Show loam st sister at Z 4 alp I 1 V aa 1 I 1 4 L 15 11 ell Q 1 I 1 liala aj I 1 ax nali p li w 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON UE recent ove day sesquicentennial celebration held in the cities of Willies barre and longston kingston pa culminating mina ting in the great pageant in which persons re enacted the scenes which took place there years ago was more than an effort to recall the wyoming valley massacre one of the most tragic incidents in the revolutionary war it was a striking tribute to the memory of a gallant army of citizens who fought in defense of their homes and perished as nobly for the cause as any patriot warrior who tell fell on the field of battle wearing the continental butt buff and blue at the outbreak of the revolution wyoming valley then a part of the county of westmore land of 0 the colony of connecticut had been among the first to send its sons to tight fight for liberty As a result it was marked for punishment by vie the tory leaders who had succeeded to winning over most of the six nations the dread iroquois to the british s ade several forts had been built in n the valley during the summer of 1770 but due to the ready response of its inhabitants to the calls of the continental congress for recruits to army most of its able bodied men had marched away leaving the task of defending their homes to the old men and boys those wh who were left were organized into companies for home defense and preparations were made to guard against the storm of destruction which was about to break over the valley that storm came in the summer of 1778 smarting under the losses which they had received at the cattle battle of oriskany Oris kany a large war party of seneca indians led by a chief named gi en gwa awa tah tab joined the force of british regulars and torlea tories which the notorious col john butler was preparing to lead in a raid through gh the valley on june SO 30 colonel butler with an army of SOO appeared in the valley and c captured the upper forts with little or no resistance ue he then proceeded against the americans strongest post called forty fort on the banks of the susquehanna about three miles above Wilkes barre into which the settlers had fled at the approach of the enemy this fort was defended by six companies of the home guards numbering some 1 10 men commanded by col zebulon butler a cousin of the leader who was a resident of the valley and an officer in the continental army on july 3 col john butler sent a demand tor for the surrender of the fort A council of war was hastily held and although some were in favor of playing tor for time in the hope that reinforcements would come the opinion of the majority was that it would be best to march out and give ire the invaders battle accordingly about three that afternoon the little army left the fort their numbers swelled to about by the addition of old men and boys and advanced against the enemy which were drawn up with the british regulars on the left flank the tories in the center and the indians on the right their position resting on the border of a swamp in which many of the savages concealed themselves the battle began about four the amerlean american commander ordered his men to fire cre in volleys lol and at each cacti discharge to advance a step under this steady fire the left of the british line began to give way but as the hie americans pressed forward in some disorder the indians in the swamp struck them on the lank flank and in the rear an an order was given to one company to fall back to check this thinking flanking movement anil and that order resulted in disaster it was misinterpreted as an order to retreat and the word ran along the whole line the americans broke ranks and began to lr retreat etreaL instantly there was utter contusion confusion and the retreat became a rout roul As the settlers fled toward the fort colonel butler recklessly erdos exposing himself to the fire of the enemy tried to rally his men dont leave me my children and the victory Is oural ours I 1 lie pleaded but it was too late the whooping savages were on the heels of the fugitives tives stabbing shooting and trying to herd them toward a death trap in the river of the who marched out to neet the enemy officers and men were killed in action or in the massacre which followed for no quarter was given to the poor wretches who fell into the hands of the enemy that night scenes of hellish cruelty took place in the indian camp nor was all of the horror committed by the indians indiana for almost incredible tales are told of the inhumanity of their white allies the tories history has preserved a hundred thrilling net 1 the file massacre one of the y of the fearful revenge montour of the Seti eras in n the battle shi sh was a 9 educated in canada tind ed in the best society in 0 old c d woman at the hie time pody scenes which were ito fury sixteen captive ire tier her one by one they nofri as queen esthera Esl Es hera ibers fiats CT j 2 11 aa 0 r o A loj y tt r I 1 A 0 aw W r 51 A lr 4 14 of fir shaf rock to this day and there securely held by two warriors nil all except two fell victims to a death mall mail in the lie hands of the furious old hag bag one of 0 the most unusual stories of escape was the case of noah hopkins II which closely parallels the legendary story of robert bruce of scotland and the spider II pursued by the indians and almost exhausted sought refuge in a hollow to log while lying there he noticed a spider spinning a web across the entrance to the log in a short time two indians approached and sat down on the to log noticing it was hollow one of the indians leaned over oner to peer into the darkness but seeing the web spun across the opening made no attempt to investigate further the next nest day alter after the massacre col zebulon cutler butler with the remnants of the home defense company consisting of only 14 men left the valley when the tory colonel butler approached the tort fort he promised colonel denison who had bad been left in charge to spare the lives of the settlers and allow them to return to their farms unharmed it if the tort fort was surrendered tills this was agreed to and the tact fact that the tory leader kept his word Is about the only bright spot on the record of cruelty aich which history has written against his fils name for the indians who swarmed into the fort after the surrender although they were guilty of some plundering apparently had their blood lust sated anted in the