocums, and the entire history of the valley as it was given by tradition. He was not present in the valley at the time, bnt his heart warmed for the scenes and associa- tions of early times in Wyoming. He mailed one of the papers to a Slocum, a brother of the captive girl, and the effect produced was as if by magic. Everybody was acquainted with the his- , tory of Frances, and all were interested in her fate. Sixty . years had gone by since she was carried away, an innocent girl, and now the world had found the lost one. The result of the discovery is embodied in the following letters : "Wllkes-Barre, Penn., August 8, 1837. George W. Ewing, Esq. : "Dear Sir,— At the suggestion of vaj father and other relations, I have taken the liberty to address you, although an entire stranger. "We have received, but a few days since, a letter written by you to a gentleman in Lancas- ter, of this state, upoa a subject of deep and in- tense interest to our family. How the matter should have lain so long wrapped in obscurity we cannot conceive. An aunt of mine — sister of my father — was taken away when five years old by the Indians, and since then we have only had vague and indistinct rumors upon the subject. Your letter we deem to have entirely revealed the whole matter, and set every thing at rest. The description is so perfect, and the incidents (with the exception of her age) so correct, that we feel confident. "Steps will be taken immediately to investi- gate the matter, and we will endeavor to do all in our power to restore a lost relative who has been sixty years in Indian bondage. "Your fri'fend and obedient servant, "Jon. J. Slocum." "Logansport, Inaianna, August 26, 183T, "Jon. J. Slocum, Esq., Wilkesbarre : "Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure of acknowl- edging the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant, and in answer can add, that the female I spoke of in Januaiy, 1835, is still alive; nor can I for a moment doubt but that she is the identi- cal relative that has been so long lost to your family, "I feel much gratified to think that I have been thus instrumental in disclosing to yourself and friends such facts in relation to her as will enable you to visit her and satisfy yourselves more fully. She recovered from the temporary illness by which she was afflicted about the time I spent the night with her in January, 1835, and FRANCES SLOCUM, THE CAPTIVE QIBL. 4T which was, no doubt, thd cause that induced her to speak so freely of her early captivity. "Although she is now, by long habit, an In- dian, and her manners and customs precisely theirs, yet she will doubtless be happy to see any of you, and I myself will take great pleasure in accompanying you to the house. Should you come out for that purpose, I advise you to re- pair directly to this place ; and should it so hap- pen that I should be absent at the time, you will find others who will tako you to her. Bring with you this letter ; show it to James T. Miller, of Peru, Ind., a small town not far from this place. He knows her well. He is a young man whom we have raised. He speaks the Miami tongue, and will accompany yojj if I should not be at home. Inquire for the old white woman, mother-in-law to Brouriette, living on the Missis- inewa River, about ten miles above its mouth. There you will find the long-lost sister of your father, and, as I before stated, you will not have to blush on her account. She is highly respect- able, and her name as an Indian is without re- proach. Her daughter, too, and her son-in-law, Brouriette, who is also a half-blood, being pait French, are both very respectable and interesting people — none in the nation are more so. As In- dians they live well, and will be pleased to see you. Should you visit here this fall, I may be absent, as I purpose starting for New York in a few days, and shall not be back till some time in October. But this need not stop you ; for, al- though I should be gratified to see you, yet it will be sufiicient to learn that I have furthered your wishes in this truly interesting matter. "The very kind manner in which you have been pleased to speak of me shall be fully appre- ciated. "There perhaps are men who could hear her story unmoved, but for me, I could not ; and when I reflected that there was, perhaps, still lin- gering on this side of the grave some brother or sister of that ill-fated woman, to whom such in- formation would be deeply interesting, I resolved on the course which I adopted, and entertained the fond hope th at my letter, if ever it should go before the public, would attract the attention of some one interested. In this it seems, at last, I have not been disappointed, although I had long since supposed it had failed to effect the object for which I wrote it. Like you, I regret that it should have been delayed so long, nor can I con- ceive how any one should neglect to publish such a letter. "As to the age of this female, I think she her- self is mistaken, and that she is not so old as she imagines herself to be. Indeed, I entertain no doubt but that she is the same nerson that your family have mourned after for more than half a century past. Yonr obedient humble servant,,. "George W. Ewing. There was one mark which could not be mis- taken — little Frances, when a child had played with a brother in the blacksmith's shop, and by a careless blow from the latter a finger was crushed in such a manner that it never regained ils original form. Mr. Isaac Slocura, accompanied by a sister, and brother, sought an interview with the tanned woman, through the aid of an interpreter, and the first question asked after an examination of the finger was : — 'how came that finger jammed ?' The reply was convincing and conclusive — 'My brother struck it with a hammer in the shop, a long time ago, before I was carried away.' Here then, at last,. by this unmistakable token, the lost was found. Her memory proved to be unerring ; the details of events sixty years old were perfect, and given in such a manner as to awaken in the hearts of the Slocum family warm emotions for the withered old woman. Her life,, although rude, had been a happy one, and no in- ducements were strong enough to persuade her to leave the camp fires of her adoption. By act of Congress, Ma-con- a-qtt a, the Indian title of Frances Slocum, was granted one mile square of the reservation which was appointed to the Indians of Indiana, west of the Mississippi — to be held by herself during her life, and to re- vert to her heirs forever. She died March 9th' 1 847, and was given Christian burial in a beau- tiful spot where the romantic waters of the Mis- sisinewa and Wabash rivers join their ripples on. the way to the sea. The story of the captive girl of Wyoming has been breathed around the hearths of the entire Christian world as one of the most fruitful in ro- mance and song. CHAPTER X. THE PENNAMITE WAR. PERMANENT PEACE RESTORED TO WYOMING VALLEY. fAnd the future is dark, and ttie present is spread Like a pillow of thorns for thy slnmberless head. — Shelley, Thy touch has stamped these limbs with crime, These brows thy branding garland bear ; But the free heart, the impassive soul, Scorn thy control ! —HeUas. Followibg the winter of 1 '782-83, peace be- tween the Colonies and Great Bntan dawned with the warm rays of spring. Beautiful Wy- oming had, however, since the fated day of July, 1'7'78, nearly five years before, suffered more in detail than any other section of country along the entire Atlantic seaboard. It seemed to be miraculous how sudden and easy hostile parties could meet in this enchanted vale. The diaries and more detailed histories of the earlier days are replete with the many and thrilling tales of adventure, cruelty and sacrifioe of these five years preceeding peace between the two countries, but alas, Wyoming's landscape was as scarlet streams of gore long after. The old feud between the Yankees, from New England, on the one part, and the native Pennsylvanians on the other, which had been slumbering during the years of Revolutionary story when all hearts were united in a common cause — now broke out afresh, and apparently with redoubled vigor and vindictive malice. The Decree of Trenton which was passed in December, 1Y82, adjudged the right of jurisdic- tion and preemption to Pennsylvania. TJpon the concluding of amicable relations be- tween England and the United States during the spring, the garrison which bad been stationed at Wilkes-Barre was removed, and for some reason known only to the authorities, the fort was at ■once manned with Pennsylvania state troops. The entire nation, weary with the long war, was in a happy mood in the spring, and all hands joined with an earnest efibrt to prepare for the crops of the aoming summer. Wyoming lent its cooperation to the good work, and during the pleasant days of the genial months, peace and order prevailed. The Valley was augmented in numbers by parties arriving from different directions, to seek a home in the renowned vale on the Susque- hannna ; New Jersey and Pennsylvania furnished the greatest number. During the autumn months affairs assumed a sterner aspect, and it was evident that the Penn- sylvania bitterness was determined to show itself once more in its fury toward the Connecticut settlers. A number of the former met secretly, and elected justices of the peace and other oflScers. The Assembly of Pennsylvania, in hearty co- •operation, commissioned those duly elected, and soon every Yankee against whom any trivial charge could be trumped up was sued, and par- tial, if not diabolical judgments meted out to them. Men were publicly whipped with gun- rods, compelled to lie in pens with mud for bed- ding, and a rule enforced that if three Yankees were seen together, they were to be punished. The troops under Pennsylvania state officers, acted brutally toward the hard struggling set- tlers, and instances are recorded where the sol- THE TENN AMITE WAR. 49 diers purposely destrojed the fences arouud grain fields, that cattle might enter for pastur- age. Miner in describing the scenes attending the outbreak says : — "On the 13'th and 14th of May the soldiers were sent forth, and at the point of the bayonet, with the most high-handed arro- gance, dispossessed one hundred and fifty fami- lies ; in many instances set fire to their dwell- ings, avowing the intention utterly to expel them from the country. Unable to make any effect- ual resistance, the people implored for leave to remove either up or down the river, as with their wives and children, in the state of the roads, it would be impossible to travel. A stern refusal met this seemingly reasonable request, and they were directed to take the Lackawaxen road, as leading most directly to Connecticut. But this way consisted of sixty miles of wilderness, with scarce a house ; the roads were wholly [neglect- ed during the war, and they then begged leave to take the Easton or Stroudsburg route, where bridges spanned the larger streams, still swollen by recent rains. All importunities were vain, and the people fled toward the Delaware, objects of destitution and pity tliat should have moved a heart of marble. About five bundled men, women, and cl'ildren, with scarce provisions to- sustain life, plodded their weary way, mostly on foot, the roads being impassable for wagons, mothers carrying their infants, and pregnant women literally wading the streams, the water reaching to their armpits, and at night slept on the naked earth, the heavens their canopy, and scarce clothes to cover them. A Mr. John Gard- ner and John Jenkins, both aged nren and lame, sought their way on crutches. Little children, tired with traveling, crying to their mothers for bread, which they had not to give them, sunk from exhaustion into stillness and slumber, while the mothers could only shed tears of sorrow and compassion, till in sleep they forgot their griefs and cares. Several of the unfortunate sufierers died in the wilderness, others were taken sick from excessive fatigue, and expired soon after reaching the settlements. A widow, with a nu- merous family of children, whose husband had been slain in the war, endured inexpressible hard- ships. One child died, and she buried it as she 5 could beneath a hemlock log, probably to be dis- interred from its shallow covering, and be de- voured by wolves." Hollister in his history of the Lackawanna Valley mentions the fact that "a small mound, sheltered by a fiiendly hemlock, lies by the roadside in Wayne county, where the little one was buried." It is but justice to note that the proceedings of the troops drew forth peremptory repudiation from the State authorities, and the companies then on duty were instantly relieved. The Connecticut people had not lost all faith in the wisdom of State government, and it was determined, in order to procure protection and justice, to appeal by petition to the existing ad- ministration of State authority. The rule/orbid- ding three to be seen together, was a bar to any effective action, and the result was, to confer by sending around two to notify all of plans adopt- ed. A meeting was finally held within forty rods of the fort, where a number assembled with great secrecy, darkened the windows, then drew and signed a petition which was forwarded to Phila- delphia by a messenger who contracted to deliv- er it. It reached the Assembly, and a commit- tee was appointed to repair to Wilkes-Barte, to inquire into the cause of the complaint. The committee met pursuant to instructions, heard the evidence on both sides, which clearly established the position taken by the Connecti- cut people, when they retired and reported, but -without effect. The trials of the families who had left their quiet New England homes, were indeed severe ; besides the troubles from Indian raid?, added to the inconveniences imposed by Pennsylvanians, a great ice flood, which carried away cattle and horses, and even dwellings, almost ruined the prosperity of the community. The locks had been taken from New England guns, and in fact every disability which could render inefficient the aims of the settlers was resorted to. The Pennaraites for a time obtained full possession and control of the country, but only to be met again by the persistent Yankees. In the fall of 1785 a brisk'skirmishwas had be- tween a party of the Pennamites and another of 50 THE WYOMIKG VALLEY. Yankees, in a piece of wooda near Plymouth, in which two were killed and several wounded. The Pennaiiiites fled in confusion, and were pur- sued to their fort, where a state of siege was com- menced which lasted for several days. Intelli- gence reached the assailants that a force was on the way to assist the besieged Pennamites, which compelled the Yankees to raise the siege and di- rect their attention to opposing the advance of the coming columns, which they did in a satis- factory manner. The war was not confined alone to flint-locks and gunpowder — the law was putting its machinery to its fullest capacity. The Sherifl' of Northumberland county accompanied by several justices came to Wilkes-Barre to at- tempt a restoration of peace. After much nego- tiation an agreement was entered into by v/hich both parties were to resume the ordinary duties of life, and under this state of affairs the Yankees returned to their deserted homes, and the Penn- amites to their forts. A short time after a body of men, some two or three hui;dred in number, headed by John Armstrong and a Mr. Boyd the members of the Senate of Pennsylvania, en- tered the valley and demanded the surrender of both factions. The submission of the Penna- mites was but a farce, and no sooner had the Yankees laid down their arms, than they were made prisoners, and Pennamite sentinels were placed over them as guards. Several were sent in irons to the jail at Easton, others to Sunbuiy. Those at tlie latter place readily found bail and returned, but a severer fate awaited the incarce- rated ones at Easton. They were placed in cells, from which a large number forced their way out, and obtained arms once more and proceeded to assert their rights headed by one John Franklin. No bills were found against the others at Easton hence they were discharged, upon paying jail fees and expenses amounting to twenty-five dol- lars each. The State troops were once more called to active service in the Valley, and arrests again be- came frequent, but none of Franklin's party were secured. The fort was attacked one night by the Yan- kees, when two oflBcers were killed, which was the last bloodshed of the Valley. The fort was soon thereafter evacuated, and all the Penna- mites who had been active against the Yankees were forced to leave the settlement. They raised a clamor after leaving, stating that they had been plundered, wronged, and driven from their homes by the intruding Yankees, which so inflamed the public mind that the Legislatiu'e again took cognisance of the matter, and an- other committee of three was appointed to repair to Wyoming to endeavor to .stop further disorder. They came, returned and reported, but no action followed their deliberations. Nothing effectual transpired until 1786, when a law was passed erecting the disputed territory into a county, whicfi was called Luzerne. The first election of ofiicers was held in July, 1787, and from that day, the angel of peace has pre- sided over the famous Valley of Wyoming with a maternal watchfulness and care, rarely bestow- ed upon the favored spots of earth. Truly has Halleck sung : "Nature hath mafle thee lovelier than the power Even of Campbell's pen hath pictured ; he Had woven, had he gazed one sunny hour Upon thy winding vale, Its scenery, 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." CHAPTER XI. THE WYOMING MONUMENT. I beg no pity for this mould'rlng clay: For It you give It bnrlal, there It takes Possession of your earth : If burnt and soatter'd In the air, the winds That strew my dust, diffase my royalty. And spread me o'er your clime. — Vryden, Dcni Sebastian Kiiirj of Portugal, Act L Near the spot where occurred the fated battle of July 3d, i*11%, has been erected a monument commemorative of the event. Away down the Valley, resting upon i^s very bosom, as seen from the heights surrounding, guarded by foliage as soft and graceful as can be found in any spot in the temperate zone, there shoots up a modest shaft, which is visited annually by thousands who are drawn to it by the romance which has ever hnng around Wyoming. It will be remembered that the battle com- menced below Wintermoot's, or what is now known as Pittston, and the course of flight was down the valley toward Wilkes-Barre, so that the spot where the monument now stands wit- nessed the heaviest of the engagement. The flight was so sudden, and the panic so general, that the bodies of the slain were abandoned with- out burial. It was not until the 21st of October of the same year, over three months from the occurrence of the fight, that the bodies found sep- ulture. Colonel Butler, on his return to the val- ley, detailed a force who were sent to collect the remains of the slain. General William Ross, wbo witnessed the burial in October, said of it, that "owing to the intense heat of the weather, and probably the dryness of the air, the bodies were shriveled, dried, and inoffensive, but, with a single excep- tion, their features could not be recognized." The bodies were collected and placed in a com- mon grave, only to be disturbed when an admir- ing posterity claimed the relics of patriotism for a nobler ceremonial. The