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 i With an authentic Narrative 
 
 y I^ROM jpARTICULARS COLLECTED IN THE 
 
 
^tlhA 
 
A VISIT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 BY A. JI. SULLIVAN, ESQ. 
 
 
 / 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 JOHN F. FOWLER, 3 CROW STREET, 
 
 DAME STREET. 
 MDCCCLXV. 
 
\h 
 
A VISIT 
 
 TO 
 
 THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 " On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming, 
 
 Although the wild flower on thy ruined wall 
 And roofless homes a sad remembrance bring 
 
 Of what thy gentle people did befall ; 
 Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of aU 
 
 That see the Atlantic wave their mom restore! 
 Sweet land! may I thy lost delights recall. 
 And paint thy Gertrude in her bowers of j'ore. 
 Whose beauty was the pride of Pennsylvania's sliorc !" 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 For half a century the sad story of Wyoming,* embalmed in Campbell's 
 charming poem, has made the name of that fair valley familiar to the 
 world. In the " advertisement" prefixed to the poem, Campbell briefly 
 refers to the facts upon which it was founded, in the following words : 
 "Most of the popular histories of England, as well as those of the 
 American war, give an authentic account of the desolation of Wyoming, 
 in Pennsylvania, which took place in 1778, by an incursion of the 
 Indians. The scenery and incidents of the following poem are connected 
 with that event. The testimonies of historians and travellers concur 
 in describing the infant colony as one of the happiest spots of human 
 existence; for the hospitable and innocent manners of the inhabitants, 
 
 * In pronouncing this word, the inhabitants of tlie valley lay the accent on the 
 second syllable, instead of on the last, as Campbell's rhyme and rhythm su'^gcst. 
 It is an Indian word — Wy-o-ming — and would more i>ropt'rly riiynie to " roam- 
 
2 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 the beauty of the country, and the luxurant fertility of the soil, and 
 climate. In an evil hour the junction of European with Indian arms 
 converted this terrestial paradise into a frightful waste. Mr. Isaac 
 Weld informs us, that the ruins of many of the villages, perforated 
 with balls, and bearing the marks of conflagration, were still preserved 
 by the recent inhabitants, when he travelled through America in 1796". 
 Even this short reference to the simple facts sufficed to surround 
 Wyoming with an interest for me, which the colouring of poetic fiction 
 could scarcely deepen ; and when, one summer day in 1857, I found 
 myself on " Pennsylvania's shore", I rejoiced, as may be supposed, at 
 the opportunity of visiting the scene which imagination was fain to 
 conjure up whilst following the narrative of Campbell's verse. I was 
 curious to track out for myself the vestiges of that desolation, if any 
 still remained, and, amidst the simple homesteads of the valley, listen 
 to the stories and traditions of the event which survived amongst the 
 people. Accordingly one fine evening in the first week of June, 1857, 
 I left " the cars " on the Delaware and Lackawana railroad at Scranton, 
 and surrendered myself and baggage to the omnibus in waiting from 
 the hotel. From this town a small branch railway — a single rail, if 
 my memory serves me — pierces through the defiles of the Delaware 
 Mountains, and penetrates Wyoming. It reaches, I believe, as far as 
 Wilkesbarre, the extreme point at the other end of the valley ; but, as 
 I myself quitted it at the entrance to Wyoming, and " pedestrianized" 
 the further distance, I cannot speak positively. I determined to spend 
 the evening in Scranton, and start next morning for the valley, expect- 
 ing, meantime, to gather some information respecting the district, 
 and possibly, a good deal relating to the events which had made it 
 memorable. 
 
 I sallied out to see the town. Scranton is a considerable town i^ 
 Western Pennsylvania, in the centre of the vast coal-field, which con- 
 stitutes this district the colliery of the Northern States. Numerous 
 extensive and actively-worked coal mines and iron mines surround the 
 town ; and iron smelting is carried on, I believe, on a very large scale. 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 3 
 
 I was told that the " largest steam-engine in the world" was to be seen 
 at work in Scranton, at a blast-furnace ; and through the courtesy of 
 the superintendent of the establishment to which it belonged, I was 
 enabled to see this wonder. 
 
 I was assured that a visit to the interior of some of the mines — 
 opportunity for which was kindly offered me— would amply repay the 
 loss of a day. I was however too anxious to push on, and could devote 
 to Scranton but the afternoon and evening of my arrival. 
 
 After a saunter through the town I returned to the hotel. A few 
 hours later, I was "in the dreaming land", amidst a sad confusion 
 of Wyoming, Dublin, and Scranton ; the crash of steam -engines and 
 the rattle of musketry — wandering amid scenes that might be those 
 of my native home, three thousand miles away, or the glades and forests 
 of Alleghanian slopes, " that heard the Indian's song". 
 
 At an early hour next morning, I had reached the near end of the 
 valley, at which I meant to quit the cars and commit myself to the 
 fortunes of pedestrian adventure through the country beyond. As the 
 train moved oflf, and the last puff of the engine faded from my ear, I 
 stood alone on the track, gazing towards the mass of forest and moun- 
 tain stretching into the distance before me ; and for a moment 1 expe- 
 rienced an unpleasant sense of isolation, loneliness, helplessness — a 
 doubt of the wisdom, the prudence of trusting myself in this plight on 
 such a venture in such a place. Alone — without companion or guide 
 other than a pocket map, — an unkno^vn stranger, and all around un- 
 known to me, I was setting forth on foot into a tract of country 
 remote and secluded, almost a solitude, without the faintest idea of 
 how I should fare as to shelter, food, or safety, other than my faith in 
 the general character of the simple and hospitable people of whom 
 the valley was the home. At evening, to shape my course for the 
 nearest smoke, and prefer a wayfarer's claim, was my sole reliance, in 
 the event of being unable to make stages, between sunrise and sunset, 
 of any hamlets or villages where, possibly, more regular " entertain- 
 ment for travellers" might be obtainable. However, I wasted little 
 
4 A VtSir TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 time in musing. I buckled on my knapsack, grasped firm my staff, 
 and set off. For some distance, clearances had gashed into the dark 
 clothing of forest that covered the hills around ; the fields dotted with 
 "stumps" proclaiming the comparatively recent occupation of the 
 ground. Zig-zag fences skirted the road ; and now and again a chal- 
 lenge from a vigilant watch-dog gave notice of the farm-house — wooden 
 in every instance, of course, and each one, large or small, set off with 
 a verandah, or " stoup". These wooden, or *' frame" houses, as they 
 are called, have a neatness of appearance which it is diflacult to convey 
 by description. They are almost invariably painted white, the exterior 
 Venetian shutters to the windows being coloured green. Timber being 
 of little or no value, it costs little to indulge in tasteful and sometimes 
 fantastic construction and ornamentation in these buildings ; and the 
 humblest farm-house, accordingly, makes a pretty feature in the land- 
 scape. After two or three hours, these homesteads became more few 
 and far between ; and I walked for miles without a sound or a sign to 
 indicate that human existence was nigh. But for one very marked 
 sign of civilization, I might have imagined myself thousands of 
 miles from humanity's reach. The road was of quite unusual excel- 
 lence, and by no means to be compared to those wretched waggon tracks 
 which form the highways in the interior districts of America. Yet it 
 bore all the indications of having been constructed long before the 
 present generation was born. For, probably, thirty miles through the 
 valley runs this road, or rather avenue, nearly as wide as Sackville 
 Street ; certainly one of the finest highways 1 have ever ti-avelled, 
 though in some places grass-grown all over save a track in the middle. 
 Onward, right onward, through wild forest and level plain, through 
 solitude and settlement, it winds ; for most of the way embowered with 
 oliage of the most beautiful variety, and skirted with trees of gigantic 
 size. But for the consideration that it was laid out when land was of 
 comparatively little value here, I should have considered so wide a 
 thoroughfare in such a place a simple waste of ground ; for traffic 
 tlnre was none, now at least, to require it. This road, however. 
 
A VISIT TO THE VAELEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 i^emains a monument of the public spirit, skill, and industry of the 
 first settlers in the valley ; and, doubtless, it was to them of the last 
 importance that, amidst the almost impenetrable forest, there should 
 be a safe, wide, and clear Avay from fort to fort between Pittstown and 
 Wilkesbarre. 
 
 The day was far gone, and already I began to think I had been some- 
 what misled as to the distance of New Troy, where I was told there 
 was a church, a school, and a rustic inn, beside several farmhouses, 
 amongst which I was certain of accommodation. I still pushed on. 
 It was one of those magnificent evenings which follow a bright glow- 
 ing day in June. Everything seemed luxuriant with the verdure 
 of summer ; the air was cooled by a gentle breeze, and the landscape 
 was suffused with that peculiar tone of colour which the sunset 
 of a clear warm summer day throAvs over it. The mellow streams 
 of the evening sun came through the trees upon the deeply-shaded 
 road, like gleams of gold ; and the fragrance of wild flowers, which 
 clustered in masses along the way, spread a perfume all around. I 
 struck off from the road and pushed my way through lightly-timbered 
 ground, to the crest of a hill on the left hand, which promised to afford 
 me an extensive view. Little more than half-an-hour sufficed to bring 
 me to the top. Never shall I forget the sensations with which I gazed 
 on the scene around me ! Below, on the right hand, was the avenue I 
 had quitted ; quite close beneath, on the left, in calm majestic grandeur, 
 flowed the Susquehanna ! Vain are words to paint the emotions with 
 which a traveller beholds through the forest one of those mighty rivers 
 — so vast, so silent, so solemn ; yet conveying the idea of great power 
 and majesty. I had seen the Susquehanna before, a couple of hundred 
 miles farther up, ere its junction with the Tioga swelled it to this 
 size. At Binghamton it seemed a mighty tide, but here it was of twice 
 the width and volume. There was something mysteriously impressive 
 in the steady, calm, but rapid flow of this immense body of water, 
 amidst the wild and solitary but beautiful scene surrounding. Whci'e 
 the river, at a bend, pressed upon the bank, it rose into a " bluft'" ; 
 
