A sketch of the history of Wyoming

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CHAPTER I. Description of Wyoming Valley—Remains 'of an*

cient fortifications— Etymology of the name — ■ Indian Tribes — Indian tradition — Delawares— - Monceys — Mingoes— Shawanese — Removal of the Shawanestfrom the Ohio — Their arrival at Wyoming- — Treaty with the Six Nations — Speech of Comiassatego — Arrival of the Delawares at Wyoming— An -rival of Count Zinzendorf — His reception— Plot to assassinate him* — Arrival of the Nanticokes- — Disagreements between the English and French—The Six Nations take part with the French— Battle between the Datawares and Shawanese- — Removal of the Ska- -tvanese — Gnaddenhulten built — — Tadeuscun i elected King of the Delawares — Fort Allen i- —Gnaddenhutten burnt — General Congress at Albany — Femo val of th e Nanticokes — Massac re at Shamokin — Braddoctfs defeat— Revolt of the Delawares— 'First Treaty at Easton — Speed Tadenscnnd — Fort Oswego taken ly the Fr>,. <~—Genercd Treaty at Easton.

IT has been remarked by a celebrated historian*, that i4 in J d\e infancy of Society men are •* ; occupied with t\ie business of the present h

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" forgetful of the past, and regardless of the fu- * ture ; " and the experience of all ages and countries undoubtedly affords abundant testimony to the truth of this declaration. There are however, perhaps, few instances in which it has been more forcibly exemplified, than in a struggle to form a settlement among the mountains of the new world.

That territory, the history of which, is attempt* ed to be sketched in the following pages, has never been celebrated either for its extent or power ; unless indeed, it may have been among the tribes composing its aboriginal inhabitants, of whom very little is now known, but of whom relicks have been found indicating a people of more importance than those tribes who subsequently occupied the country. That however, which renders it particularly worthy of notice, is the unexampled sufferings of its early settlers ; and the frequent destruction of its infant settlements ; subjects which have excited the notice of many modern historians, and have more recently been the theme of a celebrated English bard* J

Wyoming is t)\e name given to a beautiful Valley situate along the river Susquehanna in the North Eastern part of the State of Pennsylvania. It is about three miles wide, and twenty -live miles long, and is formed by two ranges of mountains nearly parallel to each other, extending from the North oast to the South west. These mountains contain

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Eiany rocky precipices and are covered with wood consisting principally of Oak and Pine. The average height of the eastern range is about one thousand feet ; that of the western, about eight hundred. They are of a very irregular form having elevated points, and deep hollows or openings which are. called " Gaps." The Susquehanna enters the Valley through a gap in the western mountain called the " Lackawannock Gap," and flowing in a serpentine course about twenty miles, leaves the Valley through another opening in the same mountain, called the " Nanticoke Gap, " These openings are so wide only as to admit the passage ©f the river and are in part faced with perpendicular bluffs of rocks, covered with a thick growth of Pine and Laurel, which have a very fine appearance when viewed from the river, or from the road which passes along their basis. The river is in most places about two hundred yards wide— « from four to twenty feet deep, and flows with a very gentle current except at the rapids, or when swelled with rains or melting snows. Near the centre of the Valley it has a rapid called the " Wyoming Falls 5" and another called the " Nanticoke Falls" where it passes through the Nanticoke Gap. Several tributarystreams fall into the river, after passing through rocky gaps, to the mountains on each side of the Valley, forming beautiful cascades as they descj&nd into the plain. Those on the North-west sj(de are Toby's Creek, Moses*' 5 Creek and Island Run. On the South-east side ire Mill Creek, Laurel Run, Solomon's Creek

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and Nanticoke Creek i all of which are sufficient for Mills, and abound with fish.

Along the river, and on both sides, are level fertile plains extending in some places nearly a mile and an half from the margin of the stream, where small hills commence stretching to the mountains, the river sometimes washing the base of the hills on one side and sometimes on the other. The surface of the plain in some parts of the Valley is elevated about ten feet higher than in other parts, forming a sudden offset or declivity . from one to the other. These plains are called the upper and lower " Flats, 5 ' and spontaneously produce quantities of Plumbs, Grapes, many kinds of Berries, and a great variety of wild Flowers.

