| Show f I It t I I c Me Lost Sister l J JJ IJ J. m s ri y k 4 A 4 t 1 r t il I r r r rI 4 l J h I I 1 k Ik L' L r Lr f t f H hS t 5 S 1 t r Ir t Sf I f p L 1 w f. f t h f i A I i ii I i J t. t no I I l nl CAP a aP 2 s 4 r By ELMO WATSON HE rec recent nt five day sesquicentennial r i celebration held In the clUes cities of 5 1 and Kingston Pa cul culminating ul In t the great pageant In in which persons enacted re the scenes which took place there years ago ngo was more than an effort to recall the Wyoming valley alley massacre runs mas sacre one ne' ne neof of the most tragic Incidents tact Inci dents In the Revolutionary r war ar It was a n striking trib tribute t i ithe to the the memory of of-a of a gallant army of citizens w who o fought In Ia defense defens of or their I hones homes and perished as ns nobl nobly for tile the c caUse calise ns as any ny patriot warrior who fell on the fiel field of battle wearing nearing the the Continental buff and blue bue tt At Att i the the outbreak of f the Re Revolution 1 lution W oI I 1 j I valley tl then en a part of or orth th the county of pf W reJa re- re Ja land d of the colony of Connecticut had b been en anon among th the first to send Its sons to fight for liberty ty Asia Asa n result It was marked for punishment by the Tory leaders who had succeeded to winning over oyer most tf of the Six Nations the dread Iroquois to the 1 r British sId side Several forts had been built In the the valley during the summer of 1776 but due to HI the ready response of Its Inhabitants to t the le call of ot the the Continental congress for recruits to to V Washing tons ton's army most of r Its bodied able men had h J s marched away leav leaving ng the task of ot def defending t their homes to the old men and boys bos Those who were left were organized Into companies for home 1 1 j I defense and prep preparations were made to to- to guard i P 1 against the storm of destruction which was about Ul p to to break over oyer the valley f. f That That storm came In the r summer ummer of 17 r ing under the losses which b th they y had re t F the Battle of Oriskany a large war warp pa p party ty t Seneca Indians led by a chief nam named d GJ- GJ GI-en GI gwa GI-en-gwa- n b wa- wa tah tab Joined the force of ot British regulars regulars regulars' nn and U TorI Tories s which the notorious Col John Johp tl was was- as preparing preparing In to lead In In a tI through the v I On On June 30 Colonel Butler Buter with with ith an nn talt i v of appeared In the valley o and captured the the upper 1 t. t forts with little or r no r resistance st nce He then pro pro- r d r against the Americans Americans' strongest post called called Forty fort on the banks of pf the Susquehanna hanna about three mU miles s' s above e Into which the settlers had fled fed at attl attire the e approach of u the I enemy This fort was defended by six c companies i of of the home guards numbering some some m men n j i commanded by Col Zebulon Butler ii 8 a cousin of 1 the enemy's leader who was a a resident of the valley and an officer In the Continental army On July 3 Col John Butler sent a demand for the surrender of the fort A council of f war was If ims hastily I ly field held and although some some were were ere in fa favor or of oi playing Ia in for time In n the he hope hoe that reinforcements would come come the opinion of the majority was that It would be best to march out and give ghe the Invaders battle Accordingly about three o'clock clock that afternoon t the e little army array left the fort fort the their r numbers swelled to about by the addition of or orold old men and boys and advanced ed against the enemy enemy which were drawn up with the British reg reg- ul ulars on the left flank the Tories in the center and rind the Indians on the right their position resting rest rest- Ing on the border of a swamp In which many many of the savages concealed themselves J. J The battle began about four clock o'clock The Amerlean Amer Amer- Amerlean lean Ican commander ordered his men to fire In volleys vol vol- vol leys and at each discharge to advance ad a a step Under this steady fire the left of the British line began to give way but as the Americans pressed forward in some disorder t the he Indians Indians' In fn the swamp swamp struck struck them on th the fi flank mk and In n the r rear ar An order was given to one company to fall faU back to to check this flanking movement and that order resulted In disaster It was misinterpreted as an order to retreat and the ward ran along the whole tine line The Americans broke ranks and began besan to to retreat Instantly there was utter r confusion and nd the he retreat became becam a rout As the settlers fled fied toward the fort Colonel Butler recklessly expos expos- f Ing lag Himself to the fire of ot the enemy tried to rally his men P Dont nt leave me me my children and the victory Is ours he be pleaded But It was t too o late The whooping savages were on the heels of the fugitives stabbing