6 A VISIT To THE VALLEY OF WYOMING, 
 
 but elsewhere the waters laved the branches from the wooded shore. 
 Turning my gaze towards the front, a scene as welcome met my view. 
 Through an opening about two miles ahead, I could see stretching into 
 the dim distance, a valley -which I needed little scrutiny to identify 
 with the description given me at Scranton of " Wyoming Flats", or the 
 valley proper, the scene of the massacre. Woodland scenery more 
 exquisitely beautiful I never beheld, if I except, perhaps, some portions 
 of Killarney. From a long strip of table -land, level as a bowling-green, 
 and probably better than a mile in width, the ground rose at each side. 
 The plain was studded apparently with rich corn fields and meadows, 
 thickly interspersed with groves of trees, which at that distance I 
 thought were hawthorn, but which, on subsequent approach, I found 
 to be fruit trees. In fact the " flats" of the vaUey, extending for miles, 
 seem to form one vast orchard, broken here and there by corn fields? 
 pasturage, or meadows. Peeping- through the orchard groves, and 
 marked by surrounding wood of taller and heavier kind, could be dis- 
 cerned the snow-white speck which scarcely required the attendant 
 wreath of blue smoke curling upwards to proclaim a Wyoming farm- 
 house. On tlie left or east side, divided from the flats by an undula- 
 ting ridge of ground, flowed the river, behind which hill after hill rose 
 and stretched away, wooded to the summit. On the right or west side 
 of the level land the ground rose gradually, and for a mile or two up 
 the slope, was apparently in occupation. From thence upward, rising 
 somewhat more quickly, the mountains, covered with forest and varied 
 in outline, reached into distance which the eye could not foUow — the 
 hues of the forest foliage changing with the distance into misty blue, 
 that grew lighter and lighter, fainter and fainter, until I could not tell 
 where the hills ceased and the sky began. I sat down by the trunk of 
 a huge tree, gnarled with age and fantastic in figure, of massive .trunk 
 and crooked limb, and gazed long and wistfully on the picture spread 
 out before me. Immediately at hand, the " trackless shade", perhaps 
 untrodden since Indian feet had scared the squirrel from his play. 
 Farther on, sylvan scenery, little suggestive in its present seclusion and 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 7 
 
 peacefulness that it could ever have been the theatre of man's demo- 
 niac revenge and ruthless desolation. The mind irrepressibly wandered 
 back to Wyoming's happy time, and peopled the scene with the glad- 
 some hearts of whom it once was the home. 
 
 This is the forest primeval ; but where are the hearts that beneath it 
 
 Leaped like the roe when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman? 
 
 Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers, 
 
 Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands, 
 
 Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of Heaven! 
 
 Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers for ever departed ; 
 
 Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October 
 
 Seize them and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean I 
 
 The sun had almost touched the summit of the western mountain 
 range ere I rose to regain the road and reach the end of my day's 
 journey, now happily within view. In less than an hour I had entered 
 the long amphitheatre of which I had just previously obtained a view. 
 I pushed onward still a mile or so further, until a branch road turned 
 oiF to the right across the valley ; and at this point I found myself 
 amidst human habitations and kindly faces once more. Here stood a 
 neat and unpretending little church, built of wood from base to spire ; 
 and, near at hand, a building which was both the minister's residence 
 and the district school. Two or three cottages were within view close 
 by ; and, at the junction of the roads, stood a " store" and hotel of very 
 moderate dimensions. Another " hotel", described to me as larger, 
 and kept by a man who '"knew a good deal about the massacre", stood 
 at the other side of the valley, and to it I directed my steps, not, how- 
 ever, until I had rested awhile on the bench beneath a tree outside the 
 little hostel, finding myself an object of much curiosity to the rustic 
 group attracted by my arrival, and from whom I gathered a great deal 
 that interested me to know. Tlie church, I was informed, was the only 
 one in this section of the valley, and was " Presbyterian". The school 
 close by, kept by the minister — the Rev. Edward A. Lawrence — a good 
 and amiable man, who baptized, taught, married, preached to, and 
 
8 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY 01" WYOMING. 
 
 buried the simple people around him, was the " Luzerne Presbyterian 
 Institute", deriving the topographical portion of its title, not directly 
 from the Swiss canton so called, but from the name of the county 
 in which Wyoming is situate. I experienced ready and polite at- 
 tention, kindness, and courtesy at the hands of this gentleman, which I 
 should be ungrateful indeed not to remember. With all the quiet, 
 simple, and unaffected manners which became the place, I found him 
 a man of highly educated mind and tastes ; and for many particulars of 
 the brief narrative which follows — and in which I compress the results 
 of my several adventures, inquiries, investigations, and conversations 
 throughout the district during my stay — I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. 
 Lawrence. The few days I spent in this valley were certainly amongst 
 the happiest of my existence. All I had heard or read of the character 
 of the people Avas fully realized in their simple, honest nature, and their 
 kindly hospitality. They were indeed " behind the age" in many re- 
 spects ; they lacked many of the luxuries and fashions, and all the vices 
 and deceits of " modern civilization". Were it not for their extremely 
 staid and undemonstrative manner, I should have imagined myself 
 amongst my own countrymen, so cheerful was their welcome — so sincere 
 their pleasure in dispensing the simple hospitality of their home to a 
 stranger. More than once, as evening feU, I have boldly made my way 
 towards the nearest farm-house in view, announced myself as a traveller 
 who had come to see the valley, and instantly I was made at home. The 
 good people seemed, indeed, to regard as quite a treat the appearance 
 of a stranger from the outer world, who could tell all the news of late 
 times. When they learned 1 had quite recently come from " the old 
 countries", as Europe is always called, their curiosity was heightened ; 
 but it was when they found that I had been attracted to Wyoming by 
 the sad story " of what its gentle people did befall", they appeared as 
 if called upon to testify downright gratitude. My sketch book, contai n- 
 ing drawings of the most notable spots in the valley, was quite an exhibi- 
 tion in its way ; and in the evenings, sitting under the verandah before 
 the door, the whole household would gather around, each one contri- 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMINO. 9 
 
 buting his or her scrap of tradition or hearsay of the great calamity. 
 Sometimes " old Josh" was sent for — " old Josh" being represented to 
 me as the man who " could tell all about it ; for his father was in the 
 battle". At several places old manuscript " accounts", by eye-wit- 
 nesses, treasured in the family, were cheerfully shown me ; and a 
 pamphlet narrative, published in 1784, shown me at New Troy, proved 
 highly useful and interesting, though contradicted in a few particulars 
 by the traditions I found most prevalent. The first day of my visit to 
 the valley sufficed to show me that Campbell — unlike Moore, who 
 devoted so great a length of time to reading books of Eastern travel, 
 and familiarising himself with oriental manners and customs, before 
 writing Lalla Rookh — had apparently neglected to take even the most 
 ordinary precautions against blunders or absurdities of description or 
 allusion in his poem. A prominent peak on a mountain cliff overlook- 
 ing the valley, not far from Pitts town, bears the name of " Campbell's 
 Seat", bestowed thereupon, it appears, in honour of the poet. But 
 Campbell never sat in that seat. He never visited Wyoming. If he 
 had, the errors complained of would not have crept into his poem. 
 Whatever excuse, however, may be advanced for the poet, none surely 
 can be imagined for the artists who, undertaking to "illustrate" the 
 beautiful edition of Gertrude published by Routledge, of London, in 
 1857, have imported featxires into their illustrations which make them 
 utterly ridiculous in the eyes of any one who has visited the scenes 
 purported to be depicted. The anachronisms and errors of Campbell 
 are more numerous, but more excusable, as may be gathered from the 
 true story of Wyoming, gathered in the valley from the descendants of 
 those who escaped the massacre.* 
 
 * I am persuaded that my own attempt to construct a consecutive narrative out 
 of the materials thus collected, must now result in exhibiting to persons more fully 
 acquainted with the subject some errors and defects. Eight years have elapsed 
 since my visit to "Wyoming ; in the interval a few of my " notes and jottings" have 
 been lost, and memory has not in every instance enabled me satisfactorily to supply 
 the missing linl<=; of my story. Such as it i?, however, I have rpsolvcd to "tell it"t 
 
10 A A VISIT TO TUt YAU^EY OF WYOMING. 
 
 "When lust tlie '' pale-laces" were seen upon those mountains, it is 
 not easy to determine ; but the singular fact appears that a " settle- 
 ment" existed in "Wyoming long previous to any colonization of the 
 surrounding country. And not only -was the infant settlement thus 
 isolated in the midst of Indian territory, but the colony of -which it 
 was an ofi'shoot was not any of those nearest to or adjoining it — Penn- 
 sylvania, M:mland, Delaware, New York, or New Jersey — but Con- 
 nv^kut, distant nearly two hundred miles. This led to some singular 
 complications and conflicts in times subsequent to those Avith whose 
 events I have to deal ; the "V^'yomingers refusing to yield allegiance to 
 the State of Pennsylvania, within whose borders they were placed, 
 and acknowledging only the jurisdiction of the far-off parent-colony or 
 State of Connecticut. The circumstances under which this early set- 
 tlement was planted in the remote depths of Indian territory, were, 
 as may be supposed, of the most pacific nature. But it is said that 
 the negotiations were painful and protracted ; the white man pressing 
 the tempting price, and the Indians yielding most reluctantly ; for, of 
 all thtir homes, haunts, or hunting groimds, none had such a hold on 
 their afiections as "Wyoming the Beautiful. Their huts dotted the rich 
 alluvial liats, cropped with golden corn ; their canoes covered the fish- 
 ful river close by ; and on the mountains surrounding the valley the 
 iTii^Un hunter found game abounding. But the eye of the white man 
 also noted every rich advantage and rare attraction ; and he longed to 
 grasp, as ihe Indian was loath to part with, so valuable a prize. 
 Gold, silver, arms, ammunition, "fire water % brilliant dresses, glit- 
 tering ornaments, all plied the red man perse veringly, until at last 
 '• Wyoming the Beautiful" was sold. Some years afterwards the 
 settlers were surprised and disquieted by the reappearance of the 
 Indians in ihe neighbourhood. Being questioned, they could only 
 reply, moodily and discontentedly, that they could not be happy away 
 
 iZaoe I Vefiere it -wSi. be fioaad sobsiamdillf acconte, asd thoe has not been saj 
 attaaftOBOox ale of the AtJawtW- to fiuuBszize Earopean readezs with the sotbeo- 
 tic f itir^lir? cf rbas sad episode smee Well vrote and Campbell Ecng. 
 
from Wyoming : 
 
 settlers spok - 
 
 extensi'' - 
 
 det'^rt 
 
 rez . t 
 
 setting i _". Th/se was 
 
 ;: - ' rrace 
 
 their presence ■vras er. . _". Ultiirs.-'rlj 
 
 they were indiiced : 
 
 them a goodly store 
 
 incidoit the settleme 
 
 ihe reappearance of :1 — . r 
 
 and fiercer p^irfg wh ; r 
 
 sale, and who were ^ 
 
 and angry dispatatic:i . 
 
 were eventually drirc" . 
 
 and quietude. 
 