ploughshare had turn- ed the sod for years, over the resting place of the heroes, and for a long time the identical spot was lost to the knowledge of later settlers. Hon. Charles Miner, the venerable historian of the Valley, was the first to call public atten- tion to the matter of erectino; a monument to the memory of the fallen brave. In several newspa- per articles, as early as 1809, his efforts were put forth for the consumation of tbe project, but nothing definite or tangible was reached until the 16th day of June, 1832, when " a meeting of a number of the early settlers of Wyoming Val- ley, who had relatives and acquaintances in the Wyoming massacre, and other citizens of Lu- zerne county, convened at the house of Major 0. Helme, in Kingston, to take into consideration the subject of erecting a monument to the mem- ory of those who fell in that disastrous conflict. General William Ross was appointed chairman, and Charles D. Shoemaker secretary." A com- mittee to draft resolutions was appointed, com- posed of John Carey, Col. Benjamin Dorrauce, Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, Colonel George P. Ran- som, Calvin Wadhams, John Gore, Sen., Joseph Wright, and Benjamin Reynolds, Another committee was appointed to nego- tiate for the purchase of "half an acre of ground, including the burial place of those who fell in the Rg THE WYOMING VALLEIT, battle of Wyoming," consisting of Benjamin Dorrance, Calvin Wadhams, Anderson Dana, David Scott, and George M. Hollenback. A public meeting was secured at which Rev. Dr. May, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was the orator, assisted by Rev. Dr. Murray, of the Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Charles Nash of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The following extract is taken from the ad- dress of Dr. May : "When upward of fifty years have gone, we are in quiet possession of this valley. The sun in his daily journey looks upon few spots on which the Creator has combined more of the materials necessary for earthly happiness. No object of price in general can be gained without painstaking and sacrifice. The independence of our common country was not secured without a long and toilsome struggle. This valley, so rich in soil, so lovely in scenery, could not be pos- sessed securely till the sacrifice was made, • and that, too, of blood. The hands that more than half a century ago first struck the axe into the forests that had for^ages shadowed these plains, lie mingled with the dust. The troubles of those times, when the Indians descended upon this valley, were borne by heads that are pillowed beneath the soil. See, fellow citizens, the sacri- fice which was made by the first civilized tenants of this -valley. The grave containing their bones is uncovered before you. You see for yourselves the marks of the tomahawk and scalping-knife on the heads which are here uncovered, after having rested for more than fifty years. Peace be in this grave — sacred be the memory of them that sleep here. "A few who were themselves sharers in the toils and difiiculties of those times yet survive, and are here this day to bear witness for us. Venerable citizens, we respect you for your years ; we honor you for the part you bore in the doings and sufferings of those days ; we love and cher- ish the principles of liberty which animated you ; we owe you a debt of gratitude for the happy inheritance which you did your part to preserve unimpaired for your children. ' You have passed within the lines of the second half century since you opened a grave here for your brothers whom the Indians slaughtered on these plains. This valley, which you saw as it was when but a fron- tier, you survive to see in the midst of a popula- tion of many hundreds of thousands overspread- ing the country beyond you. But on this day, and where you now are, you cannot but think of what yon once saw in this place. We would stand aside while you look into this grave, and see the bones of your brothers, which fifty years ago you assisted in sadly laying here. We would not intrude while, as you stand beside these bones, you think how'iyou stood beside your friends when they lived. For your sakes we are glad that this day has come. We rejoice to think that you may see yet a stone raised here, on which the^ names of those you laid in this spot shall be engraven." Dr. Murray added in the course of his address : "You see these bleached heads and bending forms around me. These worthies have come down to us from the last century, and are the Companions of the heroes to whose manly frames these mouldering bones belonged. Could the breath of life be breathed into these bones — conld they rise in the possession of living energy, they would find, even among this small remnant, a few brothers and sons. As the gentleman on my right was narrating the incidents of the hor- rible massacre, I saw the tear stealing down the furrowed cheeks of those fathers of our commun- ity. That tear told me that they felt — that they deeply felt ; and raethiuks that there is not a heart in this vast concourse that does not sym- pathize with them. They desire that a monu- ment should be erected over the common grave of their fathers, and brothers, and companions. And do you not sympathize with them ? I know you do. I feel persuaded that you are anxious to place a liberal subscription on this paper be- fore you retire from this place. You court the honor of contributing to the Wyoming Monu- ment. My great fear is that we shall not all have the privilege of giving. I would therefore caution the rich not to indulge their patriotic feelings too freely, lest the poor should be de- barred. We all want to have our stone in the Wyoming Monument." The Legislature of Connecticut was appealed to for aid in constructing the monument, and in 1839 a committee from the valley was sent to i!lt!lilM]iIiiiiltiiihil»i WYOMING MONUMENT. THE WYOMING MONUMENT. Hartford for tLat purpose. The claims of Wy- oming's early settlers were strongly urged, and a report was presented which proposed a grant of three thousand dollars, but it was allowed to pass unheeded. In 1841 the attempt was repeated, but to no purpose. The ladies of Wyoming at last took the mat- ter in charge, which resulted in the formation of what was known as the "Luzerne Monumental Association," under the auspices of which the monument was finally reared. On one slab is the following inscription : "Near this spot was fought, on the afternoon of the 3d of July, 1778, the Battle of Wyoming, in which a small band of patriotic Americans, chiefly the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged, spared by inefficiency from the distant ranks of the Republic, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler and Colonel Nathan Denison, with a courage that deserved success, boldly met and bravely fought a combined British, Tory, and Indian force of thrice their number. Numerical superiority alone gave success to the invader, and widespread havoc, desolation, and ruin marked his savage and bloody footsteps through the Valley. This monument, commemorative of these events, and in memory of the actors in them, has been erected over the bones of the slain by their descendants and others, who gratefully appre- ciate the services and sacrifices of their patriotic ancestors.'' On the other slabs the following : Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Slain in the battle : FIELD-OFFIOEBS. ]Jeut. Col. George Dorrance, Major John Garret. CAPTAINS. James Bidlack, Jun., Aholiab Buck, Robert Durkce, Kezln Geer, Joseph Whittlesey, Dethlc Hewlt, William M'Karaghen, Samuel Ransom, Lazarus Stewart, James Wlgton. LIEUT3KANTS. A. Atherton, Stoddart Bowen, Aaron Gajlord, Timothy Pierce, Perrin Ross, Elijah Shoemaker, Lazarus Stewart, Jun., Asa Stevens, Flavins Waterman, James Wells, ENSIGNS. Jeremiah Blgford, Asa Gore, Silas Gore, ' Titus Hinman, John Otis, William White. PBIVATES. Jabez Atherton, Christopher Avery, Acke, A. Benedict, Jabez Beers, Samnel Bigford, Slias Ulxby, David Bixby, John Boyd, ] John Brown, Thomas Brown," WUUam Buck, J James Budd, Amos Bullock, Henry Buck, John Caldwell, Isaac Campbell, JoBlah Cameron, Joseph Carey, Joel Church, James Coffrin, William Coffrin, Samuel Cole, Robert Comstock, [three] Cook Brothers, Christopher Cortrlght, John Cortrlght, Anson Coray, Rufus Coray, Jenks Coray, Samuel Crocker, Joseph Crocker, Jabez Darling, D. Denton, Conrad Devenport, Anderson Dana, James Divine, George Downing, Levi Dunn, William Dunn, Ducher, Benjamin Finch, ' John Finch, Daniel Finch, Elisha Fitch, Cornelius Fitchett, Eliphalet Follett, Thomas Faxen, John Franklin, Thomas Fuller, Stephen Fuller, Gardner, George Gore, Green, Samuel Hutchinson, William Hammond, Silas Harvey, THE WYOMING VALLEY. Benjamia Hatch, Cyprian Hebard' Levi Elcks, James Hopkins, Nathaniel Howard, John Hutchins, Israel Inman, Elijah Inman, Joseph Jennings, Samuel Jackson, Robert Jameson, Henry Johnson, Lester, Joshua Landon, Daniel Lawrence William Lawrence, Francis Led/ard, James Look, Conrad Lowe, Jacob Lowe.i Nicholas ManviU, Job Marshall, New Matthewson, C. M'Cartee, A.Meeleman, Robert M'lntlre, Andrew Millard, John Murphy, Joseph Ogden, John Pierce, Abel Palmer, Silas Parke, William Packer, Henry Pencil, Noah Pettlbone, Jan., Jeremiah Ross, ^Reynolds, Ellsha Richards, Ellas Roberts, Enos Rockway, Timothy Ross, James Shaw, Philip Weeks, Constant Searle, Abel Seeley, Joseph Shaw, Abraham Shaw, Darius Spafford, Levi Spencer, Joslah Spencer, Eleazer Sprag'ue, Aaron Stark, Daniel Stark, Joseph Staples, Rufus Stevens, James Stevenson, Naler Sweed, Ichabod Tuttle, , John Van Wee, Abraham Vangorder, Ellsha Waters, Bartholomew Weeks, Jonathan Weeks, Peter.Wheelor, Stephen Whiting, Esen Wilcox, John Williams, BUhu Williams, Jun., Rufus Williams, Azibah Williams, John Ward, John Wilson, Parker Wilson Wade. William Woodringer, Ozias Yale. Tlie construction is of granite, sixty-two and a half feet in height, and neatly and artistically de- signed. The photographic illustration which is given is pronounced a fine piece of workmanship, and reflects credit upon the artist. CHAPTER XII. CAMPBELL'S LEDGE. Tet higlier than their tops The vera'rona wall of paraaise up-sprung: 0» which the sun more glad Impress'il his beams, Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow. When God had shower'd the earth ; so lovely seemed That landscape : and of pure now purer air Meets his approach, and to the heart Inspires Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All sadness but despair ; now gentle galea Fanning their odorlf'rous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils. — Paradiae Lostf Book IV, The prominent feature at the upper end of the Wyoming Valley is Campbell's Ledge, some- times called Crag Campbell. It is a bold moun- tain, commencing from the union of the waters of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna rivers on the plain, and continuing rather abruptly in as- cent until near its crowning summit, when its face as it looks down upon the fair vale below, assumes a gray scowl of rock, nearly perpendicu- lar, from the top of which many an ambitious traveler views the glories and beauties of three valleys, Wyoming, Lackawanna, and the Susque- hanna. Every visitor to this section of country, finds it a necessity to scale this sentinel of many tradi- tions, and the pen of the muse is ever busy in singing of its charms. Mrs. Sigourney's poem, "The Susquehanna, on its Junction with the Lackawanna,'' which we givein the present chapter, lends classic grace to the locality. Among the modern poets who ' have sung the beauties of Wyoming from time to time, perhaps none have done it more sweetly than Miss Susan Evelyn Dickinson, of Philadel- phia, sister of the celebrated Anna L^iTkinson, whose lectures have been heard and read in every important city in the Union. Miss Dick- inson contributes, from time to time, some excel- lent poems and articles on leading topics, to the New York Tribune, and an occasional sketch to the Sunday Free Press of Scianton. She fre- quently visits the Valley of Wyoming, where the has hosts of friends, and it was while on one of these visits, in the Fall of 1872, that she wrote the beautiful lines, "Wyoming,'' which we have added. With the foregoing we have associated a poem by Mr. John Erigena Barrett, a resident of the Valley, and a young man of marked promise in belles-lettres. Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie, one of the most critical reviewers of the day, and author of "The Life of Sir Walter Scott," says of Mr. Barrett's poem, entitled "Isabel" : — "I have been struck by the grace, beauty, and truth of 'Isabel', the poem whose scene is laid in fair Wyoming. 'Full many a gem of purest ray serene,' has appeared in provincial papers, and this I think is one ot them." • 56 THE WYOMISG VALLEY. THE SUSQUEHANNA. ON ITS JUNCIION WITH THE LACKAWANNA. BY MRS. SIGOUBNEY. Rush on glad stream, in thy power and pride To claim thd hand of thy promised bride, For she hastes from the realms of the darkened mine, To mingle her murmured vows with thine ; Ye have met, ye have met, and your shores pro- long The liquid tone of your nuptial song. Methinks yc wed as the white man's son And the child of the Indian King have done. I saw the bride as she strove in vain To cleanse her brow from the carbon stain ; But she brings thee a dowry so rich and true That thy love rnust not shrink from the tawny hue. Her birth was rude in a mountain cell. And her infant fieaks there are none to tell ; Yet the path of her beauty was wild and free, And in dell and forest she hid from thee ; But the day of her fond caprice is o'er, And she seeks to part from thy breast no more. Pass on, in the joy of thy blended tide. Through the land where the blessed Miquon died. No red-man's blood with its guilty stain, Hath cried unto G^d from thnt broad domain ; With the seeds of peace they have sown the soil. Bring a harvest of wealth for their hour of toil. On, on, through the vale where the brave ones sleep. Where the waving foliage is rich and deep. I have stood on the mountain and roamed through the glen. To the beautiful homes of the Western men ; Yet naught in that region of glory could see So fair as the vale of Wyoming to me. WYOMING. BY SUSIE S, DICKINSON. Storm has gone by — the trailing clouds thfit lin- ger Add glory to the October afternoon, — Touched by the artist sun with loving finger, — • With gold and rose hues of a dawn- of June. On the far hill-range purple mists are lying. Struck through with golden light in wavering gleams ; On nearer slopes the autumn woods are dying. Robed in rich tints that mock the artists' dreams. The rare day woos us forth to gath'er treasure Of unexpressed delight for heart and brain ;• Each moment brings us some new sense of pleas- ure, Or takes away some touch of former pain. We trace the mountain road, each turn unfold- ing A rarer beauty to the raptured eye ; Each glen, and stream and deep ravine is holding Its own rich store of autumn's pageantry. Our hearts spring up — the clear brook by us flowing Voices our gladness with its silver tone ; We find the keen, clear air, new life bestowing, More sweet than summer's breath o'er roses blown. Fain would we linger;— but at last regaining The open vale, new joy each spirit thrills — No Alpine roseate glow, the ice-peaks staining. Outrivals that which crowns these eastern hills. Above the western slopes the sun, retiring, Sends ever and anon a surge of gold — Now rising, now retreating, now expiring ; How should such scenes be fitly sung or told 1 Oh fair vale of Wyoming 1 oh soft splendor Of hill, and stream, and rare autumnal skies ! One heart will thrill with recollections tender Of all your beauty, until memory dies ! ISABEL. A TALE OF WYOMING. BY JOHN EBIGENA BAEBETT. Where Campbell's Ledge looms bare and high, Beside the Susquehanna river, That passes calmly, proudly by, And stately as the Guadalquiver ; In fair Wyoming's pleasant vale — That prototype of Paradise, Where Nature's sweets perfume the gale. And Love looks forth with laughing eyes. w o Q W J (/) J w ra o CAMPBEl,L'8 LBDOB. 5r Within a cottage shaded well, With clastering vine and clematis, There dwelt a maid named Isabel, Whose dream of life was one of bliss. Her parents guarded well her youth, And happily they kept that flow'r Within the peerless path of truth, So oft assail'd by Satan's power. And Isabel was beautiful — The rose beside her cheek was pale — Loving, belov'd and dutiful, The happiest child in all the vale ; Filling her parents' hearts with joy — Thrilling the heart of many a swain ; Killing with glances shy and coy Their soft advances weak and vain. * Had Endymion seen her there He ne'er had slept in Latmus deep ; To woo a maid so young and fair, Ah, who would not forswear all sleep ? Her heart was chaste as Dian's kiss Upon the snow that flecks the hill. And void of grief, and full of bliss, And clear as the crystal mountain rill. Full many a youth throughout the land Sighed for a chance his love to tell, , And many a suitor sought her hand, But sought in vain for Isabel. Love's roseate morn had not broke Upon her virgin soul as yet. The golden Sibyl had not spoke To her of joys and griefs to get. Laughing, lovely Isabel ! With heart as free as desert air. Felt not the pow'r of Cupid's spell— Felt not the gnawing tooth of care. She glided through the giddy throng, Nor heeded all the love-sick swains — Her maiden heart aglow with song, Her very voice was music's strains. Adown the Susquehanna side, Where weeping willows green and grave Salnte'the ever-gliding tide, And kiss the ocean-seeking wave ; A stripling lived with eye of fire. And heart that glow'd for Isabel, But when he met her, his desire To tell his passion faded, fclL Of all the others she had met. Fair Isabel liked him the most Of all the suitors who had yet Become her slaves ; among the host Of passionate pilgrims who had knelt Before her love-inspiring shrine. She liked young Adrian and felt Before his glance a thrill divine ! At length he told her of his love Beside the ever-gliding stream, And called as witness heaven above That she might trust his boyhood's dream. She listened, trusted — ah, too well ! For Isabel was fair, and young. No human tongue or pen can tell What joy within her soul had sprung. She hung upon his houey'd speech As dew-drops hang upon the rose, Until it sank beyond her reach Deep in her very soul's repose, A thousand times farewell to mirth ! No laugh now lights her loving eye, For love within her soul hath birth. Her cheeks are flushed, her glances shy. And at the foot of Campbell's Ledge, When night hath dropped her curtain down, Close by the rushing river's edge, She meets her love outside the town. His words are sweet, and warm his kiss. Ah luckless, trusting Isabel, — The honey'd words, the hours of bliss, Are the deceitful Sibyl's spell. One night she went to keep her tryst, But faithless Adrian was not there ; She listened, sighed, she pray'd, she wish'd, But sighs and prayers died on the air. And mingled with the low, soft, song Tha river sang among the reeds, She waited wearily and long, But sighs and prayers no Adrian heeds. 