shooting and trying to herd them toward a death trap in the river pf the BOO who marched out to fleet neet the enemy officers t and men were killed In la action or In the massacre r which followed For no quarter was given to tile the A I poor wretches who fell In the hands of the the et r enemy That night scenes of til iii sh cruelty to took k c place In the Indian camp was al all of the tire horror committed by the l Indians for almost In credible tales are told of the inhumanity of their I white allies the Tories History has preserved a hundred thrilling dents of ot that inch Inci battle and the massacre One of the most horrible Is the story of the fearful 1 revenge exacted by Queen Esther Montour of ot the for tor the death of her son In the battle Sh She was a half-breed half who had been educated In to Canada and nd who had once been accepted In the b best st society soc In Philadelphia She was an old woman time at the time but her loss and the bloody scenes which were taking place Incited her to fury tury Sixteen captive Americans were led before her One by one the they were v rc sea seated ten q on a rock known own aa M Queen Esthers Esther's v Ar C o r j Sq gf I A r I r I ir I Y Sf M n I 4 Q Y l t o J i rock rack to this dos day and there securely held by two warriors all except pt two rivo fell tell victims to a death death- mall In the hands of the furious old hag One o of thet the most unusual stories of escape was tire 1 U the e ca case Qt N Hopkins flanking which closely parallels theae t the h J Je 9 ry f tory ly of ot Robert nobert Bruce of ot Scotland f. f t und ano ti Ji sp vt Y f V pursued by the Indians c t tr st xH austed sc sought refuge efu e In n a hollow to 1 lop log While l l rab there ther he ire noti noticed ed a n spider r spinning spin spin- M ning a web wei across th the entrance to the log In a short short too wo o Indians approached and sat t down on the tog log f d j rn rod lio w lv fP on Of t the India qs s1 l tt to rn er Into life the darkness but seeing e Ing the Peg p n aJ across across ross the op opening made no io i attempt to h Investigate further The next da day after the mas massacre acre Col Cot Zebulon j Butler Butter with th the remnants of the home defense company company consisting of ot only 14 men left the i valley When th the Tory Colonel Butler approached 5 i th fort he promised promis d Colonel Denison who had bad been left In charge to to spare the lives of the set set- t tiers ers and and allow v them to return to their firms farms unharmed If the fort was surrendered This was greed agreed i a to and the fact that the Tory leader k kept pt 1 his word Is about the only bright spot on the i record of cruelty which history has written i against his name For the Indians anions who swarmed I Into nto- the fort aft after r the surrender although they i were were guilty of ot some plundering apparently had 1 their blood lust sated in the tare killing of the men i who had opposed them in arms and did not masacre massacre mas mug s s sacre acre the defenseless women and children as ns they i ml might ht have been expected to do In the me meantime word of the disaster having i reached the tire people In the fort they Immediately fled down the rIver toward the Dela Dela- i ware They left In such haste that they failed tailed to take along sufficient provisions for their Journey i and an unknown number died of hunger und and privation in the depths of a n great pine forest which Is known to this day as ns the Shades of 1 Death and the beautiful W Wyoming valley deserted de ide by its Inhabitants became th the abode of desolation and woe One exception at least feast to the g general nera flight was as i the case cose of one settler who remained in the val i ley and thereby hangs one ottrie of of- tire the most romantic stories storIes storIes' In all American 6 history tire history stor the the story of the tire Lost SI Sister ter of Wyoming J Jonathan Slocum j a Quaker from flom Rhode Island settled with Iris his wife and nine children In tile the valley In to 1777 1717 On November November ove lb I 2 liiS u a party of ot three D Delaware laware Indians Indian s 's stealing Into into the valley for scalps and j pl plunder approached ed the tare Slocum home A Mrs KIngsley with her two sons were making their home with the Slocums One o of othe the bo boys s was grinding a knife near the door of the cabin when the Indians Indian's approached They Imm Immediately shot shat down the boy and began bean scalping him him with the knife he had been sharpening Then they seized Mrs Slocums Slocum's lame son Ebenezer whereat the mother unmindful 1 of her own danger ran to the Indian and nd pointing down own to the Ule boys boy's foot exclaimed The child chUd can do thee no good See he Is Is' lame Meanwhile her tive year five year old old daugh ter Frances who lio ha had l been he-en hiding under the stairs was discovered by one of the In Indians ians who threw her ber over o his shoulder and dashed Into the w woods