In many parts of the Valley, and in the sides of the mountains, Mineral Coal of a very superior quality is found in great abundance ; it is of the species called Anthracite, which burns without amoke and with very little flame, and constitutes the principal fuel of the inhabitants, as well as their most important article of exportation.

In the Valley of Wyoming there exists some remains of ancient fortifications which appear to have been constructed by a race of people very different in their habits from those who occupied the place when first discovered by the whites. Most of these ruins have been so much obliterated by the operations of agriculture that their forms cannot now be distinctly ascertained. That which remains the most entire was examined by the writer during the summer of 1817, and its dimensions carefully ascertained, although from frequent ploughing, its form had become almost destroyed. It is situated in the Township of Kingston, upon a level plain on the north side of Toby's Creek about one hundred and fifty feet from its bank, and about half a mile from its confluence with the Susquehanna. It is of an oval or elliptical form, having its longest diameter from the N. W. to the S. E. at right angles to the Creek, three hundred and thirty seven feet, and its shortest diameter from the N. E. to the S. W. two hundred and seventy two feet. On the S. W. side appears to have been a gate way about twelve feet wide, opening towards the great Eddy of the River into which the Creek falls. From present appearances it consisted probably of only one mound or rampart, which, in height and thickness, appears to have been the same on all sides, and was constructed of earth, the plain on which it stands not abounding in stone. On the outside of the rampart is an entrenchment or ditch, formed probably by removing the earth of which it is composed, and which appears never to have been walled. The Creek on which it stands is bounded by a high steep bjank on that side, and at ordinary times is sufficiently deep to admit canoes to ascend from the River to the Fortification. When the first settlers came to Wyoming, this plain was covered with its native forest, consisting principally of Oak and Yellow Pine ; and the trees which grew in the rampart and in the entrenchment, are said to have fteen as large as those in any other part of the Vatley ; one large oak particularly, upon being cut down, was ascertained to be seven hundred years old. The Indians had no tradition concerning these fortifications, neither did they appear to have any knowledge cf the purposes for which they were constructed. They were perhaps, erected about the same time with those upon the waters of the Ohio, and probably by a similar people and for similar purposes.

Wyoming is a corruption of the name given to the place by a nation of Indians called the Delawares, who called it Maughwauwame. The word is a compound \ Maughwau, meaning large or extensive, and ivamc, signifying plains or meadows ; so that it may be translated " The Large Plains." The name in the language of the Six Nations, is Sgahontowano, " The Large Flats;" 'Gahonto, meaning, in their language, a large piece of ground without trees*, by which it appears that some part of these plains, probably the low r er flats, contained no woods. The Delawares pronounced the first syllable short, and the German Missionaries, in order to give the sound as near as possible to the Indian pronunciation, wrote the word M'chweuwami. The early settlers, finding it difficult to pronounce the word

*These particulars, the writer obtained from the Rev. John Heckaweldar of Bethlehem, who was a Missionary among the Indians as early as 1765, and to whose politeness he is much indebted. Se^ ISTote L at the end of the Volume.

HISTORY OP WYOMING. 11

The information which can at present be obtained relative to the Indian Tribes who formerly inhabited the Valley of Wyoming, is necessarily very limited, from the imperfect nature of Indian tradition, which forms at present the only memorial of its ancient history. There was a tradition among the oldest and most learned of the Delawares, that their Nation originally came from the western shores of North America, and having proceeded eastward in quest of a better country, they came •to the great River Mississippi, where they found a powerful Nation of Indians in possession of the country, who had strong fortifications and other means of defence unknown to the Delawares.-— That this people refused them permission to pass through their territories, upon which the Dela* wares made war upon them, and cut them to pieces in many sanguinary battles ; after which the remainder went down the river, and have not since been heard of. At what period of time these important events transpired, does not appear from the accounts transmitted to such of their posterity aslremained upon the Susquehanna ; and whether the tradition is founded in fact may be considered as doubtful. The Delawares, like all other tribes, were proud of the prowess of their ancestors, and without doubt would consider it as an honor to be thought the conquerors of a nation who had constructed such extensive works as are indicated by those ruins so common in the western