58 THE WYOMING VALLET. The crescent moon shone fair and bright, And softly over Campbell's Ledge, And by its late and lustrous light She pondered o'er the broken pledge, And murmured thus ; "Alas, my soul, How tenderly I loved that man, Loved him beyond my own control, Beyond myself, and yet he can Deceive me thus. She loves him too. But not so deep nor half so well, Jler passion 's passing, mine was true," Aye, truth itself was Isabel. A month passed by, when cheerily The bells rang from the village spire ; The maiden heard them wearily At her window, her heart on fire. She saw a wedding party pass And heard their laughter gay and free ; She sigh'd a sorrowful "Alas ! I pity pretty Molly Lee ; To wed a viper false as he Whose perjured vow has broke my heart ; ffe never can be true, and she Will often wish herself apart From him ; for Oh ! I know Where falsehood lurks like serpents vile, That love can never, never grow, Though honey'd words would fain beguile." And so it was, a deadly blight Came o'er the home where Adrian dwelt ; His day was dark as darkest night. He knew no joy, no peace he felt. And Isabel — just like the jose Whose leaves are crushed at dawn of day. Soon sank into her long repose, Too soon her spirit pass'd away. The view from the highest point of the Ledge is claimed by many to be the finest and most famed of any in the valley of Wyoming. The disputed points as to locality are so well taken, and vary so much at different periods, that a de- cision which would be conclusive cannot with sincerity be given. It is impossible to find one spot on the mountains of either side of the valley, from which all the charms of scenery as gathered at different heights, can be taken in. It is true, Campbell's Ledge affords the most diversi- fied view, but not the most inspiring ; the most sweeping, but less heavenly than the soft per- spective which is drunk in from Prospect Bock. The three rivers which unite at the base of the mountain resemble a triple lightning fork, as seen in grand thunder-storm scenes on canvass. Away down the Susquehanna the shimmer of its surface is as enchanting as a fairy scene ; up the same stream the transfiguration to rocky dells and romantic glades, reminds one of laugh- ing childhood, wild and intoxicating among brooks and rills. Up the Lackawanna, toward Scranton, the scenery is broken, but enthusiastically invigor- ating in its charm. As far as the eye can reach, the hillsides and plains are dotted with enter- prises that spit their smoke and steam with incessant vis;or from dawn to sunset ; a view which in itself is intrinsically valuable to a stranger in studying the character of the inhabit: tants of that region. At the base of the mountain, covering part of the classic ground made famous by the tory Wintermoots, nestling close to the harsh looking old mountain sentinel, is the thrifty town of Pittston, a most thoroughly genuine coal town, already famous as the spot where occurred the Eagle Shaft disaster, the particulars of which are given in future pages. Hollister's history locates near the base of Campbell's Ledge the Indian village [of Asser- ughney, which, he adds, "like all their villages, was small, as hunting and fishing were the main sources of supporting the population, naturally averse to labor. This high ledge affording an uninterrupted lookout over the valley below, was used by the Indians not only thus to guard their wigwams, nestled along the river, but to kindle their beacon-fires at the evening or midnight hour, as they were wont to be kindled on the Scottish highlands in the days of Wallace and Bruce, to show those who watched the portent- ous flame the presence of danger, or signal the' movements of an enemy. "While Asserughney was the Indian name of the town, Adjougva was applied ta the lower Campbell's ledge. 59 portion of the Lackawanna valley. Tliis castle, or encampment, was the upper one of the Dcla- wares in Wyoming. It was a point of impor- tance because of its favorable location for trading purposes. The great war-path from the inland lakes of New York to Wyoming and the South, and the trail down the Lackawanna from the Miuisink homes on the Delaware, passed through it. Fur parties and dusky chiefs, with their cap- tives, alike followed the solitude of its passage through these true Indian lands." Tachneckdorus, a friendly Delaware chief, refers to this locality in an information which he sent to the Governor of Pennsylvania in Februa- ry, 1756, wherein he stated that NesJuSopbttcon, (now Nescopec,) was deserted, jjipon a rumor that prevailed among the tribe of a large num- ber of State troops advancing with intent to cut them off, and that they, the Delawares, "fled to Asseruckney, and higher up, having there a big hill on one side and the Susquehanna on the other side of the present town." I The derivation of the name — Campbell's Ledge or Crag Campbell, seems to be a matter of much speculation among the residents of the valley. There is a popular legend which obtains the most current belief, that a man by the name of Campbell was once pursued by the Indians from the region of the upper Susquehanna. He had eluded his pursuers over hill and plain, through ravine and over precipice, and was boldly strik- ing for the beautiful valley which his bewildered brain had so anxiously imagined to be nearer and nearer at every step and bound before the bloodthirsty red men who were gaining upon him. He is represented as an old enemy, and is singled out for special torture, when vengeance and shouts of the wardance would mingle with the smbke of his roasting carcass. He knows his fate if taken, and struggles onward. The happy looking plains are in sight and his ex- hausting frame gathers fresh [courage, but alas ! the dreadful chasm between him and safety is that deep abyss, down, down that craggy ledgs of rocks where nothing but the tops of the high- est trees are seen many hundred feet below. He gazes for an instant to the right, to the left, to see if an opportunity of escape is afforded, but the ever alert forest band has flanked him, until he is irretrievably hemmed in. He. turns one look upon his pursuers, and the greed for human blood and savage glutting of revenge drives de- spair into his soul. He struggles again, but in vain, and with a yell of defiance at the red-skins he leaps over the verge of the hanging rock, and defeats the blood trackers, who answer with dire disappointment. Of the antecedents of this famed Campbell, no authentic traces can be found, nor is it known to a certainty that such an event ever occurred at the rocky ledge. (Another theory offered is — that the name is derived from Campbell, the British poet, who made the valley famous in his "Gertrude of Wy- oming." About 1808 there were a few in the valley who had learned to admire Campbell, and indeed, throughout the entire enlightened world, this celebrated poem made a marked sensation, and it would be but natural that some spot should be made historic in reverence to the illustrious writer, but to this the oldest settlers do not readily concede. Mrs. Maria Fuller, wife of Mr. Charles Fuller, of Scranton, a lady of clear memory and vigorous perception, states now, in her seventy-fifth year, that she can remember when the mountain was called Campbell's Ledge, and when neither the poet's name or fame had been circulated among the settlers. She was bom almost under the frowning hillside, and can recall with precision all the events which carry an impression in the history of the place. Her earliest recollections were those which were gathered from the cabin firesides, and all in favor of the popular tradition. It has been called in earlier days Dial-Knob, which title it derives from a pleasing remem- brance of the rude habits of the pioneers. There were no clocks in the valley, and but few watches, ■ and these owned mostly by men farther down the valley toward Wilkes-Barre. It was ob- served in course of time that the noonday hour, when the sun shone, was as plainly told on the gray ledge of rocks, as upon the face of an Eng- lish Bull's-eye time piece. The rocks are as directly north and south as any natural land mark of prominence can be, hence the shadow- 80 THE WYOMING VALLET, cast when the rays were thrown from the me- ridian told the talc in such a prominent and marked way, that the oxen of a hundred farms were loosened from the plough at its appearance, and the entire population summoned their house- holds to the noonday meal by this dial on the knob. ■ Mr. A. Frothingham, of Soranton, who was paymaster in the employ of the Pennsylvania Coal Company over a quarter of a century ago, with an oflBce at the base of the mountain, calls our attention to the fact that at the very crest of the highest ledge of rock is to be found a clump of red cedars, casting a shade over the precipice, but no where else on the mountain, in the valley, or indeed in this section of the state can the same specimens be seen, a fact which is indeed singular, when considering the many weird legends which are spun around the spot. The same gentleman narrates as an item of experience, that nearly thirty years ago, while still in the employ of the same Company, a man called at the office, exceedingly anxious to dis- close, for a valuable consideration, a secret, well ■worth knowing, concerning the hoary old senti- nel of rocky visage. He was told that the Com- pany was not dealing in secret tales, but in the secret recesses of the earth, and that for coal ; but, he insisted upon a price for discovering to the corporation the exact locality where a silver mine of fabulous wealth could be found in the bowels of Crag Campbell. He had been travel- ing extensively on the plains, and had encoun- tered a tribe that at an earlier period inhabited Wyoming Valley. From these few survivors he had gleaned the history of the nature of the mine, its locality on the mountain, and its posi- tively known extent as appreciated by the In- dians. The Pennsylvania Coal Company were averse to finding silver as it would ruin their coal business, so declined to negotiate with the wise individual. Nevertheless, this fact has a bearing upon the •history of the romantic section at the union of the two rivers. It has been handed from father to son for the last century or more, that away in the deep recesses of some mysterious glade or 'Book is a silver mine of incomputable wealth, that was known and operated by the aborigines. The legend runs that a farmer, the ^head of a family of fourteen persons, whose sparsely culti- vated acres barely sustained the numerous mouths, was brutally murdered by the savages, only one, a boy, named David, aged fourteen, escaping the tomahawk. The youthful prisoner was carried away by the Indians, and after trav- eling all night found himself at daybreak upon the summit of a lofty mountain, which was sup- posed to be Campbell's Ledge, where in the dis- tance he could discern the little village in the Valley of Wyoming; A temporary halt was here madC) and the fol- lowing mysterious action, as recorded in HoUis- ter's history, took place, which ever since has been the cause of much uneasiness in the brains of wild dreamers aud adventure seekers. "An old Indian chief, to whom all paid rever- ence, and whose advice controlled every move- ment, arose, and advancing a few rods, stooped down and removed a large flat stone, exposing to view a spring. The waters of this were conduct- ed away by a subterranean aqueduct, purposely . constructed so that when they came to light every appearance would seem to indicate that they had their origin in the very opposite direc- tion to what they did. At the mouth of the spring, a roll of bark, forming a spoutj was placed in such a manner as to readily conduct the water from it, and under this a handkerchief — belonging to David's mother but a few hours before — was so held as to receive the stream of water. For some minutes the chief stirred up the spring with so much violence as to render it turbid and sandy. After this was done, every thing around the spring was restored to its form- er appearance by the concealing rock, earth and leaves, so that no one not familiar with the fact, could have suspected a spring in contiguity to the spotj "The handkerchief was now lifted from the spout, completely covered with fine^ yellow particles resembling gold. This was taken b^ the chief, and placed in a rudely fashioned stone vessel, purposely made to receive the glittering stone treasure. "The fire being «xtingui*hed, and certain ia- Campbell's iHiDGtfe, 61 cantations necessary to prevent any but the right- ful owners to discover the hidden spring, being performed, the Indians loft this point guarded by the wild rock, and resumed their trail to the north, guided by the polar star. Of the hopes and heart-aches of young David during the jour- ney, it is not necessary to write. "After a walk of six days, the village of Kings- ton upon the Hudson was reached, where the substance, which the old chief had been so care- ful to collect and conceal, was exchanged for such tawdry goods as seemed desirable to the Indians. David was at once ransomed by the whites. In after years he often related the inci- dent to his children — one of whom, in company with other persons, has traversed and dug over a considerable portion of BalcT Mountain and CampbelVs Ledge without finding the secret channel." It is claimed, however, despite the sneers of the incredulous, that many of the older settlers knew of the existence of the mine, having ob- tained the information by bribery, but unfortu- nately the knowledge of its whereabouts at the present day is as obscure perhaps as the base of the stone upon which Crag Campbell rests. The Pennsylvania Archives have upon record a complaint upon the part of the Indians to the Proprietary Government, in 1776, that persons had "dug a trench, 44 feet long and 6 feet deepj from which three boat loads of silver ore were taken away." Hollister gives as authority that this mine was situated 12 miles above the Indian village Wywaraickj (now Wilkes-Barre ) and adds that "the silver ore thus purloined was tak' en down the Susquehanna Eiver in canoes.'' The log-cabin stories which had their origin in adventures on and around this romantic moun- tain seem to be without number. The forest warrior tales are wild and terrible when occur-' ring in its domain, and the hunter is not a whit behind in the marvelous when scaling peaks and jutting crags along the uneven surface. The tourist imagines, the muse sings, and the artist delineates, but Crag Campbell seen from the Susquehanna in front of the Wyoming Val- ley Hotel, at Wilkes-Barre, outrivals all. With Bald Mount in the rear, and the gray rocky face of the Ledge standing against it in defiant relief, the thoughtful student can pass a summer after- noon in pensive reverie and thrilling ecstacies over the grim old picket at the head of the love* liest valley on the continent. CHAPTER XIII. PROSPECT ROCK. Here la the empire of thy perfect bliss, Here shall no forms abridge, no hours confine The views, the walks, that boundless joy inspires. — Gertrvjde of WyoTniruj, Part III. • • • • Like a golden toy Mid Beauty's orbed bosom. Scenes of earth And Heaven are mixed, as flesh and soul in man. — Feetus. A favorite point of view for those wishing to obtain a prospect which shall take in the whole valley, is upon the mountain range just east of Wilkes-Barre, where is located Prospect Rook. The view from this point comprehends the whole valley from Campbell's Ledge to Nanticoke Dam ; and on a clear day, it is said that even Hyde -Park, Scranton, is quite distinctly visible. The panorama spread before the eye is magnificent — the valley, with the beautiful Susquehanna, dot- ted with many a verdant island, winding through it ; the pleasant old villages, that lovingly cling to the banks of the river as if the stream which runs through them and links them together were a symbol of the beautiful chain of unity that in the former times bound them together against the common perils of the wilderness ; the re- membrancer of these perils which one sees in yonder Monument (for it is distinctly visible;) and beyond all these the threefold tier of moun- tain ridges that rise one above the other along the western sky, one of them near at hand, with Its well defined form, while the other two peer from above with their blue tops, as from some other world. I'or magniflcetice of view, and one which will ShdW the entire classic region, sit down upon this huge rock during one hoUr — that which fol- lows sunset— in which hour of all others the Sus- quehanna, and the plains on either Bide, wear their crowning glories. Who can describe what you shall see — who could describe in words this meeting together, through their shading reflec- tions, over the edges of this languid and luxuri- ous river, of all things near it and above — this meeting together, as for caresses and last adieus, of woods and clouds and sky, while the river that mirrors all glows with delicate and ever-chang- ing tints, as if it had an impassioned appreciation of the glory with which it is overspread. The enchantment of the distant perspective, with its soft mellow haze, is as heavenly as the atmosphere which hung over Edgar A. Poe's fairy scene dreaia. The exquisite loveliness of the scenery in the L'osom of the valley, cosily nestled between the Lills, is as delicate, in the opinion of famous travelers, as can be found upon the face of the earth ; indeed, many of acknowl- edged authority lend greater force still to this broad assertion. The view which Is herein given of "Twelve Miles of the Wyoming Valley, from Prospect Rock, showing Wilkes -Barre, Kingston, Wyom' ing, Ashley, and Plymouth," is a reinarkably happy one. Mr. Schurch, the photographer, was foitunate in securing such a negative, as but one day in one hundred can be selected for such a scene. In ninety-nine days of a hundred, the distance completely inwraps the view with a mysterious haie through -which it is impossible for the camera to penetrate. In this illustration, however, along the horizon a beautiful glimpse is PROSPECT EOCK. 63 afforded ef the blue heights far beyond The general outline of the view is of striking beauty. The advantage of position on the rock presents to view nearly every part of the valley in detail, and as a whole, and in this illustrated scope it is advantageously given, without rendering it dim by too great distance, nor unpicturcsque by be- ing too near. Directly in the foreground, the decse black coloring of the picture represents the deep de- clivity of the mountain side which is covered with forest trees. Overreaching this chasm, and contiguous to the slope, is the thrifty village of Ashley, which is niarked conspicuously in the view by its uniform groups of white houses. Farther over|the plain, through the centre of the picture, is the beautiful city ofi Wilkes-Barre, and in a prolongation of the same line of view, although dimly seen, is the pleasant village of Kingston, the seat of the 'Wyomiiig Conference Seminary. To the right is Wyoming, where is located the site of Forty Fort, and the Monument. Down the river to the left of Wilkes-Barro is Ply- mouth, a coal town of some magnitude and im- portance. Prospect Rock is a steep ledge of light con- glomerate, formed of strata some half a dozen feet in thickness, and indicates from its present position a mighty convulsion from the kindred formation below whence it was upheaved. Seen in close proximity it carries a feeling of admiration and awe to the beholder, for while the eye is melted with tenderness at the fascinat- ing charms in front, it^is as surely chilled at the face of the rock which thrusts its bold counte- nance upon your gaze in spite of your poetical reveries. The poem which we have subjoined, by "Stella of Lackawanna," (Mrs. L. S. Watres), a poetess of merited celebrity, in Northeastern Pennsyl- vania, whose numbers, more than all the rest, have lent charms to local history, — is a gem in- deed, and who that has ever spent an hour on the cold gray rock, does not feel the emotions which prompted those truly beautiful verses? PROSPECT ROCK. BT STBLLX OP lUCKA WANNA. Oh cold, gray stone, I scarce may tell In which attire I love thee best, With icepearls clustering on thy brow — Or roses on thy breast. • I see thee when the woodland nymphs Pluck fragrant gifts for thy brown palms ; And when the winter's frozen throats Chorus their boisterous psalms. And when the autumn — flushed with wine- Flings wide its gold o'er field and tree, I watch and wait for one low throb Of pulsing life in thee. But no soft creep of early blooms,- Nor loudly voicing tempest shock. May wake in thee one trembling thrill, Oh nnimpassioned Eock ! '^ Low kneel the blue hills at thy feet, And the rough arms of cynic trees Reach up with reverential touch To clasp thy granite knees. Lone stoic 'mong the sighing pines, Hath no coy tenderness upsprung, When fondling wrens upon thy robes Their careless nests have hung ? If e'er a blush thy pale cheek tinged, 'Twas when some tenant of the wood Wove garlands 'mong thy mossy locks, To coax a softer mood. And tears — the purest ever gemmed. When the far orbs of sorrowing heaven Gaze down through midnight silences — Have to thy doom been given. Yet art thou cold as ocean foam ; These winsome wooers have not won ; Go, wildwood elfins, woo instead The warm eyes of the sun. Beneath the hazy autumn skies I linger near thee yet again, While inonrnfully the cricket chirps, And the sad winds complain. 