 In those days commTmifation with the oater world was slow and 
 in&equent, and it was not until blood had beai shed at Conoard that 
 the pastoral community at W—rrrng leamt that strife had azisen be- 
 tween the colonies and " : r couuUy*. 'RespoBidaag, howerer, 
 to the lery of the parent colocy, ixxmecdcot, Wyoming soit its quota 
 into the continental : ' f r, in the second year of th^ 
 stmgsle, seTeral din . '-s aDeged <m the British side, 
 that tliis was a rash i ?f liolence against theznselTes by die 
 Wyomingers; that they L :o been markedly e^anpted from 
 attack by tie re- -are been allowed^to obserre aa 
 unarmed neutral.: .- ..- : f thdr peculiar position and dr- 
 
 cnmstances. Bus wiien 5 t^>t troops under Washiirgtcn 
 
 were found to be Wvoming regiments, it was. say those arroments, 
 nothing more than a fair inev.: . .: reprisal should be 
 
 taken on the valler. 
 
10 C A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 Early ia the spring of 1777 Congress received information of a 
 meditated attack on Wyoming by the British and their Indian allies. 
 Nothing, however, appears to have been done. Perhaps the intelli. 
 gence was discredited ; perhaps, and more likely, the colonial armies, 
 then sorely pressed elsewhere, could not afford depletion for the 
 defence of such a distant spot devoid of mere strategic importance. 
 Some rumour of the threatened descent on the valley reached the 
 Wyoming regiments, then away in Connecticut, and the most painful 
 anxiety and alarm spread through their ranks. Application was 
 made by those regiments for permission to hasten homewards. They 
 pleaded earnestly that their homes and families were utterly defence- 
 less, and were now menaced by a terrible danger. The commander- 
 in-chief, however, could not accede to the application. The powerful 
 armies of the enemy were then overrunning the colonies in various 
 directions ; and if he allowed the troops contributed by districts to 
 scatter, each regiment to defend its own particular home, there was 
 an end of the only army at his disposal. He accordingly demanded 
 of the Wyoming regiments that they should remain at the post of 
 duty, and trust to Congress to protect all its territories and all its 
 subjects. This expostulation had some effect in quieting the excite- 
 ment in the regiments ; nevertheless, several officers and men resigned 
 and hastened homewards. 
 
 In the valley itself, meanwhile, so completely was it shut out from 
 ready access to intelligence of events passing beyond its own confines, 
 that, while the cloud was gathering for its destruction, no word of 
 the impending danger reached the menaced settlement. The men of 
 fighting age were away ; and nearly all the agricultural labour of the 
 valley was done by the Avomen. They dug and delved, they planted 
 and reaped, mowed the hay and " husked" the corn, while husband, 
 son, and father were away fighting the battles of their country. 
 Towards the close of April, however, some faint shadow of the ap- 
 proaching peril appears to have gloomed upon the valley — some vague 
 rumour of a meditated attack. It is not clear that much credence was 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WVOMING. 10 D 
 
 attached to this first murmur of the terrible truth ; but the old patri- 
 archs remaining at home (exempted by age from war service) decided 
 upon the wise precaution of sending out daily scouting parties. In 
 May they found the first absolute proof of the danger at hand, and 
 then almost at their threshold. The scouting parties on all sides, at a 
 regular distance of -about twenty miles from the valley, fell in with 
 parties of the enemy, who suffered none to pass their cordon. It Avas 
 soon found that the settlement was encircled by the foe, plainly intent 
 on cutting off all communication, lest intelligence of the hostile prepa- 
 rations up the river should be carried to the doomed valley. Day by 
 day the encircling line Avas contracted ; parties of the settlers out in 
 the woods were fired upon and killed ; and in the shout of the assail- 
 ants they but too plainly recognized the war-whoop of the Six Nations. 
 One of the Wyoming parties captured some of the Indians, and the 
 prisoners were identified as having been of the menacing party that 
 visited and caused such trouble some years before. They were set 
 drunk and plied with questions, when the terrible revelation was 
 freely and boastfully made that their braves in full force were around 
 the valley, waiting for " the king's army" to come down from Tioga 
 " on a thousand canoes", when the valley was to be given up to fire 
 and sword ! Consternation and dismay burst upon the settlers. Those 
 dwelling in the outlying homesteads commenced rapidly to quit, and to 
 seek the protection of the forts. These defences were very unlike the 
 battlemented towers pictured in Campbell's poem and Eoutledge's illus- 
 trations. They were stockade forts. Around a strong block-house, or 
 a group of such block-houses, ran two or more lines of heavy palisading, 
 with convenient " sally-ports" ; the palisades as well as the block-houses 
 being pierced for rifles. Such was the fort ; intended mainly as a strong 
 refuge in time of danger ; being used in time of peace as a public 
 magazine, guarded by a nominal garrison. To these refuges now 
 flocked fugitives from the more distant parts of the valley. Inside, 
 in the space around the block-houses and between the lines of pali- 
 sades, tents were erected for the accommodation of the crowds of 
 
10 E A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 women and children, Avhile the adult males bivouacked close by out- 
 side. Trusty messengers were instantly despatched to the Wyoming 
 regiments, entreating of them to hasten home with all speed. Some 
 of these couriers were of course captured by the surrounding Indian 
 force ; but others succeeded in escaping and reaching the army in Con- 
 necticut. The effect of their news on the Wyoming regiments may be 
 imagined. Officers and men were alike thrown into agonizing alarm. 
 Again — this time in the most passionate terms — they besought leave 
 to hasten to Wyoming, ere yet it Avas too late ; for already the knife 
 was whetted and the torch lighted for the destruction of all on earth 
 they held dear. Still the commander-in-chief was inexorable ; but 
 this time he undertook that Congress would instantly take measures 
 for the defence of the valley. This did not appease the Wyoming regi- 
 ments. The companies became almost disorganized. Every commis- 
 sioned officer but two resigned. 
 
 Congress now interposed. Aid was ordered to Wyoming. But it 
 was all too late ! Every day, every hour, the helpless settlers received 
 but too strong proofs that their doom was rapidly closing upon them. 
 Scouts, who succeeded in penetrating up the river to Tioga (the point 
 indicated by the drunken Indian prisoners), returned with intelligence 
 of the concentration there of a powerful force of British regulars, loy- 
 alist colonials, and Indian allies, and of the rapid and extensive con- 
 struction of boats, rafts, and other means of transport by water and 
 by land. It Avas now clear that all hope of human aid was vain, and 
 that the settlement itself, with such scant means of defence as it pos- 
 sessed, should face the terrible odds before it. The command of affairs, 
 in this dire emergency, was committed to Colonel Zebulon Butler. It is 
 a curious fact, that the commander of the invading force not only bore 
 the same name and title— Colonel (John) Butler— but was a relative 
 of the patriot defender of the valley ; both being scions of the Kilkenny 
 (Ormonde) Butlers.* The people of Wyoming distinguish them when 
 
 * " It was a strange chance in. that memorable massacre, that the British com- 
 mander was Colonel John Butler, a remote relative of the American defender 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY 01" WYOMING. 10 F 
 
 speaking of tliem, as " British Butler" and " Wyoming Butler". The 
 resources of the valley for such an emergency as had arisen, were, as 
 might be supposed, hopelessly and disastrously inadequate. There 
 ■was one cannon — old, rusty, and useless — at Wilkesbarre. Of muskets 
 there was a fair supply ; of powder but a small quantity. This defect, 
 however, the ingenuity and zeal of the settlers overcame. The women 
 of Wyoming occupied themselves day and night making powder, by a 
 very rude but effective process, which I doubt my ability to explain as 
 it was detailed to me. " They took up the floors, dug the earth, put 
 it into casks, and ran water through it ; then took ashes in another 
 cask and made lye ; mixed the water from the earth with weak lye ; 
 boiled it ; set it to cool, and the saltpetre rose to the top. Charcoal 
 and sulphur were then used, and powder produced for public division". 
 Everything that could be devised was done ; every weapon in the val- 
 ley was reckoned ; every means of defence or protection studied. 
 Meantime the forts were rapidly being filled to inconvenience by the 
 fugitive families from the distant portions of the valley. Care and 
 anxiety weighed on every heart ; yet every one, aged and young, 
 laboured with cheerful spirit at the allotted work of preparation. 
 Every one had his or her place assigned ; and all were ordered to be 
 ready at a moment's signal from the scouting parties on the hills. 
 