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country. The question may naturally occur, what became of that people who descended the Mississippi after their dispersion by the Delawares, and who were acquainted with the art of fortification ? It is not probable that they could have been the same with the Mexicans or Peruvians, since their traditions will not induce a belief of such an origin ; and it may also be considered a little surprising that the Delawares, during a long course of bloody wars, should not have learned from their enemies some knowledge of an art so beneficial in a system of national defence. The tradition proceeds tojrelate that after the Delawares had dispersed these people, called the Alligewe or Alligeni, and taken possession of the country, a great portion of their Nation concluded to remain in the conquered country, and another part removed towards the Atlantic, and took possession of the country extending from the Hudson River to the Potomac— The Nation was divided into several distinct tribes, each of which had an appropriate name. One took possession of the country between the sea coast and the mountains. Another tribe called the Monceys, occupied the country extending from the Kittatinnunk or principal mountain, now called the Blue Mountain, to the heads of the Delaware and Susquehanna. This tribe had their principal settlement or council fire at a place called the Minisink on a River called by the Mingoes the Makerisk-kiskon, being the same afterwards called Be -la-ware, or Delaware ; and a part of the same tribe nearly at the same time, settled at Wyoming.

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About the same period, (for tradition does not iufaeiently determine the precise time,) the Shawanese Indians inhabited the country now comp- Georgia and the Fioridas, and were a very powerful and warlike nation ; but the surround ii

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having confederated against them, they were subdued and driven from that territory. In this u fortunate condition they sent messengers to the Mohegans, a nation who resided on the east side of the Hudson River, requesting their influence in procuring from the Delawares, permission for them to come and reside under their protection.

At this time the Delawares were not upon the most friendly terms with the Mingoes or Six Nations, who inhabited the country in the neighborhood of the Lakes, and who, by virtue of their confederated power, exercised a dictatorial spirit over the surrounding tribes. The Delawares were therefore anxious to accumulate a force against these powerful neighbors, and very willingly accepted the proposition of the Shawanese. While these negociations were progressing the Shawanese had found a resting place near the mouth of the ri~ xer Wabasch where they were building a Town 9 when their messengers returned, accompanied by a deputation from the Mohegans, who informed ihem of the success of their application to the Del* awares, and that a territory was already alloted fur their reception. Upon receiving this intelligence, a National Council was held to deliberate on the propriety of removing to the country of the Delaware. The assembly however were divi-

B detl, a part having resolved to remain and fortify themselves in their new Town ; and the remainder, consisting principally of the Pickaway tribe; under their Chief, Gachgcavafschiqim, removed from the Ohio and formed a settlement in the forks of the Delaware. They however brought with them that artless and warlike spirit which had rendered them so disagreeable to their southern neighbors ; and as the character of a people cannot long be concealed, disturbances soon arose between them and that tribe of the Delawares who occupied the country lower down the river. These conflicts became at length so violent, that the Shawanese were compelled to leave the forks of the Delaware* and the whole tribe in that country removed to Wyoming Valley, which they found unoccupied^ as the M.onceys had been induced by the threatening posture of affairs to concentrate their forces around their principal settlement at Minisinks.