64 THE WTOMIKG VALLEY. My heart finds fellowship with thee, Oh strangely solitary thing ; No hour as that upon thy breast, So fleet upon the wing. Yon river seems a silver thread ; Yon meadows wear a deeper greei), When we together, cloud-girt friend. Look down upon the scene, And from afar we hear the jar Of conflicts such as brave men know, That toil their weary round of years, Then sleep, at last, so low. And slender spires point the vexed soul Still upward, to a fairer sphere. Where life shall be forever freed From woes that follow here. And where the shadows deepest lie — And patriarch elms their circles fling. From many a softly-lighted home We hear the children sing. And care-worn age looks on and smiles — And youth is gladdened o'er its hopes ; All this, and more, we watch the while Across the valley slopes. ******* Upon thy lap, oh forest friend, I lie and dream a thousand things ; Lean nearer ; I would question thee. While yonder oriole sings. Say, has ambition clambered here. To idly prate its mad-born schemes 1 Or poet in thy stony ear Poured his impassioned dreams? Has sober-eyed PJiilosopby In languid mornings here reclined ? Or boyhood tossed its noisy shouts Upon the answering wind ? And tell me, has no wretched life To n-adness stung through many a year, E'er longed to lay its bondage down And sleep forever here ? And hath no fluttering bird of hope Perched here, and trilled its sweet, wild tale, When crimson flushed the cloudland o'er. Or sunset left it pale ? Nay ; rocky heart, turn not away ; Repeat for me the story old Those lovers whispered yesterday, Beneath a sky of gold. Confess : did'st thou no yearning own When passion wove so sweet a spell, Filling the rosy air with sighs f Thou bear'st love's witchery well. An exile thou, oh mountain-born ; — A matchless and unwedded thing ; And no proud race of granite mould From thy cold loins shall spring. And hope, and love, and grief, may ceaise Their honied words, or tender speech ; Nor smile, nor sigh, nor pleading prayer. Thy stony heart may reach. It is eminently fitting, before dismissing the thoughts engendered by a survey from Prospect Rock, to give space to another poem, which lends grace and charm to the fame of the valley wherever the English language is read. WYOMING. BY PITZ-GBEENB HALLEOK. Thou com'st in beauty on my gaze at last, 'On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming !" Image of many a dream in hours long past, When life was in its bud and blossoming. And waters, gushing fiom the fountain spring Of pure enthusiast thought, dimmed my younj eyes, As by the poet borne on unseen wing, I breathed, in fancy, 'neath thy cloudless skies. The summer's air, and hoard her echoed harmo- nies. 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, PROSPECT ROCK, Overlooking the Wyoming Valley. Scene along the Lehigh and Susquehanna Division ot the Central Railroad of New Jersey. PHOSPBCT BOCK. 65 That beetles high thy lovely valley o'er ; And now, where winds thy river's greenest shore, Within a bower of sycamores am laid ; And winds, as soft and sweet as ever bore The fragrance of wild flowers through sun and shade, Are singing in the tree , whose low boughs press my head. 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 With more of truth, and made each rook 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 bis own Ger- trude's are. But where are they, the beings of the mind. The bard's creations, moulded not of clay. Hearts to strange bliss and suffering assigned — Young Gertrude, Albert, Waldegrave — where are they ? We need not ask. The people of to-day Appear good, honest, quiet men enough, And hospitable too — for ready pay ; With manners like their roads, a little rough. And hands whose grasp is warm and welcoming, though tough. Judge * * *, who keeps the toll-bridge gate. And the town records, is the Albert now Of Wyoming : like him, in church and state. Her Doric column ; and upon his brow The thin hairs, white with seventy winters' snow. Look patriarchal. Waldegrave 'twere in vain To point out here, unless in yon scare-crow, That stands full-uniformed upon the plain, To frighten flocks of crows and blackbirds from the grain. For he would look particularly droll In his "Iberian boot" and "Spanish plume,'' And be the wonder of each Christian soul. As of the birds that scare-crow and his broom. But Gertrude, in her loveliness and bloom. Hath many a model here ; for woman's eye. In court or cottage, wheresoe'er her home. Hath a heart-spell too holy and too high To be o'erpraised even by her worshipper, Poesy. There's one in the next field — of sweet sixteen — Singing and summoning thoughts of beauty born In heaven — with her jacket of light green, *'Love-darting eyes, and tresses like the morn,'' Without a shoe or stocking— hoeing corn. Whether, like Gertrude, she oft wanders "there. With Shakspeare's volume in her bosom borne, I think is doubtful. Of the poet-player The maiden knows no more than Cobbett or' Voltaire. There is a woman, widowed, gray, and old. Who tells you where the foot of battle stepped Upon their day of massacre. She told Its tale, and pointed to the spot, and wept. Whereon her father and five brothers slept Shroudless, the bright-dreamed slumbers of the brave, When all the land a funeral mourning kept. And there, wild laurels planted on the grave By Nature's hand, in air their pale red blossoms wave. And on the margin of yon orchard hill Are marks where time-worn battlements have been. And in the tall grass traces linger still Of "arrowy frieze and wedged ravelin." Five hundred of her brave that valley green Trod on the morn in soldier-spirit gay ; But twenty lived to tell the noonday scene — And where are now the twenty ? Passed away. Has Death no triumph-hours, save on the battle- day? CHAPTER XIV. PIONEER ENTERPRISE— HISTORICAL INCIDENTS— THE SHIP-BUILDING ERA. Great lords, wise men ne'er sit ana wall tueir lossj But oheerly seek how to redress their harms. "What though the mast be now thrown overboard. The cable broke, the holding anchor lost. And half our sailors swallow'd in the flood ; Yet Uves our pilot still. —Henry VI.— Act V. See. S. The tide of emigration down the Susquehanna was remarkably slow during the first few years succeeding the reign of peace. "Up to the year 1800, there had been no perceptible change in the condition of the country, or the character of its population. Indeed, the melancholy stories which were woven together in its history, had hung over the country like a magic pall, and the effect was anything but inviting to the spirit of emigration farther east. The old settlers, however, were pushing on- ward with their characteristic determination. The rude manners of early forest life soon began to give way to a more refined method of con- ducting social affairs. Perhaps it may add to the already arristocratic air which pervades the atmosphere of part of the Wyoming Valley, to note here, that in ll90, eleven slaves were owned by the more wealthy and in 1800 the number had increased to eight- een. In the records of Luzerne county may be found the following: "To Lord Butler, Clerk of the Peace, &c. "June 19th, 1796, 1, John Hollenback, of the township of Wilkes-Barre, county of Luzerne (Miller), do certify that I have a negro female child, by the name of Maria, born of a negro -"voman, which is my property. The child was born the 1 9th day of February last, and is four months old to-day. This negro child I desire you to record, agreeably to a law of the state, passed March 29th, 1788." A statute which had gone into effect, having- for its ultimate result the abolition of slavery, re- quired the recording of this notice. In the earlier town meetings in Wyoming^ Valley, proceedings were had which make up some interesting history for the enlightened read- er of to-day. Hon. H. B. Wright, author of "Historical Sketches of Plymouth," gives the following : "But there was one thing always done at these annual meetings which did not very much re- dound to the credit or humanity of our early settlers ; that was tLe selling of the town poor to the lowest bidder, to be boarded for the year. Along from 1812 to 1820, Jerre Allen, a de- ranged man, would be brought ,to the place of holding the town meeting, in chains, and thus put up for sale. Speedy Nash," a poor, simple,, foolish creature, also. Thp bidding on the pau- pers, for the year's keep, would generally begin at a hundred dollars, and go 'down to fifty or forty-five, and would be generally struck off to- some mountaineer, living in a log hut, and the town contribution would sustain pauper and pur- chaser." Agriculture pure and primitive, was the occu- pation of the pioneers of the northeastern section of the commonwealth. The principle crop was wheat, and this product was the representation of individual and collective wealth. Corn, to- bacco, and other articles -were raised, and used for barter and exchange, but •wheat was the- THE SHIP-BUILDING ERA. 67 standard by which everything was secured to meet haman wants. The nearest bank was that of Easton, and at this point the traffic in large quantities was usual- conducted during the months of sledding when the yield could more easily be conveyed sixty miles, which was the distance by the Wiltes- Barre and Easton turnpike, Hon. H. B. Wright, the historian of Plymouth, before referred to, and who nominated James K. Polk, in convention, for the Presidency, in writing of these trips which usual- ly took three days, adds :— "It was an exciting and pleasant excursion in early days, this Easton journey. I have hauled many a load, and I have counted on Pocono a hundred sleds in line. The jingling of bells, the mirth afcd laughter, and sometimes the sound of music, gave it a charm that made it very agreeable. Besides this, every tavern upon the roadside had its fiddler, and we generally had a dance for half the night, and then off in the morning, our horses steaming in the snow flakes, and the merry songs and shouts made the summits of Pocono and the Blue Moun- tain ring with their echoes." The same writer refers to one of these trips as the occasion when he put his first segar in- his mouth, being eighteen years old, and adds with much honesty, "I am told that young gen- tlemen commence smoking now, at eight or ten years of age." Banishment or whipping were the two penal- ties for crimes in those days, and the exact local- ity of an ancient whipping post is pointed out to the traveler as one of the remarkable landmarks of earlier times. Shad was plenty in the Susquehanna before the construction of canals, and constituted one of the staple products of the region. Up to 1825, the period when shad fishery ceased, the crop was relied upon as one of the utmost importance. The highest price did not reach over eight or ten cents apiece, while the more usual rate was but two cents. Bass was common in the rivers, and game along the shores was bountifully abundant The country merchant was driving a heavy business when his books could show a trade amounting to two thousand a year. But little currency was needed, and this came entirely from the bank at Easton as business was conducted by barter sale and exchange. So little was paper money understood that each note was registered, giving the name of the bank issuing it, from whom received, and its date and number. The lines of transportation were by "Durham boats'' on the river, and Conestoga wagons on the turnpike. The latter drawn by four horses, is described as follows by a writer who can recall in his own day the scene : — "A wagon would carry three, four, and sometimes five^ tons. The bodies were long, projecting over front and rear, ribbed with oak, covered with canvass, and gen- erally painted blue. There were several persons, residents of the valley, who made it their only occupation to carry goods for the early mer- chants." The early school advantages were indeed not flattering. Pennsylvania as a state, was far be- hind many of the sister governments in the edu- cational movement, and Northern Pennsylvania was but in unison with the grand march. The first steps toward a thorough system of education were put into operation in 1809, and improved in 1824. In the year 1812, the first real artistically built church of northern Pennsylvania was erect- ed in Wilkes-Barre, which was known in recent years as the "Old Church." The bell was manufactured in Philadelphia August 6, 1811, and inscribed on it, as was the fashion of primitive day, were the Latin words "Gloria in Mtcelsis Deo Fill Dei Miserere" and the English sentence, '■'■I will sound and resound unto thy people, Lord, to call them to thy word." The old bell tolled the knell of parting day up to 1845, following the custom established by William the Conqueror, who required the town bell to answer the purpose of taps or tatoo to the inhabitants, which compelled them to cover their fires, hence the meaning of curfew. The borough of Wilkes-Barre was incorporated in 1806, and this custom was established in 1812. The edifice, which was constructed by funds contributed by many, had an experience not al- THE WYOMING VALLEY. together in keeping with the divine injunction, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." A dispute arose between the Presbyterians and the Metho- dist Episcopalians, as to the right of occupancy, and as the former had possession of the keys they eflfectually closed the entrance against the latter. Mr. Stewart Pearce, author of the "Annals of Luzerne,'' describes -what ensued in this wise ; — "At length the followers of Wesley assembled in the court-house, and resolved to enter the church at all hazards. They accordingly, with the ap- proval of their pastor, the Rev. Morgan Sherman, appointed Joseph Slocum, Abraham Thomas, Daniel CoUings, and others, a committee to storm the Lord's house. Mr. Slocum forced the windows with a crowbar, and Mr.*, Thomas, like Sampson at Gaza, lifted the door from its hinges. The people entered the building, and, by direc- tion of James McClintock, esq., attorney for^jthe Methodists, broke the locks from the pulpit and pew doors, Mr. Slocum then approached the sa- cred desk and recommenced religious worship by giving out the hymn commencing : "Equip me lor the war, Ana teach my hands to flght," In ISSY the old structure was taken down and removed. The first church built in the Lackawanna re- gion was erected at Carbondale, and the second at the point now known as Hyde Park, but of these and many others that 'may be ranked among the old church curiosities we shall speak hereafter in the chapter pertaining to the subject of churches in general. Hollister, in commenting upon the habits of the early inhabitants, says : — " 'Bundling,' that easy but wicked habit of our grandfathers, ap- pears to have been wonderfully prevalent at an early period along the valley, as well as in many other portions of the country, and was not un- frequently attended with consequences that naiSht naturally have been looked for. Besides this, there is every reason to believe that the current morals of the day had the greatest liberty of standard, and that one prominent and almost universal characteristic of the people was, the real love of whiskey.''