 With the June " fresh" the enemy came down the river from Tioga 
 Point on a flotilla of rafts and boats. They landed not far below the 
 mouth of Bowman's Creek, a small river which flows into the Susque- 
 hanna about twenty miles to the north of Wyoming. The rirer here 
 makes a bend, forming an arc of probably thirty-five or forty miles, 
 
 Colonel Zebulon Butler. If the Indian slaugbter at that siege has aspersed with 
 blood the name of the one, it has covered with glory that of the other. This family 
 of Butler, destined to giv« so many distinguished names to America, originated in 
 Kilkenny. The founder of the Pennsylvania house of that name emigrated as agent 
 for Indian affairs, towards the close of the seventeenth century. Attracted probably 
 by his example, other cadets of the Ormonde stock had settled in Carolina and Ken- 
 tucky, from whom many generals and senators have been furnished t.o the Union" — 
 M 'Gee's History of the Irish Settlers in North America. 
 
10 a A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OP WYOMINO. 
 
 the cord of wlucli would be about twenty. It was (British) Butler's 
 plan to march overland by this short way from Bowman's Creek to 
 Wyoming. Accordingly, making secure his boats and leaving a small 
 party in charge of them, his Avhole expedition crossed the peninsula, 
 and arrived on the mountains overlooking the valley on the western 
 sidt', on the evening of Monday, the 29th June. More than half, or 
 probably two-thirds, of the force were Indians of the Six Nations ; 
 one tribe being led, strange to say, by an Amazonian commander, 
 whose sex did not prevent her mingling in the thickest of the fight, 
 nor cause her one trace of compassion amidst the subsequent butchery. 
 This was the Indian queen, "Queen Esther". Leading a powerful 
 and numerous tribe, however, Avas the Mohawk chief Gi-en-guah-toh, 
 
 "the foe, the monster Brandt, 
 With all his howling, desolating band".* 
 
 The white troops in the expedition were in great part made up of 
 colonial royalist militia, to which circumstance may be ascribed the 
 shocking realization with literal exactitude of that picture of civil war 
 which depicts " a brother shedding his own brother's blood", exhibited 
 in the course of the proceedings under narration. 
 
 * Here I am compelled to notice Campbell's published "apology" for introducing 
 Gi-en-guah-toh, or Brandt, into his poem as a leading agent in the massacre of 
 Wyoming. Campbell states : "Some years after this poem appeared, the son of 
 Brandt, a most interesting and intelligent youth, came over to England, and I 
 formed an acquaintance with him on whlcli I still look back with pleasure". Young 
 Brandt, the poet says, satisfied him completely that his father "was not even pre- 
 sent at that scene of desolation" ; and adds : " The name of Brandt therefore remains 
 in my poem a pure and declared character of fiction". I have no means of judging 
 the evidence by which young Brandt convinced Campbell; but of this I make firm 
 assertion, that tlio evidence not alone of Brandt's "presence" at, but of his dark 
 complicity in, that scene, is to be gathered abundantly in Wyoming. By every 
 fireside in tlio valley his name is mentioned as the most savage and merciless of the 
 leaders in the massacre ; and, in reply to my repeated inquiries, I was assured that 
 tlie few survifors of the massacre always referred to him as such when speaking 
 with my informants. 
 
A VISIT TO Tin: VALLEV OI'" \VVO.MIXG. 11 
 
 Butler, as I have stated, arrived on the mountains overlooking 
 Wyoming on the evening of 29th June. At the head of the valley, a 
 family of settlers named Wintermoot, who were in secret strong par- 
 tizans of the British, had erected a fort. Onehow or another their 
 neighbours had misgivings about these people ; and indeed if the 
 Wyomingers were not the simplest of men, they might have discerned 
 early what the Wintermoots were about. But the latter took care to 
 keep on a smooth face, and do all they could to disarm suspicion. 
 There lived close by, however, an old worthy, referred to always in 
 the jSireside traditions of Wyoming as " Old Jenkins". Old Jenkins' 
 mind was not altogether at ease about the Wintermoots and their 
 fort ; so he set to work, and erected another close at hand to watch it. 
 This was called Fort Jenkins. Old Jenkins, of course, pretended no 
 suspicion to his neighbours the Wintermoots. He built his fort and 
 kept his mind to himself. 
 
 To Fort Wintermoot, as to the other forts in the valley, some of the 
 neighbouring farmers with their families fled for protection ; and 
 amongst these was a Mr. Ingersoll. When it became known that the 
 enemy had reached the valley at a point immediately close by, Inger- 
 soll and some of the others commenced preparation for resistance ; 
 but now the Wintermoots threw off the mask, and gave Ingersoll to 
 understand that the fort was "held for King George". Ingersoll and 
 his friends were at once put under guard as prisoners ; and they found 
 that a perfect understanding existed between the Wintermoots and 
 the enemy. In fact, Butler, on reaching the valley, marched with a 
 small portion of his force directly to Fort Wintermoot, and occupied 
 it, quite evidently by pre-arrangement. 
 
 Early next day, Tuesday, some of the party of Fort Jenkins, quite 
 unconscious that the neighbouring fort was now actually in the occu- 
 pation of the British, had gone out on some duty. Suddenly they 
 lound themselves attacked and surrounded on all sides. They made a 
 desperate effort to reach their fort, but failed. They were slaughtered 
 to a man. The noble old hero himself, with two grandchildren — mere 
 
12 VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMrNG. 
 
 boys — reached close to and almost within sight of the fort, but the 
 enemy got between it and them. They stood then to die, since escape 
 there was none. Placing themselves by a tree, they made desperate 
 resistance, until one by one they fell covered with wounds. No 
 attempt was made just then to attack Fort Jenkins. It was only on 
 the next evening, apparently, that the whole of the invading force had 
 come down from their first halting place. 
 
 At a fort called " Forty Fort", Colonel Zebulon Butler and the main 
 force of the Wyoming men were under arms. Forty Fort was the 
 central and chief defence of its kind in the valley, being by far the 
 largest and best constructed. It figures most prominently of all in the 
 events of that time. I devoted a day to visiting its site and taking 
 drawings of and from it, as by far the most interesting point in the 
 valley. Not a vestige of the fort itself now remains, though the name 
 still attaches to the spot. Exactly on the site of Forty Fort two or 
 three small woodhouses, inhaViited by very humble people, now stand. 
 The Susquehanna, after passing close by Fort Wintermoot, at the upper 
 ead of the valley, flows southward in almost a direct line to the spot 
 whereon Forty Fort stood. A small island, called Maconacee Island, 
 beautifully wooded, rising in the centre of the stream, half way down 
 or about a mile up the river from the fort. At this latter point the 
 r'ver turns at a sharp angle to the left or east, continues this bent for 
 barely a furlong or less, and turns quickly southward once more, thence- 
 forward towards Wilkesbarre making many windings. Where the 
 river after its straight course takes the first sharp turn to the east, the 
 baak against which the full force of the current therefore beats, rises 
 almost precipitously from the water's brink to a height of about forty 
 or fifty feet. On the edge of this brow, looking directly up the river, 
 Forty Fort stood. The main road through the valley passed quite close 
 behind. It would seem to have been a large work, defended with 
 double lines of very high and heavy stockades, clay and stones filling 
 the interstices between the timber. A well, which still remains, stood 
 Avitliin the fort ; although the river washed beneath its northern face, 
 
> 
 
 s 
 
 car 
 
 X 
 
 Ul 
 
 > 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEV OF WVOMIN'G. 13 
 
 as already described, and a " water gate" led down to it. Here Col. 
 Zeb. Butler had his head quarters ; and here, in fact, the bulk of the 
 population had flocked for safety. 
 
 News reached Colonel Butler that the party from Fort Jenkins had 
 been destroyed in the woods. He set out on Wednesday with a strong 
 reconnoitering force, and after some time came up to the scene of the 
 rencontre, where the victims lay unburied. No enemy was in view or 
 could be found just then. Colonel Butler gathered the bodies and 
 buried them, and then returned in the afternoon to Forty Fort without 
 encountering any parties of the enemy. Next day, however, the entire 
 invading force filled the upper end of the valley. Fort Jenkins was 
 assaulted, and after a brief but fierce struggle was captured. All 
 within it were slaughtered by Queen Esther's Indians. Next morning 
 (Friday, 3rd July), British Butler despatched Mr. Ingersoll (who had 
 been made a prisoner at Wintermoot) with a message to Col. Z. Butler, 
 demanding the surrender at discretion of the whole valley with its 
 several forts, etc., from Pittstown to Wilkesbarre. Ingersoll reached 
 Forty Fort with his summons about ten or eleven o'clock in the fore- 
 noon. He found the place choked with a crowd of women and children, 
 the men being chiefly encamped around the fort on the outside. Col. 
 Butler and his little band heard the summons with emotions that may 
 be imagined. At last the dreaded hour had come ! What was meant 
 by surrender " at discretion" to a force composed mainly of Indians, 
 they but too well knew. A councU was held, and every possible con- 
 tingency, project, and plan was anxiously discussed. 
 
 The prevailing opinion was that the enemy would attack the forts 
 piecemeal, and that it was better go out and meet him at once with all 
 the force that could be gathered. Alas, it was the dark alternative ! 
 Then began leave-taking, every heart feeling that it was on an almost 
 hopeless chance the little phalanx was setting forth. At twelve o'clock 
 noon they marched out, three hundred in all, not a fifth of the 
 number being between the ages of eighteen and fifty years ! The 
 women crowded the pallisades watching their departing footsteps until 
 
14 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOAIING. 
 
 they could no longer be seen amidst the trees ; then in a crowd fell on 
 their knees and prayed and sobbed aloud. 
 