The Shawanese having arrived at Wyoming found themselves sole masters of the Valley, and as there appeared no enemy to annoy them in their new abode, they built a Town upon the west bank of the River, near the lower end of the Val* \c-j, upon a large plain which still bears the name of the Shawanese Flats. In this situation the Shawanese enjoyed many years of repose. The women cultivated corn upon the plains, and the xnen traversed the surrounding mountains in pursuit of game. While these changes were taking place among the Indian tribes, the Europe-ins were forming settlements in various places along the At'

lantic coast, which they obtained sometimes by purchase, at other times by conquest, and although they were beginning to extend them into the interior, yet the resistance made by the Indians was in most cases feeble, as there were few instances in Which the different tribes united their forces for that purpose. There were however in the country of the Great Lakes, a people who conducted their wars upon a much more extensive system. These people were known by the general name of Mingoes. They consisted of the Onondagoes, Senekas, Cayoogoes, Oneydas, Mohocks and Tuscaroras, and their confederacy acquired the appellation of " The Six Nations." They were a powerful warlike people, who held the surrounding nations in subjection, and claimed a jurisdiction, extending from Connecticut River to the Ohio. They are described by a celebrated historian*, as " A confederacy, who, by their union, " courage and military skill, had reduced a great " number of other Indian tribes and subdued po " territory more extensive than the whole kingdom "of France." This people claimed the country occupied by the Delawares and Shawanese and held these tribes or nations subject to their author iiv 5 a claim which, though seldom acknowledged and never defined, was not frequently disputed ; for savage, as well as civilized nations, frequently strengthen a weak cause, by the powerful force of military array.

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After the arrival of William Perm, the Prof,:':. etor of Pennsylvania, he purchased of the Delaware Indians the country along that River below the Blue Mountains, supposing those tribes the. only legitimate owners ; but having been informed

the claim and powers of the Six Nations, he also negociated a purchase of them. Some difficulty arising between the Proprietaries and the Delawares respecting the limits of these purchases, the Delawares refused to give up possession ; and as no accommodation appeared likely to take place, a messenger was sent from the Governor to the Six Nations, informing them of the circumstance and requesting them to send Deputies to meet in Coun cil at Philadelphia with instructions upon all subjects in dispute.

Accordingly in the summer of 174$. the Chiefs and principal warriors of the Six Nations to the number of two hundred and thirty, repaired to Philadelphia where they met the Chiefs of the Delawares, and a General Council was opened in presence of the Officers of the Colonial Government and a large concourse of citizens, in the great Hall of the Council House.

The Governor by means of an interpreter opened the Conference on the part of the Proprietaries in along talk, which set forth, that the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania had purchased the lands in the forks of Delaware several years before, of the Del aware tribes who then possessed them.— That they had afterwards received information that the same lauds were claimed by the Six Nation?,, and ap'ur-

HISTORY Or WYOMING. ,1/

cHase was also made oilkcm. — That in both tjtiese purchases trie Proprietaries had paid the stipula ted price 5 but the Delaware Indians had nevertheless refused to give up possession ; and as the Six Nations claimed authority over their country, it had been thought proper to hold a Council of all parties that justice might be done. The Chiefs of the Six Nations were then informed that as they bad on all occasions required the Government of Pennsylvania to remove any whites that settled upon their lands, so now the Government of Pennsylvania expected that the Six Nations would cause these Indians to remove from the lands which it had purchased. The Deeds from the Indians, and Drafts of the disputed lands were then produced, and the whole submitted to the consideration of the Council. After some deliberation among the different Chiefs, Connossatego, a venerable chieftain, arose in the name of all the Deputies and informed the Governor, " That they Ci saw the Delawares had been an unruly peo- " pie and were altogether in the wrong, and that "they had concluded to remove them.*' And addressing himself to the Delawares in a violent manner, he said, " You deserve to be taken by (i the hair of your heads and shaken 'till you re- 44 cover your senses and become sober. We have *' seen a Deed signed by nine of your Chiefs above Ci fifty years ago for this very land. But how " came you to take upon yourselves to sell lands "at all ? We conquered you — we made women u of you i you know you are women, and can no