^ Maple sugar formed a valuable product of the country, and at five cents a pound was considered profitable. In this branch of industry all the adult members of families were annually engaged. The females were not at all reluctant to join in the "bush,'' and "sugaring off" with its many at- tendant episodes marked an era of history which the present generation can but feebly appreciate. Flax and wool, from which "home made" clothing was manufactured, gave to the blooming young women of the settlement an opportunity to display their ambition, which compares "strangely with the taste of the present generation. It was the boast of many a family, that a daughter had a record for so much a day at the spinning-wheel. The house which did not con- tain a loom, a spinning-wheel and a dye pot, was an exception. Pearce's Annals of Luzerne give instances of the ability of a few of the noble minded women, who manufactured while the men tilled the ground. "Miss Mary Smith of Pittston frequently spun 120 knots in a day. In 1828, Miss Rachel Jen- kins spun and reeled 135 knots in twelve hours, and Miss Selinda Jenkins spun 136 knots of fill- ing in the same time." It may appear strange to this generation and age to mention such a matter as navigating the Susquehanna, but among the pioneer enterprises of the Upper Waters of the Susquehanna, this branch of industry received some attention. The river was declared by the Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania, in llll, to be a public highway, and a certain appropriation was made to render the channel navigable. The gravel bars were cleared away, and the necessary work speedily accomplished. The first boat ever used upon the river for transportation, was in lYSO at a town called Durham, a few miles below Easton, whence the name, "Durham Boat" before alluded to. These boats are described as "sixty feet in length, eight feet in width, and two feet in depth, and when laden with fifteen tons' weight drew twenty inches of water. The stern and bow were sharp, on which were erected small decks, while a run- THE SHIP-BUILDING ERA. 69 ning board extended the whole length of the boat on each side. They carried a maBt with two sails, and were manned ' by a crew of five men, one at the stern with a long oar for steering, and two on each side with setting-poles for pushing thena forward. The Snsquehanna boats were of similar con- struction, but larger, and manned by a more nu- merous crew. With one end of their long poles set in the water, and the other against their mus- cular shoulders, these hardy boatmen toiled the livelong day, forcing their way against a rapid current, at the rate of from one to two miles an hour.'' — Stewart Pearce's Annals of Luzerne. A boat of curious construction was built by Isaac A. Chapman, esq., at Nescopeck, named the "Experiment," which ssrtled on July 4th 1824, from the former place to Wilkes-Barre, where a multitude of citizens including a militia force, on the banks hailed its appearance with cheers. It was what is known as a "team pow- er" boat, i. e. the boat was propelled by poles, which were set in motion by horse power. The following year, three steamboats were built for the purpose of transportation on the Susquehanna. One of them, the "Codorous," with a ten-horse power engine, managed to move up the current, from York Haven where it was built, at the rate of four miles an hour, until it reached Wilkes-Barre on the 12th day of July, 1826. It continued its trip to Binghamton, and returned, reaching its native docks in safety ; but the test had proven to the satisfaction of the captain that steam navigation would prove im- practicable, and he so reported^it to the company which constructed the boat. The next boat, the "Susquehanna," was built at Baltimore by a company of gentlemen who desired to control the trade of the Susquehanna river. She had an engine of thirty -horse power, and was too heavily built for the shallow current. However, the boat reached Nescopeck Falls, May 3d, 1826. The termination of her career here is best described by Pearce : — "The ascent of these rapids was looked upon as the most dif- ficult part of the undertaking. The three com- missioners and all the passengers, except about twenty, left the boat, and walked along the shore. A quantity of rich pine wood had been procured for the occasion, and with a full head of steam, the dangerous passage was commenced. The banks of the river were crowded with spec- tators from the villages of Berwick, Nescopeck, and from the surrounding country. The angry waters seemed to dash with redoubled fury against the rocks and against the devoted boat, as if aware of the strife. Trembling from stem to stern, the noble craft slowly advanced, cheered by a thousand voices, until she reached the mid- dle and most diflBcult point of ascent. Here her headway ceased. The multitude stood silent on the shores, watching with intense anxiety the boat and her passengers. In a few moments she turned slightly towards the shore, and struck a rock. Her boiler immediately burst with an explosion, that sent the dreadful intelligence of her fate many miles^throughout the surrounding country. Shattered, broken, and on fire, all that remained of the "Susquehanna" was carried down the conquering tide. The mangled bodies of her passengers and crew, dead and dying, lay upon decks or had been blown into the river." A third test was made on the West Branch of the Susquehanna which failed, and all attempts were for a time abandoned. The spirit of enterprise in the pioneers was not yet quenched, and the consideration of naviga- tion took another turn — that of canal construc- tion.. It was the all absorbing topic of the day, — ''How shall the accumulated products of the country reach the seaboard ?" The General As- sembly of Pennsylvania, in February 1826, ap- propriated for this purpose a considerable amount of money, and work was commenced forthwith. The North Branch Canal was commenced in 1828, and in 1834 was completed to the Lacka- wanna. The shipping of coal aroused the thinking men of the day, and another attempt at steamboat navigation resulted in the building of the "Sus- quehanna,'' at Owego, at a cost of Sl3,000. She made her first trip to Wilkes-Barre, August Yth 1835, in eight hours, completing a distance of 70 THE WYOMING VALLEY. one hundred miles. She returned laden with coal, and upon her second trip for another load ■was disabled at Nanticoke Dam, whither she had steamed for an excursion, and where she finally sunk. The "Wyoming,'' another steamer, was put afloat in 1849, and during the years 1849, 1850, and 1851, she was employed in carrying coal from Wilkes-Barre to Athens and other places, but she too was finally abandoned, the enter- prise proving unprofitable. The last trial of the question belonged to the citizens of Bainbridge, N. Y., where the "Enter- prise" was built with a stern- wheel of 14 feet, put in motion by a powerful engine. The first trip was made in 1851, and in three months time is said to have earned three thousand dollars, but when the rains had ceased, and the river had fallen, the "Enterprise'' "lay high and dry." The sun opened her seams, and her machinery through rust became worthless. Thus ended the steamboat navigation era. Ship-building next engaged the attention of the more venturesome speculators, and the sub- ject received much consideration at an early day. Messrs. J. P. Arndt & Phillip established a ship-yard in Wilkes-Barre in 1823, and launched a sloop of 12 tons burden, named "John Frank- lin.'' It reached the sea safely, the tidings of which occasioned the formation of a stock com- pany at Wilkes-Barre, in 1811, when ship-build- ing really commenced in earnest by placing the first vessel on the stocks. Wilkes-Barre Was henceforth to become a wonderful town, and town lotsi in consequence took a magnificent leap in price. The ship was completed in April, 1812, and the "Gleaner,'''' a newspaper of the place, gives the following description of its launch : — "Last Friday was the day on which the launch of the, vessel on the stocks in this port was announced. A scene so extraordinary, 200 miles from the tide-waters of the river, raised the curiosity of every one. The old sailor, and the inhabitants of the sea-board, whom the vicissi- tudes of fortune had settled in this sylvan retreat, and to whom such scenes had once been familiar, felt all the interest so naturally excited by events that called up early and interesting recollections. The aovelty to those who had never witnessed such a view, excited curiosity to the highest de- gree. The importance of the experiment too did not fail to augment the general solicitude, for on its success depended the important consideration whether the timber of our mountains could be profitably employed in ship-building, and our country be beautified by the increase of business which such a pursuit would naturally produce. "On the Sunday preceding the interesting day a beautiful new pair of colors was displayed from the stern, according to universal usage, as a to- ken that in the course of the week she would be launched. From Monday till Friday all was bustle and activity. Early on Friday people be- gan to gather from all parts of the country. The cannon on the bank at noon gave notice that everything was in preparation. A little after two, repeated discharges announced that all was ready. The bank of the river, far above and far below the vessel, was lined with persons of both sexes, and it was not among the least gratifica- tions of the day to observe the smile of pleasure mingled with anxiety for the success of the launch, which was evident in every countenance. A little after three the increased bustle and noise around the vessel, and the sound of sledges and axes, gave the interesting notice that they were knocking away the block. The vessel was built on the bank of the river 100 feet from the water, and 15 feet perpendicular height above it, so that she had a considerable | distance to move. She measures between 60 and 60 tons. Her colors were flying from the stern, and nearly thirty persons were on board. The after block was knocked away — all was anxiety — but she did not move. "The news of the embargo had just come to town, and she seemed aware that there was no business for her on the ocean, and she might as well lie on dry dock. The men ■ on board all gathered near her bow, and .then ran in a body to her stern. She started, moving for half a mo- ment slowly. The velocity increased, and she slid most gracefully into her destined element, amid the shoutfe of thousands. As she met the THE SHIP-BDILDINa EEA. 71 •water, Captain Chapman fdhiristened her, in the usual style, 'The Luzerne of Wilkes-Barre.' Nothing could be more beautiful, and every spec- tator was amply gratified. ******* "We hope her voyage down the crooked and Tocky Susquehanna may be safe, though our hopes are not without some fears for her safety, as she draws, without ballast, four feet of water." This hopefiil ship was dashed to pieces on the rocks at Conawago Falls, near Middletown. Wilkes-Barre had invested heavily in her, and all was lost, including the decline in town lot* and values in timber lands. CHAPTER XV. THE LUMBER TRADE ARKS— RAFTS— SUSQUEHANNA RIVER COMRfERCE. And 80 by many winding nooks he strays, Wltli willing sport, to tlie wild ocean. Two QentUmen of Verona. Aet II. Se. 10.. And all the way their merry pipes they sound,. That all the woods and doubled echoes ring. —Spenser'» Faery Queen. The ship building era with its many failures and lessons of merit, was succeeded by the more primitive art of descending the stream on rafts and arks. The lumber trade was about awaken- ing an interest in the commercial world, and aside from this, much timber had been floated to Baltimore and other seaports, where it had been converted into masts and spars of ships. The first ark that ever sailed down the Susque- hanna was in 1800, although prior to that the more rude rafts had become quite a common af- fair. In 1796 thirty of the latter passed down the river past Wilkes-Barre. Sawed lumber did not come into demand until an interchange of commercial relations by means of these rude pioneer vessels had brought the matter to notice. Thus the building of saw-mills followed the market opened by rafts. In 1804 22,000,000 feet of lumber were floated down the river. Stewart Pearce, in mentioning this era, thus graphically runs up an exhibit of the water com- merce : — "In the same year, 84 arks and 19 Dur- ham boats laden with wheat, furs, and fat cattle destined for Baltimore, and valued at $190,400, passed down the, river. In speaking of this fleet of arks and boats, with their valuable cargoes, the editor of the Federalist, published in Wilkes- Barre at that time, expressed regret that the Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike was not com- pleted, so as to induce a transhipment of the pro- duce at Wilkes-Barre, and secure its trausportar- tion over the road to Philadelphia. In 1827, during a single freshet, from March 1st to Aprit 5th, 1830 rafts and arks, maBy of them laden with agricultural productions, passed Wilkes- Barre on their way to tide-water, and to Balti- more. Baltimore was long the natural, and oiily[mar- ket for the Upper Susquehanna trade. But after the construction of the Columbia and Philadel- phia Railroad, and the state Canals, the trade became divided between Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other populous places. The demand in- creased from year to year, and lumbering became- an established business. With many it became the primary, while agriculture was a secondary pursuit. From 1827 to 1849, theincrease of the lumber trade was rapid and enormous. From March 22d to April 17th, in the last-named year, 2243 rafts and 268 arks passed Wilkes-Barre, on the swollen waters of the river. They contained about 100,000,000 of feet, and were valued at 1600,000. Since 1849 the number of rafts and arks has gradually diminished, owing to the scarcity of timber, and to the diversion of trade by the construction of the New York and Erie,, and of other railroads, in Korthern Pennsylvania, and Southern New Yoik." It may prove interesting to the residents who' may recall the earlier faces of Northeasteriv Pennsylvania, to examine the following list of the first saw mills of Luzerne county : 1774. A saw and grist mill were built at pub- SUSQUEHANNA RIVER COMMERCE. 75 lie expense, at the Falls on the Lackawanna riv- er, in the present boundaries of Lackawanna township, then Pittston. The saw mill passed into the possession of Solomon Strong the year following, and was destroyed by a flood. 1776. Upon a small stream four miles above the "Wyoming battle ground, in the township of Exeter, James Sutton pnt up a saw and grist mill. They were destroyed by the invasion at the time of the battle of 1778. The mill-irons were carried away excepting the cramp, which is now in the collection of the Wyoming Historical Society. 1778. In Kingston township, on Toby's creek, James Sutton erected a saw-mill in the spring of the year. 1779. Mr. Keys put up a saw-mill on Keiser's creek, Lackawanna township. It was at this mill that the lumber was manufactured for Lord But- ler's house, in the village of Wilkes-Barre. 1780. Solomon Finn and E. L. Stevens built the first saw-mill in the township of Pittston, on the LackaVvanna. 1782. The first saw-raill on Mill creek, near the present site of Wilkes-Barre, was by Samuel Miller. 1788. The first mills in Sugarioaf Valley, But- ler township, were erected by Samuel Woodring on the Nescopeck crsek. 1788. In Huntington township a Mr. Hop- kins built a saw-mill, in addition to a grist-mill, on the Huntington creek. 1789. On Black creek, in Black Creek town- ship, William Idenes built a saw-mill, and was among the first to build log cabins in that section. 1795. Samue] Marvin built a saw-mill on Whitsley's creek, in Plymouth township. 1797. Harvey D. Walker built a grist and saw mill about one mile from Nescopeck village. 1799. The Messrs. Slocum built a saw mill in Slocum Hollow, or Capouse, now Scranton, on Eoaring Brook. 1 800. On Bear Creek, in Bear Creek township, the first saw mill was built. In 1 807 it was owned by Oliver Helme. 1802. Isaac Bendcotter erected the first saw mill on the Shickshiny Creek, in Union township. 1804. James Brown erected a saw mill on the outlet of Chapman's Lake, in Scott township. 1806. James Dean and William Clark erected the first saw mills on the Tunkhannock Creek, in Abington township. In Buck township, Hugh Connor, in 1806, built a saw mill on the site of Stoddartsville. 1810. The first saw mill in Hazle was erected on Hazle Creek, and stood where the borough of Hazleton now stands. In the same year John Cawley built'a saw'mill on the Nescopeck Creek, in Sugar Loaf township.- 1813. Dallas township had its first saw mill built by Jude Baldwin on a branch of Toby's Creek. 1820. James Wright, one of the first settlers,, built the first saw mill in Wright township, on the Wapwallopen Creek. 1836. Spring Brook township was the last of the list to erect a saw mill. Henry Yeager built one on Rattlesnake Creek in the above year. As early as 1810 the settlers had become amazingly modernized. The "City of Rome" scheme was an example of the tendency of the growing settlements, which was carried out ia somewhat this wise : Buck township and those adjoining are cov- ered with the Great Swamp, famous in the ear- lier history of the settlements as the "Shades of Death," through which the fugitives from the defeat at Wyoming were compelled to wend their flight. A number of Philadelphia specu- lators, who acted in conjunction with a few near the locality, laid out on paper a prospective city with the above classic title. A president and eighteen councilmen were chosen, and extensive regulations were printed which should govern the future emporium. Several were induced to- purchase lots, and not until the '■'■Gleaner" a pa- per of Wifkes-Barre, had exposed the fraud, did the scheme fall through. But few of the genuine old stock remain in the different townships, and the number is lamenta- bly decreasing. The stock, wherever it is seen,, convinces the student of human nature that ster- ling worth and model integrity were marked characteristics in the general "make-up," and' wofully in contrast with too many of their direct descendants. CHAPTER XVI. NAY AUG FALLS. "Langli of the mountain !— lyre of bird and tree ! Pomp of the meadow ! mirror of the morn ! The soul of April, unto whom are bom The rose and jesaamine, leaps wild in thee ! Although, where'er thy devious current strays, The lap of earth with gold and silver teems. To me thy clear proceeding brighter seems Than golden sands, that charm each shepherd's gaze. How without guile thy bosom all transparent As the pure crystal, lets the curious eye Thy secrets scan, thy smooth, round pebbles count ! How, without malice murmuring, gUdes thy current ! O sweet simplicity of days gone by! Thoushun'st the haunts of man, to dwell in limpid fount! — The Brook, from the Spanish. iMigfdlow . The city of Scranton, being thorouglily busi- ness like itt its character, cannot boast of time- honored resorts or magnificent parks, but outside of the corporation limits, may be seen the origi- nal stamp of nature in the forest,' along the brooks and rills, and of these, within a pleasant ■evening's walk may be found Nay-Aug Falls. This pleasant retreat in the "forest primeval'' received its name from Dr. Hollister, the histo- rian of the Lackawanna Valley, who has kindly furnished this work the following sketch : No minor stream in the Lackawanna Valley excites more interest or enjoys a wider reputa- tion than does Nay-Aug or Koaring Brook. Emerging from the spongy summit of the Moosic twenty miles away from the Delaware, and lead- ing a jolly life under the shadows of the beech and maple for as many more, it turns its slack- ened waters into the bosom of the Lackawanna at Scranton. From its source through all its windings to its mouth, this stream is rapid and forever dinning the woods with the sound of its water falls. To this fact may be attributed its Indian name Nay-Aug, or Nau- Yaug, signifying in the vernacular of the wild man, a noisy or roaring brook. When the Lills of Drinker's Beach were sleep- ing in a foiest set off admirably with foliage and shade, Bearing Brook, carrying; its swift current along rugged yet fertile acres, greeted the earliest settlers with the favorable features of its water privileges. Half a mile south east of Scranton beyond view and yet within its limits, lies Nay-Aug falls. Centuries ago when the volume of Roaring Brook was evidently much greater than it is now, and the rocks had not been washed away leaving a deep watery chasm two hundred feet in length, the Falls were really grand. Now they are simply beautiful and picturesque. The fern covered precipice seen to the right, over which the current found its way centuries ago, rises up a hundred feet from the basin, slanting off at its water base and approximating the opposite ledge to such an extent that daring jumpers have crossed it with a single leap. The unbroken falls are twenty feet in height, and yet as the visitor stands on the damp rocks watching the foamy current pouring itself into the abyss with one white sheet, then taking a tranquil place in the long dark basin at the foot of the falls where sunbeams never enter, he witnesses a scene irresistibly charming. The intrusion of the D. L. & W. Railroad upon one side and the en- croachment of the Gas and Water Company up- NAY-AUG FALLS. NAY-ACa FALLS, 75 on the other, detract very seasibly from the natural attractiveness of the falls. The sad and melancholy fate of Miss Marietta Brandow, of Conesville, Schoharie Co., N. Y., at Nay-Aug Falls, July 7th 1869, will long be asso- ciated -with them. "A party of a dozen young ladies" says H. W. Chase then the polished and popular local of the Scranton Eepublican, "went down on a pic-nic excursion. When near the falls, on the east side of the brook, a man soared the girls by making (as one of them