 Every moveuient of Colonel Butler was watched by Indian scouts 
 and quickly reported to British Butler, who, therefore, had full and 
 ample notice of the advance. He instantly sent word to one of his 
 brigades engaged in destroying Fort Jenkins, to come doAvn with all 
 speed, and he himself with his own force marched out of Fort Win- 
 terraoot, firing it behind him. This was about two o'clock in the after- 
 noon. As the Wyoming troops approached, they saw Fort Wintermoot 
 in flames, and found the enemy in line of battle before them. At this 
 point a bank or slope about fifteen or twenty feet high runs diagonally 
 along the valley, dividing the level into two flats or plains, one so 
 many feet higher than the other. Fort Wintermoot was situate on the 
 edge of this bank, dividing what were called the upper and lower flats. 
 Colonel Butler advanced resting his right on this bank, the left ex- 
 tending across the gravel flat to a morass thick with timber and brush, 
 that separated the bottom land from the mountain. Yellow pitch-pine, 
 firs, and oak shrub were scattered all over the plain. The right wing 
 of the Wyoming party was under Colonel Zebulon Butler himself, the 
 left under Colonel Dennison. 
 
 The left of the British force rested on Wintermoot Fort (now in 
 flames), commanded by British Butler himself. This oflicer was, it 
 would seem, quite a favourite with the Indian natives, with whom he 
 had had a long and close intercourse, and over whom he had acquired 
 great influence. He conformed to their manners and customs to so 
 great an extent as to be looked up to very much as one of their own 
 chiefs, speaking their several languages with fluency, and usually 
 wearing semi-Indian costume, a head-dress of feathers, etc. On this 
 occasion, however, he appeared on the scene of action divested of all 
 his feathers and finery, wearing a cotton or silk handkerchief tied on 
 his head. A strong flanking party of Indian marksmen were concealed 
 among some logs and bushes under the bank. The Indians under 
 Gi-cn-guah-tuh formed the ri^ht wing of the invading force, anl ex- 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 15 
 
 tondod to the morass or swamp already referred to. Such was the 
 disposition of the battle field. From Wintermoot to the river in a 
 straight line, would be about eighty rods, to Maconacee Island in a 
 southwardly direction, about a mile. The weather was clear and calm. 
 About four p.m. the battle began. Colonel Z. Butler directed his 
 men to fire and advance, stopping at each discharge. As they pressed on, 
 the English line gave way, but the Indian flanking party on the right 
 kept up a galling fire. For about half an hour the battle raged hotly, 
 one continued peal of musketry, the Wyomingers pressing forward with 
 daring ardour, sometimes checked, occasionally though rarely pushed 
 back for a moment ; but on the whole driving the British slowly be- 
 fore them. Three-quarters of an hour of this close and desperate 
 musketry work could not but tell on the numbers engaged ; and now 
 the vastly superior strength of the enemy began to show. Still fighting 
 with the energy of despair, the Wyoming men maintained the unequal 
 duel without waver or pause. At length the Indians threw a strong 
 body into the swamp on the Wyoming left, stealing along amongst the 
 shrub and brushwood, until suddenly Colonel Dennison found himself 
 completely outflanked. He tried to wheel round his force to a right 
 angle Avith the main line, so as to front the flanking attack. But here 
 the absence of military discipline was fatal. Unused to the perform- 
 ance of evolutions, the Wyomingers mistook his movement for retreat. 
 They wavered, confusion and uncertainty spread amongst them. Sud- 
 denly with a wild yell the whole Indian force rushed in upon them in 
 
 a compact and resistless torrent and all was lost ! In less time 
 
 than it takes to relate it, the scene changed from a desperately contested 
 and well maintained struggle, to utter rout, flight, and slaughter. 
 There was little fire-ami work now ; it was all hand to hand death 
 struggle with knife and tomahawk. The Indian party rapidly pushed 
 forward in the rear of the Wyomingers, and cut off their retreat to Forty 
 Fort ; then on all sides pressed them towards the river. 
 
 Volumes might be compiled from the stories related to me of the in- 
 dividual heroism which marked the bloody afterlude that now set in. 
 
16 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 Tracking all the way with their blood, the Wyomingers, every man 
 selling his life as dearly as possible, fell back towards the river, the 
 stream of flight pouring through the woods towards Maconacee Island. 
 At the river there opposite the island the Wyomingers say the slaughter 
 was awful. In the water and on the brink the hapless fugitives were 
 struck do-vvn right and left, the river for a yard or two from the shore 
 being coloured from the blood. Several, however, succeeded in swim- 
 ming to Maconacee, and thence to the opposite side, fearing that if they 
 remained on the island the Indians would gather on each shore and 
 capture them. A great many were drowned in the endeavour to reach 
 the island. A Wyoming ofiicer named Bigford, a very active young 
 man, close pressed by an Indian, gained the shore from the woods, and 
 dashed in to swim to Maconacee. The Indian rushed into the river 
 after him. Bigford turned back and faced the Indian. They closed in 
 deadly struggle in the water. Bigford wrenched the spear from the 
 Indian's hand, grasped him by the neck, and threw him. At that 
 instant another Indian rushed up behind him and ran Bigford through 
 the heart, and his dead body floated away. The case of William 
 Pensil is pretty well known, having found mention, I understand, in 
 some English publications. It is certainly horrible enough. Pensil 
 succeeded in swimming to the island, and hid himself in a clump of 
 willows. Some of the enemy, late in the day, swam over, searching 
 the island for fugitives, finding a few and killing them ; but Pensil was 
 securely concealed. At length he beheld, searching, gun in hand, his 
 own brother, who had fought that day in the English ranks, having 
 some time previously joined a loyalist corps in Connecticut. With a 
 cry of joy Pensil jumped out from his concealment, for in his own 
 brother he had found, as he thought, sure protection at least for his 
 life. The brother, however, drew back and cocked his gun. " George, 
 George !" shrieked the tmfortunate man, flinging himself on his knees 
 at the other's feet — " it is /, it is /, WUliam ; oh save me, save me !" 
 " No, dammd rebd, not I", was the answer; and he shot him dead! 
 All that afternoon and evening the Indian troops, in numerous small 
 
>- 
 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 17 
 
 scouring parties, occupied themselves in searching the woods for 
 hidden or wounded Wyomingers ; and by nightfall, besides those who 
 had been slain throughout the day, there was a goodly number of 
 prisoners. It is stated that several, taken under solemn promise of 
 quarter by the English troops, were given up also to the Indian allies. 
 When night fell a horrible ceremony commenced. Around a rude 
 pillar-shaped rock, pointed out to this day as " Queen Esther's Rock",* 
 the white prisoners were bound, the materials for a huge fire being 
 piled at their feet. The Indians, with camp-fires all round, were 
 assembled in great array for the spectacle. When all was ready, 
 Queen Esther, decked out in the most profuse finery of beads and 
 feathers, approached at the head of a long file of braves, all chanting 
 songs of triumph, full of taunt against the white captives. Circling 
 round and round the group of bound victims, as she passed each one 
 her hatchet gave the initiatory stroke, which each of her attendant 
 braves followed, the air resounding alike with the shriek and cry of tha 
 dying, and the shout and song of the torturers. Late into the night 
 these orgies continued, while others of like hue companioned them. 
 Parties of the invaders had spread all over the valley, rifling and firing 
 the deserted habitations of the settlers, until the midnight air was 
 aglow with the numerous conflagrations. Not a house escaped, not a 
 bam nor a shed. Crops, corn, cattle-fodder — everything was de- 
 stroyed, not a roof escaped ; nought but bare and blackened walls and 
 charred debris^ smoking and mouldering for days afterwards marked 
 the once happy homes of Wyoming. 
 
 It was an anxious time in Forty Fort after Colonel Butler and his 
 band marched out to give the invaders battle. "When the fight 
 began they could hear the firing", said an old Wyominger to me ; " and 
 
 * I succeeded in making out this rock. The field in which it is situated was tilled 
 to its very base, which rather shocked me, considering that this particular spot was 
 a very shambles of slaughter on the night of the 3rd July. The rock — whether from 
 sinking in the earth, or from the soil being raised in farming operations around it 
 — is now much buried in the soil, barely a few feet of it being visible over ground. 
 
 4 
 
18 A ^nSIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 O heaven ! they were wild with excitement and suspense. As long 
 as the firing was steady they had hopes, but when it became straggling, 
 * Ah, God, God !' was the cry, ' all is lost' ". Alas ! the river current 
 quickly brought down woful confirmation of their fears. One by one 
 it bore beneath to the very walls of the fort, mangled and bleeding, the 
 corpse of some husband, son, or brother, struck down in the battue 
 near Maconacee. A straggling fugitive or two soon after reached with 
 the terrible news from the battle-field. Then all was agony and 
 despair, and a wail loud and bitter rose from the forlorn crowd* 
 ToAvards evening the wreck of the Wyoming army that survived the 
 day— a broken, straggling band, " few and faint", weary and despair- 
 ing — reached the fort. Their brave commander. Colonel Zebulon 
 Butler, who led them out, did not return. He lay on the bloody 
 field, where he fell at the head of his little army in the noblest cause 
 for which a man could fall. Indeed the slaughter of officers was most 
 severe. Every captain who led a company into action was slain, and 
 in every instance fell on or close by the front of the fire, before the 
 line was broken. WhenXolonel Dennison, on whom now devolved the 
 command, reckoned the remnant who reached the fort, he found barely 
 a few score surviving. That night, however, a welcome reinforcement 
 of thirty-five men, comprising " the Huntingdon and Salem Company" 
 arrived from a neighbouring settlement. This gave some little firm- 
 ness to the distracted occupants of Forty Fort. No one slept that night ; 
 none could sleep ; and as they watched through the long hours of that 
 dreadful night they could see in the skies around Itirid signs of the 
 deadly work going on all over the valley. A consultation was once 
 more held ; such a council as might be held on the deck of a sinking 
 ship — anxious, earnest, distracted. Still the spirit of brave men shone 
 out amidst all the gloom of their position. It was resolved to hold out 
 to the last, concentrating all the strength and resources of the whole 
 settlement at Forty Fort. To this end it was decided to send to Wilkes- 
 barre for the one cannon already referred to, and call in all the parties 
 in smaller forts or stations throughout the valley. Messengers were ac- 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 19 
 
 cordingly sent off with these instructions ; but they soon returned an- 
 nouncing -that the valley was impassable. The enemy has spread it 
 over on all sides, and a scene of horror and desolation extended for 
 miles around. Fugitives were flying in all directions to the hiding of 
 the almost impenetrable forest, or were daring the wild and hopeless 
 attempt of escaping through its miles of morass and tangled juniper 
 to some friendly settlement beyond. The few paths through the 
 swamp which extended to the south-east, were thronged with the 
 flying settlers. Few took provisions, and all were destitute of every- 
 thing, save personal clothing. In fine all was lost, and further hope 
 was vain. The Settlement of Wyoming was no more. Then Colonel 
 Dennison and his gallant band at the fort realised the full anguish of 
 their fate — 
 
 " As mute they watched till morning s heam 
 Should rise and give them light to die". 
 