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'•* more sell lands than women. Nor is it fit '" that you should have the power of selling lands* re you would abuse it. You have been fur- 'Mils! ied with clothes, meat and drink by the good- ••paid you for it, and now you want it again like * 4 children as you are. But what makes 3-011 sell * ; lands in the dark ? Did you ever tell us that * c you had sold this land ? Did we ever receive •• any par 1 ', even the value of a pipe-shank for it? " You have told us a Wind story that you sent a •• ro 1 to us to inform us of the sale, but he

iie amongst us, nor have we ever heard rthirig abolit it. But we find you are none ci lood, you act a dishonest part not only in in other matters. Your ears are ever '"'-open to slanderous reports about your brethren. • ■ B'or all these reasons we charge you to remove fci instantly ; we don't give you liberty to think tout it. Yen are women ; take the advice of a •' \\\ and remove instantly. You may re*

- turn to the other side of [he Delaware where you •* came from, but we do not know whether, con- '•• sideririg how you have demeaned yourselves, you •• will be permitted to live there, or whether you •• have not swallowed that land down your throats *• as Well as the lands on this side. We thereto! e '. you two places to go to. either to JVyotatdkhh You may go to either of «* these places^ and then we shall have you more **• under our eye, and shall see how you behave *\ Dont deliberate, but remove away and take this ilt of Waimjunu"

He then commanded them to leave the Council as he had business to do with the English.

The influence cf the Six Nations was too power. ful to be disregarded, and the speech of Connassatego had its full effect ; the Delawares immediately left the disputed country ; some removed to Siia= mokin and some to Wyoming.

On their arrival at Wyoming the Delaware^ found the valley in possession of the Shawanese ; but as these Indians acknowledged the authority of the Six Nations, and knew that the removal of the Delawares was in consequence of their order, resistance was thought to be inexpedient ; and the Delawares having taken quiet possession of a part of the Valley, built their Town of Maughwauwame on the east bank of the River upon the lower tlat below the mouth of a small stream, and nearly opposite the first Island above the mouth of Toby's Creek.* Such was the origin of the Indian Town of Wyoming. Soon after the arrival of the Delawares, and during the same season, (the summer of the year 1742,) a distinguished foreigner, Count Zinzendorf, of Saxony, arrived in the Valley on a religious mission to the Indians. This nobleman is believed to have been the first white person that ever visited Wyoming. He was the Revivor of the ancient Church of the United Brethren, and had given protection in his dominions to the persecuted Protestants who had emigrated from Moravia, thence taking the name of Moravians, and

"Just below the present Town of Wilkeshajre,

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■who two years before had made their first settlement in Pennsylvania.

Upon his arrival in America, Count Zinzendorf manifested a great anxiety to have the Gospel preached to the Indians ; and although he had neard much of the ferocity of the Shawanese, formed a resolution to visit them. With this view he repaired to Tujpehockm the residence of Conrad Weiser, a celebrated Indian interpreter, and Indian agent for the Government, whom he wished to engage in the cause and to accompany him to the Shawanese Town. Weiser was too much occupied in business to go immediately to Wy naing, but he furnished the Curat with letters to a Missionary of the name of Mack, and the latter, accompanied by his wife who could speak the I language, p oceeded immediately wit!' Zinzendorf on the projected mission.

The Shawanese appeared to be alarmed on the arrival of the strangers who pitched their terns on the banks of the River a little below the T rwn, and a Council of the Chiefs having assembled, the declared purpose of Zinzendorf was deliberately considered. To these unlettered children of the wilderness it appeared altogether improbable that a stranger should brave the dangers of a boisterous ocean three thousand miles broad, for the sole purpose of instructing them in the means of ootaimng happiness af'er death, and that too without requiring any compensation for his trouble and expense ; and as they had observed he anxiety of the white people to purchase lands of the Indians, they nat-

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vi rally concluded that the real object of Zinzetidorf was either to procure from them the lands at Wyoming for his own uses, to search for hidden treasures, or to examine the country with a view to future conquest. It was accordingly resolved to assassinate him, and to do it privately lest the knowledge of the transaction should produce a war with the English who were settling the coun.- try below the mountains.

Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of dry weeds which composed his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins approached ■ o execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary to his comfort and convenience. A curtain formed of a blanket and hung upon pins was the only guard to the entrance of his tent. The heat of his small fire had aroused a larg;e Rat' 'le-snake which lay in the weeds not far from it .3 and the reptile to enjoy it more effectually crawled slowly into the tent and passed over one of his legs undiscovered. Without, all was still and quiet except the gentle murmur of the river at the rapids about a mile below. At this moment the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and .-lightly removing the curtain, contemplated the venerable man too deeply engaged in the subject of his thoughts to notice either their approach, or the snake which lay extended before him. At it sight like this even the heart of the savage shrunk from the idea of committing so horrid an act, and quitting the spot they hastily returned to the Towja

End informed their companions that the Great Spit* it protected the white man, for they had found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large Rattle-snake crawl over his legs without attempting to injure him.* This circumstance, together with the arrival soon afterwards of Conrod Weiser, procured Zinzendorf the friendship and confidence of the Indians, and probably contributed essentially towards inducing many of them at a subsequent period to embrace the Christian Religion. The Count having spent twenty days at Wyoming, returned to Bethlehem, a Town then building by his christian brethren on the north bank of the Lehigh about eleven miles from its junction with the Delaware.

The English settlements were about ilas time rapidly increasing in the Colony of Maryland, and difficulties arising with the Indians in that quarter, a great number cf the tribe called the Nayiticokcs, who inhabited the eastern shore of the Chesapeak Bay, removed ta Wyoming in May

1748 with their chief Sachem called White.-

Finding the pricipal part of the Valley in possession of the Shawanese and Delawares, the Nanticokes built their Town at the lower end of the Yal-

*This circumstance is not published in ihe Count's memoirs, lest, as he states, the brethren should think the conversion of a part of the Shawanese was attributable to their superstition. The author received the narrative from a companion of Zinzendorf who afterwards accompanied hhn tc Wyoming.;

ley on the east bank of the river just above the mouth of a small creek still called tfc Nanticoke Creek." About this time Colonel Cornwall is, who had been appointed Governor of Nova Scotia,, arrived in that Colony and laid the foundation of the Town of Halifax.* While the French, whose settlements had become extensive in North America, began to manifest great alarm at the enereasing power of the British Colonies, and with a view to check their growth and to provide for events in case of hostilities, they endeavored to engage in their interest the different Indian tribes that v. ere

scattered along the waters of the great Lakes-

The powerful influence possessed by the Six Nations over the other aborigines, and their contiguity to the French Colonies, rendered an alliance with them particularly desirable on the part of the French, and a good understanding was accordingly effected by means which seldom fail of success, A war it is true had not actually broken out between the English and French, but circumstances gave such strong indications of an approaching rupture, that the colonies of the respective nations began to apprehend such ari event, and the Indians who were in the French interest attempted also to bring over to their views those tribes which still remained friendly to the English, or to proyoke hostilities between them. The Shawanese upon the Ohio were among the first to form an alliance with the French, and a3 that portion 01 their tribe which

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had removed to Wyoming still retained their h.i tred to the English, a formal proposition was made to them to leave Wyoming and rejoin their breth* ten on the Ohio. To this proposition one difficulty offered itself : a portion of the Shawanese had embraced the Christian religion, and being attached to the Moravian Church, were determined to remain on the Susquehanna. An event however soon transpired which caused the removal of the Shawanese, and however trifling in its origin, produced an efFect more powerful than the wishes of their Ohio brethren and the threats of the Six Nations. Disturbances had occasionally arisen between the Shawanese and the Delawares at Wyoming, and their mutual animosity had become so great as to break out into hostilities upon the least provocation. While the warriors of the Delawares were engaged upon the mountains in a hunting expedi- ?ion, a number of Squaws, or female Indians, from Maughwauwame, 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 became general, but the Delawares being the most numerous, soon drove the Shawanese to their canoes, and to their own bank ^ a few having been killed on bo(h sides. Upon the return of the. warriors both tribes prepared for battle to revenge the wrongs which they considered their wives had sustained.