said) un- gentlemanly motions to them. Upon this they ran along the bank, some of them saying "don't go that way, if he follows us we can't get away." But it seems they went on and quite close to the brink of the bank, which was very steep and high. One of the girls, Emma Toung, went so near that she slipped down close to the water. Several ran to help, and among them was Miss Brandow. "When close to the edge, she slipped down feet first into the madly rushing brook, which was there swift, narrow and deep. In an instant she was swept down the current and over the falls, a descent of some thirty or forty feet. As she went down, face upwards, she threw up her hands, called for help in the most agonizing manner, and went over, with a pleading expres- sion of face which will never be forgotten by those who saw it. The feelings of those who saw the accident can be imagined but not de- scribed. Utterly powerless to aid on account of the precipitous character of the banks thej could only look on and witness Marietta's struggles in the whirlpool below. She is said to have strug- gled nobly against her fate, and to have attempt- ed swimming to keep herself above the foaming, seething water. She was whirled around in the eddy, crying for help as long as she had voice, but in a short time she was beyond relief.'' CHAPTER XVII. THE "STOURBRIDGE LION"— THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE EVER PLACED UNON A RAILROAD TRACK ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. ' "Stem tide of hnman Time ! thronghwliat mysterious change Of liope and fear have our frail barKs been driven ! For ne'er, before, vicissitude so strange Was to one race of Adam's offspring given." To Northeastern Pennsylvania is dne the credit of introducing upon the American conti- nent the first Locomotive ever placed upon a track, and the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company is entitled to all the honor which at- taches thereto. The pertinacity with which differentparts of the country clamour for this distinction is remarka- bly ludicrous, and the many variegated pen pic- tures of the first locomotive engine are astound- ingly presumptuous, yet well calculated to lead the reader astray. It is proposed herein, to give the facts in such a form as will render the discernment an easy effort, still it will be attempted to make the searcli as thorough as space will allow. Much confusion arises from the admission that railroads were built in other sections than in Northern Pennsylvania somewhat earlier, but the reader will please observe that railroads are by no means modern institutions ; it is the steam motive power which is here claimed as applied to railroads which marks this section of country first in the order of events. The idea of moving heavy substances on tracks laid down was known and practiced, according to Diodorus Siculus, by the Egyptians at the building of the Pyramids. The railway proper, however, doubtless originat- ed in the coal districts of the North of England and of Wales, where it was found useful in facil- itating the transport of coals from the pits to the shipping places. Next carts were used, and tramways of flag- stone were laid, along which they were easily hauled. Then pieces of planking were laid par- allel upon wooden sleepers, or imbedded in the ordinary track. In 1676 this practice of laying wooden rails had been extensively adopted. They were formed with a rounded upper surface, like a projecting moulding, and the wagon wheels being "made of cast iron, and hollowed in the manner of a metal pulley," readily fitted the rounded surface of the rails. These rude wood- en tracks were the germ of the modern railroad. Soon thin plates of iron came to be nailed upon the upper surface of the rails, to protect the part most exposed to friction. From this arrange- ment the transition was natural to the system of cast iron rails, which were first laid in 1738, at Whitehaven, England, the power used being the horse, while the first successful engine built by the Stephensons did not appear until 1 825. Steam had been used prior upon the water,, and was in use at this time upon the steamers plying upon the river Tyne. Kichard Trevethick's high pressure engine, if it. may be termed a success, appeared February 21st, 1804, on the Merthyr tramway in Corn- wall, Wales, but with this as with the many at- tempts of the Stephensons, the world was with- out a locomotive engine ©f endorsed availability until the prize of £500 offered by the Directors, of the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway, was carried off in triumph at the trial on the 6th of THE STOURBRIDGE LION. 77 October, 1829, by Stephenson's "Eocket." The news of this triumph was received over the civilized world with joy, and nowhere with greater enthusiasm than in America, where were in construction two coal roads and two impor- tant railroads. Quincy, Massachusetts, built the first railroad in the United States. It was three miles in length and extended from the granite-quarry of the place to the Neponset River. It was com- menced in 1827, the rails being five feet apart, of pine, a foot deep, covered with an oak plate, and these were overlaid with fiat bars of iron. The whole was built with granite sleepers, seven and a half feet long, laid eight feet apart. The second railroad was built in the spring of 1827, extending from the coal nfines in Mauch Chunk, to the Lehigh River, a distance of nine miles. The cars descended by gravity and were hauled up again by mules. In the year following, 1828, the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company sought to connect their coal mines west and south of Honesdale with the canal, at the latter place, and during the year the road was completed. On July 4th of the same year the first sod was broken for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and before the same year closed the South Carolina Railroad was in process of construction. Among the few enterprising men who repaired to Europe to witness the experiment of the dif- ferent locomotives for the prize, were Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston, South Carolina, who was interested in railroad matters in his own quarter, and Horatio Allen, esq., late assistant engineer upon the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Rail- road, who was also on a mission of interest for this part of the state. While in Europe, Mr. Allen received instructions from John B. Jervis, esq., the chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad Company to contract for the iron for the road which had just been graded, and also for three locomotives. The instructions were carried out by Mr. Allen while in England, and after purchasing the first of the three engines, which was the "Stourbridge Lion," he ordered it shipped to New York, where it landed from the ship John Jay, at the wharf of the West Point Foundery Works, foot of Beach street, about the middle of May, 1829. Here it was set up in the yard, and steam put to it from the works, where it was visited by thousands who flocked to see the wonder go through its motions. The Morning Courier and New York Enquir- er, of June 12th, 1829, contains the following notice : ^^Locomotive-Engines. — We yesterday attend- ed the first exhibition of a locomotive-engine, called 'The Lion,' imported by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, to be used upon their railway. On Wednesday the engine just import- ed was tried, and gave such general satisfaction, that the present exhibition was unanimously at- tended by gentlemen of science and particular intelligence. The engine was put up in Mr. Kimball's manufactory, by Horatio Allen, esq., who went to England to purchase it for the com- pany, and it gives, us great satisfaction to say that the most important improvements which have lately been made in the construction of these engines originated with him. It is nine horse power, having a boiler sixteen and a half eet long, with two cylinders, each of three-feet- stroke. It is calculated to propel from sixty to eighty tons, at five miles per hour. The power is applied to each wheel at about twelve inches from the centre, and the adhesive power of the wheel arising from the weight of the engine, will give locomotion to the whole structure. "The steam was raised by the Lackawax«n coal, and sustained (although there was no fric- tion) at between forty and fifty pounds to the inch. "We were much delighted with the perform- ance of the engine, and have no doubt that the enterprising company to whom it belongs will reap a rich reward for their enteiprise and perse- verance. "Pleased as we were, however, with the en- gine, we were much more pleased with the prac- tical demonstration offered, of the importance and usefulness of the coal which the company propose to bring to market. It is now reduced 78 THE WYOMING VALLEY. to a certainty that the Lackawaxen coal will generate steam in sufBcient quantity to answer all the purposes to which it is applied, and this fact is not only of great importance to the com- pany, but it is worth millions to our State." From the files of the Dundaff Republican, published at that village, in Susquehanna Cour- ty, Pennsylvania, the following is found under date of July 23d, 1829, announcing the arrival of the "Stourbridge Lion'' via. Delaware and Hudson Canal : "The boats begin to arrive with the traveling engines and railroad machinery ; all is bustle and business. The ^engine intended for this end of the road is a plain, stout work of immense height weighing about seven tins, and will travel four miles per hour, with a train of thirty to thirty- six carriages, loaded with two tons of coal each. The engine is called the 'Stourbridge Lion', its boiler_ being built something in the shape of that animal, and painted accordingly. Now imagine to yourself the appearance of that animal, the body at least twelve feet in length and five in diameter, traveling at the rate of four or five miles per hour, together with a host of young ones in train, and you will have some idea of the scene before us ; but the enchantment is broken, and in a few days the whole will be set in mo- tion, and we will now give you information that, when the whole is in operation, we shall give a general notice that we intend to hold a day of rejoicing on the completion of the same, and shall give a general 'invitation to our fellow-citi- aens to attend. "We have procured a large cannon, and in- tend to station it on the top of the high peak, to sound on the occasion." "A Strict Obskbvke." Horatio Allen, esq., who made the purchase in England, was the first to attempt to run it after being placed upon the track. At a railroad celebration at Dunkirk, in 1851, which was the occasion of the completion of the New York and Erie Eailroad, Mr. Allen made a speech, a portion of which has gone the rounds of nearly all the papers of America, and is as follows : "Having occupied your time with these state- ments of perhaps no great interest, but the omis- sion of which would have been an act of injustice, I have thought that, on this great railroad occasion, a reference to some of the incidents in the early railroad history of this country might be appreciated. To bring before you as strik- ingly as in my power, it has occurred to me to lead your imagination to the conception of the scene which would present itself if, on some fine morning, you were placed at an elevation, and gifted for the moment with a power of vision which would command the railroad imovements of the whole United States. There would be presented an exciting picture of activity, in a thousand iron horses starting forth from the various railroad centres, or traversing the surface of the continent inalldirections. When the im- agination has attained to some conception of the scene, let us seek to go back to the time when only one of these iron monsters was in existence on this continent, and was moving forth, the first of his mighty race. When was it? Where was it ? and who awakened its energies and directed its energies ? It was in the year 1829, on the banks of the Lackawaxen, at the commencement of the railroad connecting the canal of the Dela- ware and Hudson Company with their coal mines, and he who addresses you was the only person on that locomotive. "The circumstances which led to my being left alone were these : The road had been built in the summer, the structure was of hemlock timber, and the rails of large dimensions, notched on to caps placed far apart. The timber had cracked and warped, from exposure to the sun. After about five hundred feet of straight line, the road crossed the Lackawaxen creek on a trestle-work about thirty feet high and with a curve of three hundred and fifty or four hudndre feet radius. The impression was very general that the iron monster would either break down the road or that it would leave the track at the curve and plunge into the creek. My reply to such apprehension was, that it was too late to consider the probability of such occurences ; that there was no other course but to have the trjal THE STOUHBEIDQE LION. 79 made of the strange animal which had been brought here at such great expense, but that it -was unnecessary that more than one should be involved in its fate ; that I would take the first. ride alone, and that the time would come when I should look back to this incident with great interest. As I placed my hand on the throttle- valve handle, I was undecided whether I would move slowly or with a fair degree of speed ; but believing that the road would prove safe, and prefering that if we did go down, to go down handsomely and without any evidence of timidity, I stnrted with considerable velocity, passed the curve in safety, and was soon out of hearing of the cheers of the large assemblage present. At the end of two or three miles, I reversed the valves and returned without accident to the place of starting, having thus made the first railroad trip by locomotive on the Western Hemisphere." Mr. Wm. H. Brown, author of "The First Locomotive in America," says of the "Stour- bridge Lion" that "although the engine proved to be ihipraoticable under the circumstances, it was^caused by no defect in its construction, or the principle involved, nor from a lack of power and ability to perform all the duties that might have been required ; but from this cause alone that the road had not been built to sustain such a weight as it was called upon to bear when this new instrument of power was placed upon it. The road had been constructed for horse-power alone, as all other roads were in this country at that early period, and for a long time after even in England. No idea of a locomotive had been conceived in this country.'' Mr. David Mathew, who had charge of the men who were employed to fit up the engine when it arrived in New York, and had been landed at the works of the West Point Foundery, thus describes this early wonder : "The 'Stourbridge Lion' was a four-wheeled engine, all drivers, with all four, wheels connect- ed by pins in the wheels. The boiler was a round, cylindrical one ; no drop part for the furnace, and the smoke-box had a well painted lion's head on it. The cylinders were vertical, placed at the back, and each side of the furnace, with grasshopper-beams and connecting rods from them to the crank pins in the wheels. The back wheels and the side rods between them and the front wheels ; the front end of the beams were supported by a pair of radius rods which formed the parallel motion. This engine was built by Foster, Kastrick & Company, at Stour- bridge, England." The engine was abandoned by the company because of the defect of the track, and for some time was housed under a rough shed, whence it was finally taken to be distributed in parts where it could serve some purpose. The boiler was put to use in Carbondale, and difierent parts were appropriated by individuals as relics. Steuben Jenkins, esq., of Wyoming, the inde- fatigable antiquarian student, has in his vast collection of memorials one of the steam chests,, while Mr. John B. Smith, of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, has thej other at his home in Dunmore. The illustration which we give is a photograph from an India ink drawing of the original, which was executed expressly for this work by Corne- lius Brinckerhofi', an architect and civil engineer of Scranton, whose ability and accuracy in all his works stamp him as eminently proficient, and upon whose skill we base our guaranty that the design is exact in every particular. Before dismissing the subject of |Locomotives, it is deemed judicious to copy herein an able article upon the railroads of the present day, and their prospects for the future, which appeared a few months ago in the New York Independentl: '=No fact has had a wider influence upon the business and material progress of this country than the growth of railways within the last forty years. In 1829 there was scarcely a single mile of railway in all the land ; and in 1830 only twenty-three miles of line were opened. In 1848 we had five thousand nine hundred and ninety-six miles of line completed, ^showing an average increase of three hundred and ten miles per annum, from the commencement. In I860 the system had expanded to thirty thousand six hundred and thirty-five miles, advancing, for the previous twelve years,, at the annual rate of two- THE WYOMING VALLEY. thousand and fifty-three miles. The war greatly retarded this progress, especially at the South ; and yet the aggregate addition, up to the end of 1868, was eleven thousand six hundred and forty nine miles in eight years, averaging one thousand four hundred and fifty-five miles for €ach year, and giving a total of forty-two thousand two hundred and fifty-five miles for the whole country. In 1868 the increase was two thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine miles ; which, with one exception, was greater than the increase of any previous year. During the past year the estimated increase is five thousand miles. Since, and including the year 1865, the year when the war closed, ahout thirteen thousand miles of railway have been constructed. The total mileage, as the figures now stand, amounts to forty-seven thousand two hundred and fifty-five miles. "On January 1, 1869, the six New England States had four thousand and nineteen miles of railway, the six Middle States had nine thousand seven hundred and sixty-five miles, the ten Western States had sixteen thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine miles, the twelve Southern States had ten thousand six hundred and ninety-three miles, and the three Pacific States had eight hundred and eighty-nine miles of road. Pennsylvania was the 'banner' State as to railroad mileage — having four thousand three hundred and ninety-eight miles on January 1, 1869. Illinois stood next on the list, having three thousand four hundred and forty miles ; and Ohio and New York were about equal, each having about three thousand four hundred miles. In proportion to the number of square miles of territory, Massachusetts was far in ad- vance of any other State, having one thousand four hundred and fifty miles of road to seven thousand eight hundred square miles, or an aver- age of one mile of road to every five hundred and forty-seven square miles — a ratio which if extend- ed to the whole United States, would give six hundred thousand miles of railway. The cost of ^11 these roads, as compiled at the close of 1868, was set down in