 Early on the morning after the battle British Butler sent a detachment 
 up the river to Fort Brown, near Pittstown, with a demand for sur- 
 render. This was complied with on very fair terms of capitulation. 
 It is said that in order to mark those prisoners from those not thus pro- 
 tected by terms, they were marked by the Indians with paint on the 
 face, and told to carry a bit of white linen in their caps or hats, that 
 they might be known as protected, and not killed. 
 
 British Butler now sent messengers to Forty Fort with a summons of 
 capitulation. Colonel Dennison went out to meet him and ascertain 
 and discuss the terms. The meeting took place in Butler's tent at his 
 head quarters at Wintermoots. It is said that Butler really showed 
 himself by no means harsh in the negociation, considering, all the cir- 
 cumstances ; and indeed I rejoice to state, as the result of my most 
 diligent inquiries throughout the valley, that, apart from the odium of 
 leading such an expedition at all, the British commander appears to 
 have been a fair and even a humane man. This may seem a strange 
 opinion to express of the leader in one of the most atrocious and 
 
20 A VISIT TO THE VALLEV OF WYOMING. 
 
 barbarous episodes of semi-civiliz d warfare ; and I myself entered 
 Wyoming with the settled preconceived impression that the British 
 commander was a diabolical wretch, who revelled in the massacre of 
 the helpless and defenceless. But justice is the right of all men ; and 
 I feel bound to state that, from all I heard in the valley. Colonel 
 Butler was personally not a bad man, apart from the fault of consent- 
 ing at all to undertake for his masters so infamous an errand. Perhaps, 
 like the British commander sent to despoil and disperse the innocent 
 and inoffensive people of Accadia, exactly twenty-two years before, 
 he might have exclaimed : 
 
 "To my natural make and my temper 
 Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be grievous ; 
 H Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our monarch". 
 
 During the night of the massacre after the battle, a wounded' 
 Wyominger lying concealed amidst the brushwood on the battlefield 
 near Wintermoots, overheard two officers walking close by conversing. 
 One was the British commander, and the other was alluding to the 
 havoc going on at the moment all around. Butler exclaimed with 
 much emotion : " I cannot help it ; I cannot prevent it. Would to 
 God I could stop it, for there has been already too much blood spilt". 
 
 His conduct in the negociations of surrender would seem to corro- 
 borate these representations of his character. After better than half 
 an hour's discussion Colonel Dennison and Butler finally agreed upon 
 terms for the surrender of Forty Fort. Butler, however, had no 
 writing materials ; but he said the treaty could be committed to writ- 
 ing in the fort when surrendering. 
 
 Colonel Dennison returned to Forty Fort and announced the terms. 
 The two gates of the fort were now thrown open, and the arms, etc., 
 possessed by the Wyomingers piled in the centre of the space inside. 
 About half-past four in the afternoon, the victors approached with 
 colours flying and music playing : the white men, four abreast, on the 
 left ; the Indians, in four files, led by Queen Esther, on the right. 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 21 
 
 Some previous rencontre must have occurred between her and the set- 
 tlers ; perhaps she was of the party who some time previously had (as 
 I have elsewhere mentioned) to be driven off from the valley ; for on 
 entering Forty Fort now, Queen Esther turning exclaimed : 
 
 " You told me to bring more Indians, Colonel Dennison ; see here I 
 have brought you all these". 
 
 " Be silent", said British Butler in a voice of command (evidently 
 apprehensive of the results of any altercation at that moment) — " be 
 silent ; ' women shovdd be seen, not heard' ". 
 
 The victors were now drawn up inside the Fort ; British Butler with 
 the Rangers, the Royal Greens, and Tories * at the north gate ; Brandt 
 and Queen Esther with the Indians occupied the south gate. Imme- 
 diately on entering, the Tories seized the piled arms as trophies ; but 
 Butler instantly ordered them to be replaced every one. Then tiurning 
 to the Indians with a smile, and pointing to the file of arms, he said : 
 " See, a present the Yankees have made you !" Evidently highly 
 gratified, they seized the arms and divided them amongst themselves. 
 Here, according to a story told me by several residents in the valley 
 fbut which I suspect to be a confused tradition of an incident well 
 authenticated as having occurred at quite a different place and at quite 
 a different time), Butler's eye fell upon Lieutenant Boyd, of the 
 Wyoming army standing in the gateway. Boyd, they say, had once 
 served in a royal corps under Butler, but went across to the rebels. 
 
 " Boyd", said Butler, " go to that tree". 
 
 " I hope, sir, you will consider me a prisoner of war". 
 
 "Go to that tree, sir!" 
 
 Boyd walked to the spot appointed ; at a signal from Butler the In- 
 dians poured in a volley, and he fell dead, literally riddled with bullets. 
 
 The Wyomingers were to have been allowed till next day to leave 
 the place, and take with them everything in the way of property which 
 they could remove. But Butler was dealing with critical elements in 
 
 * Colonial Loyalist Militia, or Volunteers. All the colonists who sided with the 
 mothei country in the struggle, were called " Tories". 
 
22 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMIKG. 
 
 his Indian auxiliaries, and be seems himself to have known that it 
 needed the utmost tact and care in managing them to prevent their 
 flinging off his control altogether. So far, they kept to some extent 
 ■within restraint ; but they could not understand being prevented from 
 plunder. They broke from the ranks despite all Butler could do, and 
 commenced to sack the fort, seizing its disarmed and defenceless occu- 
 pants, and tearing from them any property they carried on their persons. 
 The scene that ensued may be magined. Helpless as a flock of sheep, 
 amidst an array of butchers, thie hapless people rushed from the fort. 
 The white troops under Butler attempted to help and save them as far 
 as possible. Many, however, fell ; all were plundered. A great 
 number were kept by the Indians to be carried home as war captives. 
 "^Hien morning dawned, of the once numerous population of Wyoming 
 there survived, beside the captives, but the wretched and distracted 
 fugitives who crowded the neighbouring morass and forests. Of this 
 flight the stories and traditions in the valley are numerous enough to 
 make an interesting volume. Old men and women beyond seventy 
 years, tottering along ; mothers with infants at their breast, and others 
 carried on their back ; fathers with little ones on their arms, and others 
 led by the hand ; terror in every face and in every heart. Several 
 perished of exhaustion on the way ; and there were instances where 
 births as well as deaths marked the track of the flight. In three or 
 four cases children were born in the swamp dming the escape on that 
 night and the days following, fright, fatigue, and hardship having pre- 
 matxirely brought on the pains of maternity. One woman who had 
 made her way for some miles through the tangled path with a sick 
 child in her arms, at length found the little one was dying. Though 
 " on, on", was the word on every lip, she begged to be allowed to sit 
 down on a stone to see her child die. She laid it On her lap, and in 
 speechless anguish watched its last faint sigh escape ; then covering 
 up the little corpse, carried it in her arms through all that dreadful 
 time for thirty miles, till she reached a German settlement, where her 
 sorrowful burden was taken from her hands and decently interred ! 
 
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A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 23 
 
 The dark forest-swamp through which this flight was made is called 
 to this day, in memory of the event, " The Shades of Death". 
 
 My notes, taken in the valley, are full of tragic occurrences of this 
 dispersion, and of the truly curious as well as painful incidents which 
 arose out of the separation of members of families during the flight, etc. 
 Twenty years afterwards there were living amongst the Indian tribes, 
 in the far west, men and women who had been brought away children 
 captives from Wyoming, but of whose parentage, etc., no identifica- 
 tion could be effected, notwithstanding many and anxious efforts. In 
 one instance, a father who had spent fifteen years in unbroken endea- 
 vours to find out an only and cherished child, whom he had reason to 
 believe was alive and " adopted" amongst the red men, at length 
 found her a grown woman, speaking the Indian language and no other, 
 and remembering nothing of her infant days. Nothing could prevail 
 on her to leave the tribe ! Almost by force her father brought her 
 away ; but she effected her escape and rejoined her adopted people ! 
 