killing of the men who had opposed them in ili arms and did not massacre the defenseless women and children as they might have been expected to do in the meantime word of the disaster having reached the people in the Wilkes barte tort fort they immediately led fled down the river toward the delaware they left in such haste that they failed to take along sufficient clent provi provisions for their journey mid and an unknown number died of hunger and privation in the depths of a great pine forest which Is known to this lay day as the shades of death and the beautiful wyoming valley deserted by its inhabitants became the abode of desolation and woe ioe t one exception at least to the general night flight was war the case of one settler who remal remained ded in the i atley alley and thereby hangs one of the most romantic stories in all american history the story of the lost sister of 0 wyoming jonathan slocum a quaker from rhode island settled with his wife and nine children in the valley in 1777 on november 2 1778 a party of three delaware Ind indians lans stealing into the valley for scalps and plunder approached the slocum home A mrs kingsley with her two sons wore were making their home with the slocums one of the boys was grinding a knife near the lie door of the cabin when the indians approached they immediately shot down the boy and began scalping film with the knife he had been sharpening then they seized mrs slocums lame son ebenezer Eben czer whereat the mother unmindful of her own danger detinger dt inger ran to the indian and pointing down to the boys toot foot exclaimed the child can do thee no good see lie he Is lamel meanwhile her five year old daughter frances Franc eg who had been hitting hiding under the hie stairs was discovered by one of the indians who threw her over his shoulder and dashed into the woods heedless of the piteous pleas of her mother to spare tier her As the indians led fled with little frances manees ra nees stretching liing out tier arms beseechingly toward her mother the alarm was given at the fort nearby but the brief start which the indians indiana had was enough to allow tham ali iii to the pur suit that was when the revolution elded aided two of the slocum sons now grown to manhood determined to lift the n eight of sorrow arow hom their mother by beginning a systematic search for their lost sister in 1781 1731 they went lent to niagara but till all of their inquiries uniting the indians gathered near dear there and offers of a 11 reward for the return of the child were fruitless they returned convinced that their sister had been killed but their mother was firm in tier her belief that slie she still lived four years later they spent several months among the western tribes in their search but again they were unsuccessful in 17 sa a large number of indians were gathered at tioga point to make a treaty and to surrender prisoners to their friends friend although prematurely aged by tier her troubles mrs slocum made the long journey there and spent several weeks in examining the prisoners in hopes of discovering among them her long lost child put but the quest was in vain as was another expedition made by the two brothers into the western NIlder wilderness ness in the summer slimmer of 1707 finally in 1807 the sorrowing mother still convinced that her daughter was alive and still hoping to see her again ngali died and it was not until 1835 1935 that the lost sister of wyoming was found in that year col george AV lowing ewing of the united states indian service discovered her in a miami village on the newa a branch of the wabash river in indiana under his questioning she admitted that she had been carried into captivity as it a child and she remembered that her parents name was slocum she had grown up as an indian married a delaware chief and borne him children ildron cli after his death she had married a warrior of the MIi but at the time of her discovery she was again a widow lil highly lily esteemed among her tribesmen and possessed of considerable means colonel ewing had never heard the story of frances slocum but believing the information would be of value to some one he wrote to the postmaster at lancaster pa ila telling of his discovery and ashing ashan liim him to make inquiry that official believing the letter to be a hoax threw it aside two years later lie he lied hed and his widow found the letter among his papers impressed by the story she sent it to the lancaster ligen which published the letter it was road read by an all acquaintance of the slocum family who mailed it to lo one of frances slocums brothers who was vlas then living in Wilkes barre from colonel ewing lie he learned that the woman was still living near logansport Logan sport ind and there members of the slogum family sought her out the white indian woman readily admitted tier her identity hut when hen they urged tier her to return to tier her old home with them she refused she had lived as nn an indian was as an indian in every way except blood blond and would die as an indian she said in fact it Is believed that during all the years tier her brothers were searching for tier her she may have known of the search and and with the aid of tier her indian friends avoided being found because she feared that tier her relatives would take tier her away from the life she ila had learned to love lore so perhaps it was better after all that the mother neer saw tier her lost daughter through the influence of frances slocums brother when the were moved west across the mississippi the old woman was allowed to remain on nn the missisinewa and was granted a tract of land one mile square for her home there she died march 9 1317 1817 and was buried on a beautiful knoll near the junction of the missisinewa oil and the wabash beside her indian husband and tier her children one of tier her daughters married francis godfrey or godfroy of a family famous ns na a line of war chiefs among the tho godfrey godfreyh God freys were among the who were exempt from deportation nhen their tribesmen wore moved west and some of them still live near peru fern ind during the recent celebration at wil VH kes barre a number of siramis Ali amis among thein hem of frances arances slocum cuni went to ienn silvan li for the hie event so after a century and a half the lost of wyoming in the person ot 0 mon men wid mid women carrying tier her blood la in their belus caine calip home boine 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