round numbers at $1,850,000,- 000. Add the cost of the roads completed in 1869, at an average of forty thousand dollars per mile, and we have a total cost of $2,070,000,000, an amount nearly equal to the national debt. The aggregate tonnage of these roads in 1868 was about seventy-five million tons, valued at $10,472,250,000. This is equal to about six times their cost, and would pay four such na- tional debts as the country now owes. "Commissioner Wells, in his recent report, observes : 'If it is assumed that a line of railway gives access to fifteen square miles of country on each side of it, or thirty square miles altogether, then the thirteen thousand miles of railway which it is estimated have been constructed dur- ing the five years from 1865 to 1870 will have opened up three hundred and ninety thousand miles of what, for the purpose of general produc- tion, may be considered new territory — a tract of country larger than the whole area of France, and nearly three and a half times larger than the whole area of Great Britain.' "Not only in the item of mileage, but also in construction and accommodation, has there been a great progress in our railroad system. Much better roads are being built than were formerly deemed necessary. Steel rails are taking the place of iron rails. The roads are much better equipped than formerly ; more safe-guards are provided against accident, and fewer accidents occur in proportion to the amount of travel. Eailway capitalists have discovered the folly and poor economy of hasty and imperfect constrnc- tion, which, though cheaper at first, is more costly in the end. The multiplication of roads and their healthy competition with each other, have had a tendency to reduce their rates of fare and freight charges, and in this way serve the interest of community. Indeed, all the facts and statistics of the great railway interests of the country greet the new year with exceedingly inviting prospects for the future. The progress of the past, wonderful as it seems, will be entire- ly eclipsed by that of the next forty years." CHAPTER XVIII. COAL— ITS ORIGIN AND FORMATION. "I -will not urge a revelation, mercies, miracles, and martyrs, But, after twice a thousand years, go, learn thou of the pagaa : It were happier and virlser even among fools, to cling to the shadow of a hope. Than, inithe company of sages, to win the substance of despair." — Tujaper. "No mountain can Measure with a perfect man. For It is on temples writ, Adamant is soft to wit." — Emermn, "Coal,'' «ays Prof. J, S. Newberry, "is entitled to be considered as the mainspring of our civili- eation. By the power developed in its combus- tion all the wheels of industry are kept in mo- tion, commerce is carried with rapidity and cer- tainty over all portions of the earth's surface, the useful metals are brought from the deep caves in which they have hidden themselves, and are purified and wrought to serve the purposes of man. By coal night is, in one sense, converted into day, winter into Aiimmer, and the life of man, measured by its fruits, greatly prolonged. Wealth, with all the luxuries, and the triumphs it brings, is it« gift. Though black, sooty, and ■often repulsive in its laspects, it is the emhodi- ment of a power more potent than that attribut- «d to the genii in Oriental tales. Its possession is, therefore, the highest material boon that can be craved by a community or nature. "Coal is also not without its poetry. It has been formed under the stimulus of the sunshine of long-past ages, and the light and power it holds are nothing else than such sunshine stored in this black casket to wait the coming and serve the purposes of man. In the process of its form- ation it composed the tissues of those strange trees that lifted their scaled trunks and waved their feathery foliage over the marshy shores of the carboniferous continent where not only no man was, but gigantic salamanders and mail-clad fishes were the monarcfas of the animated world." It is so seldom that the black diamond suggests sentiment, or that romantic thoughts are engen' dered by proximity to the sooty covers of the coal region, that it may be ventured to advance a truly inspiring idea which has been uprooted from the tedious mazes of philosophy, viz : that the earth in giving up its coal, literally breathes ; or, in other words, coal is but a consolidated form of the sunshine of a long-past day ; a por- tion of the generously extended solar force of one age, fixed in material shape, and by simple yet wondrous process sealed up from all disper- sion and loss, and transmitted to another age long after to assist to fulfil in it the development of a state of life incomparably higher than that in which it originated. As a writer of ability has expressed it : — "It is no mere sport of fancy, then, but an utterance of science to say, that all the while we are imbibing the warmth of our coal-fire, we are actually bask- ing in the sun's rays which vivified the vegetation out of which the coal was produced countless ages ago." How much of the primeval supply of carbon in the air was thus ultimately solidified as coal, by vital organic action, during the carboniferous ages must in our present defective knowledge of the whole mass of coaly substance in the earth, be a matter rather of conjecture than of computation. 82 THE WYOMING VALLEY. It is supposed by writers of acknowledged authority, however, that the atmosphere at the beginning of the carboniferous period on the great day of plant-life was many times richer in carbon than it was at the close of it. An esti- ntate carefully made from the best data of the sums-total of coal within the principal coal fields of the world, indicates that the aggregate of carbon buried under the soil cannot be less than some six times the quantity still resident in the air. If it is assumed to have approached at all to this proportion, who needs to longer wonder at the colossal dimensions of the ancient coal- plants, and their exuberant growth ? But, anterior to this remarkable era, the reader will take in at a glance, the primitive causes from which the present coal deposit is the result. Once America was a long, narroy island, reaching from Nova Scotia to the far West ; neither Alleghanies nor Eocky mountains as yet existed, but a great ocean spread away to the north and another to the south. Gradually on either side, by the action of the waters, vast de- posits of stratified rock were formed, which accu- mulating, were at length raised to the surface at numerous points, forming low, marshy islands. These became covered with a luxuriant vegetation under the healthy growth before referred to ; generations of this rapid growth quickly succeed- ed each other, the decay of each forming the basis of that which followed. For ages this process went on, and when the Alleghanies were afterwards upheaved in successive ranges to the southward, the reader can easily imagine the great disturbance, the distortions and dislocations which these stratified deposits must have under- gone. Let it be remembered too, that these up- heavals must have imprisoned many a large, inlying body of water, which, in proportion to the resistance offered, would the more violently force various outlets to the sea beyond, and in its way out, would, with its tumultuous current, tear up the already loosened strata — if possible, sweeping them entirely away, but otherwise leaving them behind in confused heaps. The ranges of the Alleghanies increase in height as we proceed southward, till in North Carolina they rise more than six thousand feet above the level of the sea. The more southern ranges, being later in their upheaval, and there- fore meeting with greater resistance from the continually hardening crust of the earth, were for this reason thrown up to a greater height, power in all cases being measured by resistance. These ranges, therefore, offered a proportionally greater resistance to the escape of the waters which they enclosed ; hence the greater violence of the escaping waters, which accounts for the fact, that for the most part, the coal measures of the south have been swept away. In regions where there was no violent action of water at all, as in Western Pennsylvania, we have the soft, bituminous coal, the hydrogen of which has never been permitted to escape ; and the reason why the coal in Eastern Pennsylvania is not bituminous as a general thing is this : — The external disturbance which affected the strata, though insufficient to sweep them away, yet so effectually exposed them to the air that the soft coal became in time hardened to anthra- cite. This classification, which recognizes but two chief sorts — common bituminous coal and the non-bituminous or anthracite, is the one most correctly used, but a nicer subdivision for scien- tific purposes, is founded on the relative abun- dance of the uncombine4 carbon or coke, and the volatile or distillable and inflamable bituminous matter so called. These in the phraseology of chemistry, are known as the hydrocarbons— a. group of substances in liquid and gaseous condi- tions, according to the temperatures they exist unjler, and are all constituted of hydrogen and carbon united in definite proportions. A coal destitute altogether of the hydrocarbons is a true anthracite; if it contain some ten or twelve per cent, of those volatile compounds, and burns with a soon-exhausted flame, it should be called a semi-anthracite ; if it have as much of them as twenty or twenty-five per cent, it is best termed a semi-bituminous coal ; and in all cases where it possesses as much as or more than thirty per cent, it claims the title of a true bituminous coal. All these four classes may be divided into sub- varieties founded, not on the amount, but rather on the specific nature of their hydrocarbons or COAL — ITS ORIGIN AND FOEMATION. 83 flame-mating eleraents, and partially on the tex- ture or physicsl structure of the coal as a rock. Such, for instance, is the distinction between the cannel and ordinary coals. There is a general law in the geographical relations of the above- named four classes of coals, noticeable in crossing many of the larger coal-fields, especially those of the United States between the Alleghany moun- tains and the Missouri River, but with scientific principles as such, we refer the reader to more elaborate works. A theory which at one time was stringently adhered to, but which is now exploded, seems to retain many believers yet, among the miners, and many people in the coal regions, viz : — that coal was formed by the drifting of large masses of timber and early vegetation intb water enclosures or bays, and there allowed by chemical action and time to force itself into coal. There can be no doubt that coal is the produc- tion of vegetation, and that too of an immense quantity of it, but the exploded theory above re- ferred to loses its force in lihe fact, that by drift- ing masses, the material could not, have been furnished in sufiSoient quantity, and disposed in layers of . equal thickness, extending for many miles, and so free from mud, sand, or other im- purities or foreign substances. Mr. Macfarlane, of Towanda, author of "Coal Regions of America," states that "coal of the carboniferous age, when examined, is apparently never found to be formed of the trunks and large branches of trees. Slate rocks are so formed, and it is on account of the size of the trees and plants, that they have been converted into slate or shale instead of coal, from the introduction among them of sand, clay, and mud. The too great preponderance of earthy matter renders them unfit for fuel, although containing some portion of carbon." The same author referred to gives in Appendix I. the following : "The opinion now held by geologists, is, that the vegetation from which coal of the Carbonif- erous age originated was similar to that of the peat bogs now found in nearly all parts of the world. The examination of coal does not afford evidence of its having been produced from the flattened trunks or more solid parts of trees, but it abounds in fragments of the leaves, and occa- sionally extremities of branches and f.onds, or leaves of the kind which retain the stalk when they fall off. In Anthracite coal the process of liquefaction and carbonization, or perhaps it should be 'called crystallization, has obliterated nearly all traces of the original vegetable matter; but, as we go farther westward, we find some kinds of bituminous coal which appear to be composed of minute leaves and fibres matted to- gether. Large trunks or branches are not found, but their layers resembling mineralized charcoal are found between the layers of coal when sepa- rated, and the material appears to have been of that soft description which must have flourished either in water or where the land was little ele- vated above the water, and when the climate was moist and warm. Certainly the vegetable matter must have been immediately covered with water as soon as it was formed, in order to be preserved from the rapid decomposition which always takes place in the open air. Sea-weeds and other ma- rine plants are not found in coal, but the plants are all of the fresh water species, and it has been confidently asserted by Mr. Lesquereux that there is no coal with marks of marine origin ; and further, that there is no true peat formed entire- ly of sea-weed and marine plants, although the sandstone and limestone layers between the seams of coal often contain marine fossils. "The supposition that coal is a true mineral, formed only by chemical agency, and without an accumulation of vegetation grown on the surface, and buried afterward, is an hypothesis to which Nature does not give the slightest support. The analogy of formation between the peat-bogs, of our times and the beds of coal of the coal- measures cannot be called a theory, it is a de- monstrable fact. We can now see the coal growing up Dy the heaping of woody matter in the bogs. After awhile we see it transformed into a dark, combustible compound that we name peat or lignite, according to its age. Prof. Lesquereux, whose writings are con- ceded in nearly all the State Geological Reports, to be about exhaustive, says : "The formation of the coal is now pretty well 84 THE WYOMING VALLEY. understood among geologists. It results from active growth of woody plants; whose debris, falling every yeai', are preserved against decom- position by stagnant water, or great atmospheric humidity. It is the process which now still forms our deposits of peat. It demands for its favorable action a ground or basin, rendered im- permiable by a substratum of clay, a peculiar kind of plants, constantly growing at the same place, and' heaping their debris for a length of time. At our epoch the formation of peat is essentially of two kinds. Either the vegetables which furnish the materials are aquatic, or semi- aerial plants, having their roots in water, and expanding their branches, leaves, etc., on the surface of the water, or above it. Their debris fall in water, and are heaped and preserved under it. In another way, and this is most generally the case, the plants of the peat-bogs are of a peculiar texture. Hygrometrical, like sponges, they absorb humidity by their aerial tissues as much as by their roots, and, thus protected themselves against decomposition from atmos- pheric action, they cover in their growth every kind of woody debris, even largo trees, and afford to them the same protective influence. In that way the surface of peat-bogs of this kind grows constantly up. In that way also peat-bogs grow at our time upon the slopes of steep mountains, whenever atmospheric humidity is constant and abundant enough to furnish moisture for the life of those hygrometrical plants which now are mere mosses. The peat-bogs of the coal did grow in the same way ; the distinction in cannel- coal, which has been found under water, and bituminous coal, which, by its layers, indicates an upper aquatic growth, is well marked. But, during the Carboniferous epoch, the circum- stances favorable to the growth of the peat were in their highest development. Low, wide basins of stagnant water, whose bottom was first coated by deposits of clay ; an atmosphere constantly charged with vapors, ar.d a large proportion of carbonic acid, the food of plants, forming by its transformation the woody tissues ; floating vege- tables of immense size, first growing horizontally at the suj-face of the water, and filling the basin with their debris, then forming a support for a more aerial vegetation ; fern-trees, lycopodes, horse-tails, all of enormous size, heaped in a con- tinuous growth the woody tissues of their vege- table remains in a now inconceivable proportion. Our thickest beds of peat now measure scarcely 20 feet. By compression and mineralization the thickness would be reduced to one-sixth, or three feet at the most. We have beds of coal of 20 feet of thickness which would make a-deposit of peat reach 120 feet. "It is true, indeed, that the peat-bogs of old did i:0t extend over the whole surface ; that they were of various dimensions, separated by sandy hills or by deep lagoons ; that afteir the deposit of their materials, erosions caused by water on other agency have greatly diminished their size. But it is true also that beds of «oal, like the Pittsburg bed, whose average thickness is about eight feet, may be traced over surfaces more than 100 miles in width. "It is equally true that beds of coal are super- posed at intervals, in the coal-measures, that at the same place a boring of a few hundred feet may pass through five beds of coal, or even more of various thicknesses. So immense, indeed, are the riches of the American coal-measures, that in their conception of the future devlopement of the human race, geographers, historians, phi- losophers, agree in this idea, that in the United States we have, especially in our coal-deposits, the elements for the greatest and most perfect development of the human race.'' The process of formation is from this point taken up by Mr. Macfarlane in his able work be- fore referred to, as follows : "The pressure required to transform the vege- table material into coal was applied by the for- mation of the superincumbent strata of rock, by means of the sinking of portions of the land and the elevation of other portions. Prof. Rogers, of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, seems to attribute these to those mighty movements of the earth's surface called earthquakes, but they are now commonly accounted for by more grad- ual movements. The present great elevation of the mountains had not taken place, the surface of the earth was not much above the ocean, and small changes of level were sufficient to sub- COAL — ITS ORIGIN AND FOEMATION. 