 On Wednesday, the 8th July, Butler and his forces withdrew from 
 Wyoming. The Indians, I believe, remained for a short time longer. 
 They found the valley an earthly paradise : they left it a smoking ruin. 
 But an Avenger was at hand. Perhaps some tidings of his approach 
 quickened their retreat. News of the destruction of the settlement 
 soon reached Congress, and throughout all the colonies the sensation it 
 ooccasioned was intense. It was at once determined to considerably en- 
 large the strength and extend the objects of the expedition which had 
 originally been ordered to Wyoming so tardUy ; and as it was late to 
 save, be strong to avenge it. Nothing less than follo\ving up the In- 
 dians to their own country and " sowing salt" upon their own hearths 
 would appease the storm of grief and indignation which spread from the 
 Carolinas to New England. It was a serious work to undertake the 
 absolute destruction and dispersion of the Six Nations, the most for- 
 midable Indian power on the continent ; yet this it was resolved to 
 attempt ; and General Washington himself, it is said, recommended to 
 Congress, for command of the expedition, a man on whom has been 
 
24 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 conferred a glorious title, bravely and nobly won, " General John Sul- 
 livan, the Avenger of Wyoming".* 
 
 An army of some 4,000 men was rapidly assembled under his com- 
 mand, equipped as fully as the straitened resources of the republic 
 at the moment would allow. On the 31st July, the expedition started, 
 the artillery and military stores, etc., by water, the infantry and cavalry 
 by land. It is said that the line of boats extended two and a-half 
 miles on the river, and that 2,000 pack horses accompained the army. 
 Before starting. General Sullivan assembled the entire force, and ad- 
 dressed them in a speech which it is said caused strong men to weep 
 like children, yet to clutch their arms and clench their teeth with 
 vengeful resolve. He drew the picture of Wyoming as it had been 
 but one short year before, and how they should find it now. In vivid 
 anguage he told the tale of the massacre, and reminded them that he 
 and they were setting forth to exact a just and terrible vengeance for 
 that crime. It is easy to understand the powerful effect of a speech 
 like this, spoken under such circumstances, when 
 
 " A thousand maddening memories 
 Steeled each heart and nerved each blow". 
 
 The flotilla proceeded up the river, the army following close by 
 through the woods on shore. On reaching Wyoming — now silent and 
 desolate — a movirnful and touching ceremonial was observed. The 
 entire army, with reversed arms and drooped colours, and the long 
 line of boats, with flags half-staff high, proceeded with funereal solem- 
 nity through the valley, the bands playing a dirge. Passing Macona- 
 cee Island, it is said, the procession slowed its pace, and the emotion 
 
 * Few names, next to that of the illustrious commander-in-chief himself, shine out 
 more prominently in the American War of Independence than that of General Sulli- 
 van, in honour of whom " Sullivan's Island" in Charleston Harbour, and " Sullivan 
 County" in more than one state, have been so named. He was, it is needless to sa,j, 
 an Irishman, and belonged to a family which, from the days of Donal of Dunboy to 
 later times, lias produced many gifted, good, and brave men. 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 25 - 
 
 of the men overpowered all efforts of restraint. It certainly was a 
 spectacle well calculated to touch the sternest heart ; for there, moul- 
 dering on the shore where they fell in the last struggle, lay the man- 
 gled corpses of the ill-fated Wyomingers ! The expedition halted to 
 perform the last sad offices of humanity for all that remained of the 
 devoted band, and then pushed rapidly forward to avenge them. The 
 events of the brief but brilliant campaign that ensued do not fairly 
 come within the scope of this narrative. They fill a bright page in 
 the history of the American struggle. General Sullivan literally 
 hewed his way through hundreds of miles of country, destitute of 
 roads or bridges, and defended by a brave, powerful, numerous, and 
 well-equipped force of Indians, numbering nearly three to one of his 
 little army. After two or three lesser encounters, though fierce, des- 
 perate, and costly enough, the Indians in aU their force stood for a 
 decisive engagement on the 29th August, 1778. The ground was of 
 their own choosing. Fully ten thousand " braves" — trained marks- 
 men, armed with English rifles, and led by skilled British officers — 
 confronted Sullivan. The result may be told in a curt extract from 
 Tlie State Chronicles of Pennsylvania:— ' 
 
 " 29th August, 1778. — General Sullivan defeats the SLx Nations 
 with desperate slaughter ; an overthrow which they never afterwards 
 recovered". 
 
 Utterly broken and routed, they next day sued for peace. But to 
 every messenger only one word was given in answer, and that word 
 was " Wijoming". What it meant, the Indians but too well knew. 
 Sullivan pushed on to reach the central villages of the Six Nations ; 
 and to obstruct this purpose, the broken remnants of the Indian force 
 made the most desperate and bloody endeavours— alternately suppli- 
 cating (in vain) for peace, and fighting with the madness of despair. 
 But slowly, steadily, mercilessly, the Nemesis of Wyoming advanced, 
 until, early in September, the avenging army encamped in the hitherto 
 inviolate "capital" of the SLx Nation territory. The women and 
 children were treated with all possible kindness ; but the men were 
 
26 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMINC. 
 
 brought away as captives or hostages, their canoes destroyed, their 
 arms seized, their crops burned ; and every entreaty to " spare the 
 graves of their fathers" (the sanctity of which seemed dearer to them 
 than life) was refused. The villages were razed to the ground, and 
 not a vestige allowed to remain that could mark the spot as the site of 
 human habitation. In fact, this was the extinction of the Six Nations, 
 They never again " raised their heads" as a power, to threaten or be- 
 friend. One might almost sympathise with them under a fate so 
 severe and sudden, if it were not so just, so manifest, and so direly 
 provoked a retribution. 
 
 Having rested a few days to recruit the strength of his men,* and re- 
 pair his losses of transport appliances. General Sullivan set forth on his 
 return on the 5th October. This time the army was transported 
 wholly by water, the flotilla being easily and rapidly borne down the 
 river by the current. On reaching Wyoming, the expedition halted 
 
 * From the following extract, which I made from an old pamphlet shown me in the 
 valley, it will be seen that the army could improvise " grand festivities" when occasion 
 demanded. It will also be seen that even at that distant date the native country of 
 General Sullivan occupied very much the same place in American sympathies which 
 she fills to-day: — 
 
 " Saturday, 25th September, 1778, news reached the expedition of the recognition 
 of the United States by Spain, and the Franco- American alliance. General Sullivan 
 ordered a general rejoicing in the expedition. Bidlocks were roasted whole ; banners 
 and flags floated from every tent, and were hung on the trees around, the bands per- 
 forming American, French, Spanish, and Irish national airs. The army was drawn 
 up in review, a feu dejoie fired first from the thirteen cannon with the expedition, 
 and next from the whole line of infantry, the men giving three cheers for ' the friends 
 of American liberty'. In the evening there was a grand banquet, at which the fol- 
 lowing six toasts were proposed : — 
 
 1. " 'The Thirteen States and their Sponsors'. 
 
 2. " ' The American Congress'. 
 
 3. " ' General Washington and the Army'. 
 
 4. " ' The Commander-in-Chief of the Western Expedition (General Sullivan)'. 
 
 5. " * Our faithful allies— the united Houses of France and Spain'. 
 
 6. " ' May the Kingdom of Ireland merit a stripe in the American standard'. 
 
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A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WVOMlivo. 
 
 and remained for a long period, fatigue parties being daily occupied in 
 searching the valley for unbuiied bodies and bringina: them in for in- 
 terment. All that were thus collected were buried together, and over 
 their remains the " "Wyoming Monument" now stands. During this 
 period it was that General Sullivan laid out and had constructed 
 by his array corps a military road, running eastward from the valley, 
 which stiU bears his name. 
 
 Of " the monument" frequent mention has been made. It is not 
 only a prominent feature in the landscape now, but is invariably 
 referred to by the people of the valley whenever they converse on 
 " the massacre". " The monument" of course was one of ihe first 
 objects which I hastened to see. I had been told that the names 
 of the men who fought and fell would be recorded on the tablets it 
 contained ; and at the close of a warm day's rambles spent exploring 
 the scene of the battle, I sighted this sad memoriaL It is a plain 
 and simple obelisk, of cut stone, not more than twenty-five or thirty 
 feet in height, springing from a panelled pedestal, perhaps fifteen feet 
 high. It stands in a field, close by the road, on the left hand, about a 
 mile from the little manse and church which I have already mentioned. 
 With my sympathies wTought to the highest pitch for the heroic band 
 whose names it was to reveal, I found myself dwelling earnestly on an 
 unspoken question which had long haxinted my mind — " Should I find 
 any of my own countrymen named on that roU of honour?" I felt as 
 if it would be one of the proudest moments of my life if I should dis- 
 cover that amongst the rest an Irishman had borne a true man's part 
 in the defence of Wyoming ; for that my countrymen, it" any were in 
 the district at all in that early time, would side with the weak as 
 against the strong, I felt convinced. But all the probabUties were 
 against any of our people having penetrated to Wyoming at that early 
 period. I had never heard that any had borne a part in the defence 
 of the valley ; and I had often noticed that Campbell, in his poem 
 Gtii'trude of Wyoming, pictures the settlers as belonging to nearly every 
 European country excfyt Ireluiul: 
 
28 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. ; 
 
 " For here the exile met from every clime, 
 
 And spoke in friendship every distant tongue. 
 Men from the blood of warring Europe sprung 
 Were but divided by the running brook : 
 • And happy where no Rhenish trumpet sung, 
 
 On plains no sieging mines volcano shook, 
 The blue-eyed German changed his sword to pruning-hook. 
 * • » # • • 
 
 Nor far some Andalusian saraband 
 Would sound to many a native roundelay, 
 
 But who is he that yet a dearer land 
 Remembers ' over hills and far away ? 
 
 Alas ! poor Caledonians mountaineer, 
 
 Thiit Want's stern edict e'er and feudal grief 
 Had forced him from a home he loved so dear — 
 
 Yet found he here a home and glad relief, 
 
 And plied the beverage from his own fair sheaf. 
 That fired his Highland blood with muckle glee ; 
 
 And England sent her men, of men the chief. 
 Who thought those sires of empire yet to be 
 To plant the tree of life, to plant fair Freedom's tree ! 
 » « « • ♦ * 
 
 They came of every race the swarm : 
 ****** 
 
 Sprung from the wood a bold atliletic mass, 
 
 Whom virtue fires and liberty combines : 
 And first the wild Moravian yagers pass; 
 
 His plumed hosts the dark Iberian joins; 
 
 And Scotia's sword beneath the Highland thistle shines". 
 