heedless of ot the piteous pleas of ot her mother to spare her As the Indians fled ed with little Frances stretching out her arms arms beseechingly toward to to- ward her mother the alarm was given en at nt the fort ort nearby but the brief start which tic the Indians had was enough to allow th thorn rn to outdistance the pur purr pursuit suit that was or organized When the Revolution fJ ended ld d two tuo of the Slocum sons now flaw grown to manhood determined to lift the weight of ot sorrow from mother by beginning a n systematic search for their lost sister In 1784 they went to Niagara but all of ot their Inquiries anion among the Indians gathered near there and offers of ot a reward fo for the return of the tire child were fruitless They rhey returned convinced that their sister had been killed but their mother was firm In her belief that she still lived Four years ears later they spent several months among the western tribes In their search but again they were unsuccessful In 11 1789 a h large rge number of Indians were gathered at Tioga Point to make a treaty and to surrender prisoners to to their friends Although prematurely aged by her troubles Mrs Slocum made the long Journey there and spent several weeks In examining examining exam exam- ining the prisoners in hi hopes hopes' of discovering among them her ber lon lost long child chUd But nut the quest was In In vain as was was another expedition made by the two brothers into the tire west western rn wilderness In the summer sum sum- summer mer of 1797 Finally In 1807 1507 the sorrowing mother still convinced that h her r d daughter was alive and still hoping to see see her again died And It was was- not until 1835 that the lost sister of ot W Wyoming was as found In that year Col Cot George W W. Ewin Ewing of the United States Indian service dis discovered ov red her In a Miami village on the Missisinewa newa a n branch of the Wabash river In n Indiana Under his questioning she admitted that she had hac been carried into captivity as ns a u child and she remembered that her parents parents' name was Slocum She had grown up its s an nn Indian married a Delaware Dela ware chief and borne him children After his death she h had d married d a warrior of ot the but at nt the time of ot her discovery ery she was again a widow highly esteemed among her tribesmen and possessed of considerable means Colonel I el wIng Ewing had never heard the r. r story ol ot r Slocum but believing the me ale Information would be he of value to some one he w ote to the postmaster at Lancaster Pa telling of his discovery dis ds- covery covert and nd asking him ham to make Inquiry That official believing the fetter retter fetter to be a n hoax tJ threw rew It aside Two years later Inter he lied and his iris widow i found the tire letter among his Iris papers Impressed by the story she sent ent vent It to the Lancaster Intel Intel- which winch published the letter It was rend read by an acquaintance of ot the tire Slocum family fancily wh who mailed It to one of Frances Slocums Slocum's brothers who was then living In n From Colonel Colone EwIng he learned that the woman was still living near Logansport Ind and and there members of ot the lIm family sou sought ht her out dut The white Indian woman readily admitted her identity dentt but when they urged her to return to her old home with them she ref refused sed She had hae II lived pd as us an in Indian was an nn Indian in er e every way except blood and would die as as' as asan an nn Indian she said salet In fact It Is believed that lint during all nil the years her hor brothers were were searching for tor her she sire may ha have known of the search and with the aid Illel of her Indian friends frends avoided being found because she feared that flint her relatives would take her away from from the flip life Ilfe sho had learned to love So perhaps It t was heater heHer after nil all that the anther mother never ne saw her lost fost daughter Through the influence of ot IH II Frances Slocum's Slocums i 1 v u in-u we int l mo ed wele CU Vest v ULI ucross the Mississippi the old woman was allowed to on the l and und was granted a of land one mile square for her Ier home There she died March 1 I U 9 1847 1841 and was burled on a beautiful beau beau- knoll near the Junction of the tire and the beside her In Indian inn husband ant and her One of her daughters married Francis Godfrey or Godfrey Godfroy of a 0 family fatuous famous as ns a n line of war var chiefs among the Till The Godfreys Godfrey were were among the the l If who werd er exempt x from deportation when their tribesmen were moved mO west and some of them still Ih live c near Peru Ind During the recent celebration at VII a a number of l among them descendants nt of or Frances Slocum went went to Pe Penn n sylvania for the tire event ent So after a century and anil a 8 half halt the Lost Sister of ot W Wyoming In the person of men and women carr carrying her blood In their rains cam came home at last I |