85 merge the continents which were sometimes above and sometimes below the water. "The great strata of sand-rock upon the slate, and sometimes directly upon the coat, were caused by more impetuoui inundations of the oeean in all its might and majesty, washing away vast quantities of the soil and rocky strata of the ancient continent; breaking the rocks into small fragments, carrying them to a great distance inland, and wearing them into water- worn pebbles. These rivers or oceans of sand gravel, or clay, thus deposited, in course of time became hardened into rooks, and their pressure upon the moist and rank vegetation of the coal- bogs buried beneath them has thus by a simple aud natural process, formed thg strata of slate, pure coal, and sandstone. Being very compactly matted together, it formed a strong spongy mass, not easily separated by a current of water flow- ing over it, or not pervious, or liable to be pene- trated by foreign substances borne by such cur- rent. ****** "The combinations formed by the usual afiini- ties of the constituents of coal seem to show that all coal was first formed of the bituminous vari- ety, and that anthracite is the result of igneous action to which it was subjected after it became coal. Anthracite is only found in metamorphic rocks, and all coal found in metamorphic rocks is anthracite." The same author, in enlarging upon the "Sep- etition of the Seams of Coal" states that "in Illinois and other Western states, there is prob- ably not one of the principal seams of coal that has not, at some locality, a bed of limestone more or less pare associated with it, containing the fossilized remains of marine animals in such a perfect condition as to leave no doiibt that they lived on the spot where they are found. These fossiliferous sfrata occur between the diflFerent beds of coal, so as to show that if the coal was formed in fresh-water marshes, as the character of its vegetable fossils proves, near the sea-level, as is generally supposed, there mu^t have been a subsidence and elevation for every seam of coal, as the intervening marine beds attest the pres- ence of the sun where they were formed, as is also proved by the fossils of sea-shells, corals, and teeth and spines of cartilagenoas fishes. "The formation of other seams of coal above the first is therefore to be accounted for by the new formed strata filling up the water to the surface, the growth upon it of a second crop of peatbog material, a second submerging, and a repetition of the original process throughout. "The thickness of a seam of coal depends on the length of time the vegetable materials of which it was composed were accumulating. Seams of coal are sometimes feplit, as it were, by a wedge-like field of slate, which has been caused by an inundation of carboniferous mud flowing over a part only of the peat-bog region in its half finished state, the subsequent growth of the remainder of the formation on the mud, and the thickening of the part not thus inun- dated. In the Mahony anthracite coal region is a great bed of coal called the Mammoth, but, when we go west to Mount Carmel, we are told that it is split in this manner into two separate coal beds, and so is the Baltimore bed at "Wilkes- Barre divided between that place and Pittston. The fragmentary character of the coal fields is evidently caused by convulsions which took place long subsequent to the formation of the whole of the coal measures, and we now possess, or at least have only discovered some of the broken parts of a vastly greater field, which once existed on this continent. Deep valleys have been formed cutting down through the coal regions, leaving sometimes only small patches of coal on the tops of the highest mountains, and extensive countries often lie betwepn, where thousands of feet in thickness of the upper for- mation, including the coal, have been removed by some mighty agency exposing the Devonian and Silurian rocks on the surface. In imagina- tion we can restore the gigantic arches which once carried the same coal beds high through the air from one mountain across to another many miles apart, and which are now destroyed and buried up, constituting new sand, gravel, and rock deposits in the Atlantic. "The direction from which these ocean cur- rents proceeded is sometimes very evident. There are certain rocks peculiar to the coal re- 86 THiS WYOMING VALLEY. gions called conglomerates, the largest of which is the base of the coal, and they are evidently formed of the fragments of the older formations, the sand and pebbles of which they are made being water-worn, rounded and cemented to- ■gether bv smaller pebbles and sand. The bot- tom of the stratum in any given place is always composed of larger pebbles than the upper por- tion, showing very plainly the manner in which it was formed by material carried in water, the heaviest portion sinking first. Furthermore, these conglomerate rocks are much thicker and the pebbles larger in the eastern or southeastern part of the Alleghany coal region, than they are farther west, showing that the current was spend- ing its force in that direction. In the Lehigh and Schuylkill regions the pebbles are larger than hens' eggs, and the formation itself is as much as 1,400 feet thick. Farther north, at Towanda, it is much less than 100 feet, the coarser part only 10 or 15 feet, and the pebbles are no larger than a pea. As you go farther westward, the pebbles diminish to the size of a mustard seed, and the stratum of rock thins out until it disappears altogether. This shows very evidently the source from which the rocks of the coal measures were derived, and that the ocean currents which carried them proceeded from a southeast to a northwest direction. "In Michigan the thinning out of the strata toward the south, indicates the source of the rock making materials to have been in the north. In Illinois the conglomerate rock is thickest and coarsest, in the southwestern part of the field, thinning out and the material becoming fine along the Indiana edge of that field. Far- ther southwest, in Western Central Arkansas, the conglomerate his a vastly greater develop- ment, showing its proximity to strong currents and to the land of the ancient continent from which this rock was formed. There is also a great development of the conglomerates beneath the coal in Tennessee and Alabama, of which the celebrated Lookout Mountain is a conspicuous example. "The foregoing is given as the most plausible theory of the origin and formation of coal, and, while difficulties may suggest themselves to the reader, still that coal is derived from the vegeta- ble kingdoni admits of no doubt. This is one of the well established facts in geology. The pre- cise character of the process by which the change is brought about may not be perfectly under- stood, and there may here be room for further examination to fully solve this interesting prob- lem. But no one can be long among the coal- rocks without recognizing the work of an Al- mighty Hand. With our feeble powers we can only see some of the means He used for the ac- complishment of His purposes, and beyond that we must admit that, in some respects, the world of the past is as mysterious as the world to come." CHAPTER XIX. THEORIES CONCERNING COAL. "Than this A faculty diviner still is his ; For he hath on the walls of science stood, Gray walls, whose towering turrets well-nigh reach The prophet's aome of Inspiration: there With all the book of space before him spread. Hath read its starry pages, and transcribed Its wonders to the waiting world below ! But now endowed with.all the powers of earth, The form majestic, and the strong right arm, With intellect to penetrate the skies, T'unriddle the enigma of the stars, ' Must cast aside his dusty strength, and lay His little knowledge humbly by, and take The tender innocence which childhood wears. And he shall be invested with thepower. The majesty and wisdom of the immortals." — Thomas Buclianmi i Mr. Samuel Harries Daddow, of Scranton, one of the editors of Daddow & Bannan's "Coal, Iron, and Oil,'' and who is considered one of the best of coal writers, has written for Apploton's ''Amer- ican Cyclopjedia," the article "ANTHRACITE" in Vol. I, and that of "COAL" in Vol. IV, from the latter of which we extract that portion of the text which bears upon the question of origin and formation. "The formation of mineral fuel, and the man- ner in which it is stratified among the rocks, are still problematical. Numerous theories have been advanced, which, however, are generally the opposites of each other, and none of them have been commonly accepted. Though many well established facts have been developed, but few of them can be reconciled with the prominent the- ories of coal formation, unless arbitrary or un- natural processes are employed. Some draw their conclusions from the existing conditions of the earth and the atmosphere, and infer that the processes of the present day were those of the prim-ordial ages, with but little modification ; while others argue that the natural phenomena or conditions of the past were diflTerent from those of the present, and draw their conclusions from geological and scientific facts no less evi- dent than those inferred by the former theorists ; thus tracing the creative agencies from the past to the present, inferring them from present data instead of accepting the present as the normal condition. "On some important facts they meet and agree, but generally disagreement is paramount. The prominent theories of coal formation are briefly given in the following statements : "1. The drift theory. This supposes that the ancient flora, growing on the iow, swampy shores of rivers, lakes, and seas, including both arbo- rescent and aquatic plants, was torn from its hab- itat by floods or inundations, drifted by streams, tides, and waves far into shallow lagoons or seas, and deposited at the bottom as the nucleus of a coal bed, to which constant accumulations were added by the same means ; presuming that veg- etation would not decay in water, and that the mud and silt always accompanying such drift would not mix with the vegetable matter as sed- iment. Coal, however, is not mixed promiscu- ously with earthy impurities, but regwlarly and uniformly stratified between the sedimentary rocks. Or it is supposed by some that the con- stant drift of forest trees into the estuaries of riv- ers, such as the drift of the Mississippi to its delta. 88 THE WTOMING VALLET. in the gulf, and the drift of the Red river in Ar- kansas, has been the means of accumulating coal beds. These views, however, may be considered obsolete, though prominent in our text books, and still adhered to be a few eminent geologists. 2. The peat-bog or marsh theory. This sup- poses that the vegetation which produced coal grew on the edges of shallow lakes or seas, or even farther in toward their interior, and that it was deposited where it grew. This is modified by some, who believe that coal was produced chiefly by land plants, and that these were gath- ered into the coal basins by the overflow and in- undation of the land caused by earthquakes or other paroxysmal violence ; thus accounting for the interruption of vegetable growth, of the rma- tion of the rocky strata, and the alternate beds of coal, slate, shale, clay, limestones, and sand- stones. Whether the one or the other of these views be adopted, an earthquake is necessarily evoked by the theorists. They presume that the sea is depressed or deepened to form the rocky strata, and elevated to form shallow marshes or bogs, in which vegetation again takes place, t© be followed by successive interruptions and growths for each successive coal bed, while the growth of vegetation may be admitted ac- cording to this theory. The formation of the rocky strata and the alternate elevation and de- pression of the coal basins are unnatural, and cannot be accepted as geological facts, or even tolerated beyond a mere conjecture. 3. The marine theory. This supposes that sea- weed, or the hydrophites generally, fornaed coal ; or, more comprehensively, the aquatic plants which grew up through the water, or had their roots in water. Among these were the ancient tree ferns, club mosses, sigillaria, lepidodendra, calamites, and perhaps the early coniferse, all of which had long stemless trunks and wide spread- ing tops, and are supposed to have grown in deep water, with their roots in the mud of the bottom, or the fire clays of the present day, and their branches on the sniface of the water. These grew in water sttrcharged with carbonic acid, and perhaps with hydro-carbon, spreading their magnificent palm-like tops in an atmosphere abundantly charged with their elements of growth in perpetual summer, and under a warm and forcing temperature. The plutonic or internal heat of the earth produced this temperatuie, which was uniform during all seasons, both in the water and the atmosphere ; while the influence of the sun could have bad little eflfect through the haze of gaseous vapor, steam and smoke. Under such circumstances) the most favorable to- vegetable growth, the plants absorbed in their cellular tissue resinous juices or hydrocarbon oils, instead of the hygroscopic matter which we now term sap. The rank and magnificent flora of the carboniferous eras, growing under these favorable conditions, must have been luxuriant beyond comparison ; but to show the fecundity of sea- weed at the present time, we may cite tte vast accumulations of the insignificant hydrophites in the great Sargasso sea, which Humboldt comput- ed to cover 250,000 square miles of the surface of the ocean, in places so dense as to arrest the progress of vessels. In the former theoiies, the coal is supposed to be the result of the carbon- ized woody fibre of the plants. In this, the res- inous sap or hydrocarbon juices are presumed to aid in the production of coals, and the land plants, or arborescent flora found in the rocky strata, to have had little influence in producing this result. This part of the theory seems natu- ral and probable, but the same diflBculties in the formation of the strata exist, when referred *to abrasion of the shores, by tides or waves> or the detrition of the old rocks by streams. 4. The petroleum theory. This supposes that the hydrocarbon juices of the plant, forced out by the pressure of the strata and water under which it exists when deposited at the bottom of the coal basins — rose to the surface as petroleum, and floated beneath the foliage of the plants where they existed, but spreading evenly and uniformly on the surface of the water, whether covered by vegetation or not. This accumula- tion of oily matter would preserve the success- ive growth of the plant, which added continually to the mass ; and finally this would become heavier than water by the volatilization of the hydrocarbon, by the oxidation of the vegetation, and by the accretion of earthy matter from the dust and ashes of the atmosphere, produced by THEOBIES CONGEBNING COAL. 8& many active volcanoes. This theory is compar- atively moderu, and has been supplemented by the volcanic theory, which seems necessary for its proper solution, in the formation of the rocky strata, because it is apparently impossible to reconcile the wide distribution and uniform strat- ification of beds of pure coal, clay, slate, lime^ and sand, without admixture or change of hori- zon, by the drift theory. But the volcanic theo- ry of sedimentary formations has given rise to a new or mineral theory for the production of pe- troleum and its resulting bitumen or coal. "We give the latter in advance of the former. 5. The mineral theory. This is but crudely defined, but the main arguments used in its sap- port are these : Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, the constituents of coal', are constant elements in nature, and do not owe their exis- tence to subsequent processes. They perform important functions in the creation of animal and vegetable life ; and this fact proves prior exis- tence. The organic processes are not necessary to their union, either as hydrocarbon or carbonic acid, or the many other compounds, as water, air, (fee, which they form. The union of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen required perhaps the intense heat of submarine volcanoes or other causes, in which water is decomposed and carbon disengaged from the rocks of molten lava. The examples of present volcanoes are cited in proof, because petroleum is found floating near them when they exist in or near water ; while volcanic regions of the present time abound with asphalt or bitumen. It is maintained in Daddow and Bannan's "Coal, Iron, and Oil," that the petrole- um or bitumen thus formed aided in the produc- tion of coal, in connection with the vegetable oils described above. . 6. The volcanic theory. This does not relate so directly to the production of the material forming coal, as to the manner in which the strata containing it were formed. To describe this exhaustively would be to take in the whole science of geology. Briefly, the facts and argu- ments may be thus stated : All the sedimentary strata of the earth were formed in water. The first or earliest were crystallized by heat, and contain no fossils ; but ■when subjected to heat. as in some portions of the anthracite coal meas- ures, and in many other places, the latter sedi- mentary rocks, which contain fossils are crystal- lized, or metamorphosed, as it is generally termed, which means that they have been altered by heat or other causes since their formation. But according to this theory, all the great crys- tallized sedimentary rocks owe their characters- to volcanic influences or plutonic heat during the period of their formation, except such local strata as may owe their crystalline structure to other chemical action. This theory that all the older sedimentary rocks were formed by the flow of lava into the great bodies of water which cover- ed the earth before its mountains had any forn> beyond mere outline, and before rivers could have flowed, or valleys existed as dry land ; be- cause it is one of the facts of geology that the great or older sedimentary rocks were deposited in almost horizontal planes, and that their edges- have been uplifted, and their planes plicated or folded more or less, as the subsequent efiects of contraction. The stratification of more recent formations on the upturned edges of the former indicate these relations. It is consequently in- ferred that the sediment could not have originat- ed from the drift of rivers or the abrasion of shores, because these had but a limited if any existence, and could not have produced the vast accumulations of strata which form nine-tenths- of the earth's surface. But even if such sources existed, they could not produce the sedimentary strata, with their beds of ore ane coal, clay, slate, lime, sandstone &c , in their uniform order. The crystallization was eflfected by intense heat acting on the deposited material,' liquefying the- silicate and other bases in connection with the alkalies or acids, and thus not only forming th& harder rocks of the earth posterior to the gran- ite, &c., but also crystallizing many of them> The material forming this strata were almost ex- clusively volcanic, thrown into the water in a molten condition, and almost instantly shivered to atoms in contact with water, which must have- been more or less heated and agitated under these circum.stances. The natural result of such action would do to form the strata as they now exist, in great plates of sandstone, or shales. •90 THE WYOMING VALLEY. clays, and slates, according to density ; while the thickness and the texture of the strata would -depend on their remoteness from the volcanic ■sources. It is known that waves and tides will distribute mud and silt to a great distance, and that liquid silicate will float in water. The ■winds have also been known to carry the dust and ashes of volcanoes over a thousand miles, and many hundreds of miles in blinding clouds ; ^nd it is also known that volcanoes existed in almost countless numbers in the early stages of the earth's history, while trap or plutonic rocks have flowed from the liquid interior of the earth through still more numerous vents. But in ad-