 Of course I took it to be the fact, and only regretted it accordingly, 
 Ihat amongst the " blue-eyed Germans", tlie "Andalusians", the "men 
 of England", and " Scotia's mountaineers", the Hibernian exile had no 
 place or mention— he of wbom, indeed, with sorrowful truth it might 
 be exclaimed, then as now, that " Want's stern edict" had forced him 
 from a home he loved so dear. " Well, well, had he been here, I know 
 where his place would have been", was my only solacing reflection as 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 29 
 
 I walked up to the monument, repeating aloud the verses I have 
 quoted, my mind, however, occupied with the subject I have indicated. 
 But lo ! what do I behold ? What names are those on the monu- 
 mental table? Certainly not "blue-eyed German", not " Andalusian", 
 not " Caledonian", certainly not " English" at all : 
 
 " Thomas O'Neill". 
 
 "John Murphy", 
 
 " Wm. Dunn". 
 
 " George Downing". 
 
 " James Devine". 
 
 " C. Reynolds". 
 
 « C. MacCarthy". 
 Ah Campbell! most worthy British poet! you served out most 
 worthy British justice to my poor countrymen who gave their lives 
 for Wyoming ! It may have been very foolish of me, but I confess I 
 nearly cried with joy as I read over the names of the poor fellows of 
 whose sacrifice the world had never heard before, and whom the 
 worthy English bard (perhaps more from ignorance than prejudice) 
 had robbed as far as he could of the little requital the world now 
 could give for that sacrifice ! I believe a staid and sober-minded 
 farmer, who was, as I afterwards discovered, observing me over the 
 neighbouring fence, half suspected I was " eccentric" to say the least ; 
 for I took off" my cap, flung it into the air, bounded like a schoolboy, 
 and gave " three cheers". In fine, 1 found in this instance, as in so 
 many others, that the English poetic and artistic versions of Wyoming 
 were very pretty, but very unreliable ; very far from the truth, but, 
 like the razors, " made to sell" amongst the British public. 
 
 The western panel on the monument holds a tablet with this in- 
 scription : — 
 
 " Xear tliis spot was fought, 
 
 On the afternoon of Friday, the 3rd day of July, 1 778, 
 
 The Battle of Wyoming ; 
 
 In whicii a small band of patriot Americans, 
 
 Chiefly the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged. 
 
30 
 
 A VISIT TO THE V-^ALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 Spared by inefficiency from the distant ranks of the Republic, 
 
 Led by Colonel Zebulon Butler and Colonel Nathan D'ennison, 
 
 With a courage that deserved success, 
 
 Boldly met and bravely fought 
 
 A combined British, Tory, and Indian force 
 
 Of thrice their number. 
 
 Numerical strength alone gave success to the Invader, 
 
 and 
 
 Wide-spread havoc, desolation, and ruin 
 
 Marked his savage and bloodthirsty footsteps through the Valley. 
 
 This Monument, 
 Commemorative of those events. 
 And of the actors in them, 
 Has been erected 
 By their descendants and others, who gratefully appreciated 
 The services and sacrifices of their ancestors". 
 On the north panel is a tablet with the following : 
 " Field Officers : 
 Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrauce, 
 Major John Garratt. 
 
 Captains : 
 
 Robert Durkee, 
 William M'Kerrican, 
 Dethie Hewitt, 
 Aboliah Buck, 
 
 James Bedlack, jun. 
 
 Lavarus Stewart, 
 Asaph Whittlesay, 
 liesin Geer. 
 
 Samuel Ransom. 
 
 James Wells, 
 L. Stewart, jun., 
 S. Bowen, 
 
 LlEUTEKANTS : 
 
 Perrin Ross, 
 A. Athorton, 
 F. Waterman, 
 Asa Stephens. 
 
 Aaron Jaylord, 
 Elijah Shomaker, 
 Timothy Pierce, 
 
 Asa Gore, 
 Jeremiah Bigford, 
 
 Ensigns : 
 Silas Gore, 
 Titus Kinman. 
 
 William White, 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALI,EY OF WVOMING. 31 
 
 On the southern panel is a tablet with the names of the non-com- 
 missioned officers and privates, and of the volunteers who went out to 
 battle with them, and fell. This is a lengthy list ; the following names 
 sufficiently attest the native land of the brave fellows who bore them : 
 
 William Dunn, Thomas O'Neill, James Devine, Sam. Hutchinson, 
 John Hutchinson, John Murphy, Geo. Downing, Charles MacCarthy, 
 C. Reynolds, etc. 
 
 Yes ; they were there, those poor exiles ; there, as everywhere all 
 over the world, since the dispersion of their nation by misfortune and 
 oppression, they were in the gap of danger, "fearless, frank, and 
 free"— 
 
 " Marching to death with military glee". 
 
 Enough it was for them that the land of their adoption was to be de- 
 fended — a stroke to be struck for the cause of liberty and against the 
 sceptre that had driven them from the home of their fathers. How 
 they bore themselves is well attested. If the English poet is silent, 
 the chronicles and traditions of the valley are loud and eloquent in 
 testimony of the cheerful and chivalrous bravery of the Irish defend- 
 ers of Wyoming. " Captain M'Kerrichan", says Ilazellon, " was a 
 native of Belfast, in the north part of Ireland". He fell at almost the 
 first volley, bravely leading his men, on the fatal 3rd. He was a man 
 of considerable means, and was greatly revered in the settlement. 
 The chronicler above named concludes a glowing tribute to his worth, 
 as follows : " Farewell to the brave, the generous, the true-hearted 
 Irishman, who in the midst of gathering honours and accumulating 
 prosperity, in the very prime of manhood, laid down his life for 
 Wyoming". 
 
 Of O'Neill, however, I found the most vivid and general traditions. 
 In an old manuscript. Recollections of the Massacre, shown me, he is 
 described as " a native of Ireland", and said to be " the most learned 
 and highly educated man in the settlement". Other accounts men- 
 tion that he was " a devout Roman Catholic", and state that he was 
 
32 A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 
 
 a "very handsome man", but "rather vain and particular in his 
 dress", and of " very gentlemanlike manner and deportment". It is 
 very generally told in the valley, that on the morning of the battle, 
 though (why, I cannot understand) he was not at all bound to go out, 
 and might have remained in the fort, he appeared in the ranks with 
 his sword by his side, and dressed as if for some most particular occa- 
 sion — wearing ruffles, white silk stockings, velvet breeches, silver 
 buckles, and thin shoes. But O'Neill, for all this, was no "vain 
 carpet knight", as those who beheld him o^vned ere the day was done. 
 Some one remarked to him, AvhUe in the ranks and ere they started 
 for the encounter, that he was exempt and might remain. O'Neill 
 looked proudly and almost angrily at the speaker, and said : " What ! 
 remain behind while these men fight to defend helpless women and 
 children! Sir, I am an Irishman!" Of all who fought and fell on 
 that day, it is said, he was the most daring and reckless of life — load- 
 ing and discharging his rifle with deadly aim in the hottest of the 
 fight, as coolly as if he Avere only practising at a target. The last 
 seen of him was with his back to a tree, sword in hand, but badly 
 wounded, in desperate encounter with four or five of the enemy. Six 
 weeks after, his body, covered with wounds, was found on the same 
 spot — recognizable only as that of the heroic Irishman O'Neill, by the 
 finery of the dress which he wore ! 
 
 Several years passed by before Wyoming again became occupied to 
 any great extent. Indeed so recently as fifty years after the events 
 above described " the ruined wall and roofless homes", remained all 
 over the valley, overgrown with grass and wild flowers. A great many 
 of the farms or homesteads returned to a state of nature ; and although 
 the population has, comparatively speaking, much increased within the 
 past half century, the place seems never to have completely shaken off 
 an air of loneliness and utter seclusion which is almost suggestive of 
 its sad history. Relics of the struggle are still discovered daily. The 
 Keverend Mr. Laurence showed me some skulls in his little museum, 
 which the farmers close by had turned up in the course of their agri- 
 
A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF WYOMING. 33 
 
 cultural operations. Each skull bad an ominous cleft, too plainly 
 teUing where the Indian tomahawk crushed through. The people in- 
 habiting the houses on the site of Forty Fort told me that quite a store 
 of valuables had recently been found at the bottom of the Well, and 
 had been taken off to a State Museum, either in PhUadelphia or 
 Washington. Bullets and Indian spear and arrow-heads are quite 
 frequently found around the site of Wintermoots. The site of Fort 
 Wintermoot, I should add, is now occupied by a wood house, in which 
 resides an old woman (named Frances Slocumb, I thmk), daughter of 
 parents who escaped from Forty Fort on the day of capitulation. I 
 talked with her for a long time. She was almost deaf, but seemed 
 very ready to tell all about " the massacre" and " the fight", giving 
 me anecdotes and reminiscences of those events in abundance, gathered 
 from her father and mother, on whose memory terror had engraven 
 them deejily. 
 
 A few days later, and I was homeward bound from Wyoming. I had 
 yet the great Niagara to see, and many another scene to visit and 
 explore. But when I had seen them all, had heard the never-ceasing 
 thunders of " the Falls", and admired the panoramic splendours of the 
 Hudson, I but repeated the Indian story, that " from the rising to the 
 setting sun another Wyoming we should never find". Whether it was 
 its scenery alone, its utter seclusion, its peaceful calm, its sylvan 
 shades, its noble river, its aged forests and wooded mountains, or 
 whether it was its tragic story, or yet the simple, kindly, hospitable 
 character of its people, or all these combined, that so wrought upon 
 my feelings, I cannot tell ; but when I turned to take my farewell of 
 the valley, I felt regret and sadness to think I might see it no more. 
 To-day I but fulfil a promise made to one of its venerat)le patriarchs, 
 kindliest where all were kindly to me, that if I lived to see my own 
 country again, I would one day tell to Europe "The True Story 
 of Wyoming!" 
 
 J. F. FowLEK, Printer, 3 Crow Street, Dame street, Dublin. 
 

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