The Loyalists of America and Their Times Volume II Part 8
Notwithstanding the care and precautions taken by General Burgoyne to prevent the effects of their barbarous disposition, they were sometimes carried to an excess that shocked his humanity--the more, as it was totally out of his power to control them in the degree that he had hoped and proposed. The outrages they committed were such as proved highly detrimental to the royal cause. They spared neither friend nor foe, and exercised their usual cruelties with very little attention to the threats that were held out in order to restrain and deter them.
"Several instances of this nature happened about this time, which contributed powerfully to alienate the minds of many from the cause in which they served. One was recorded, in particular, that equally struck both parties with horror. A young lady, the daughter of Mr. MacRea, a zealous royalist, being on her way to the British army, where she was to be married to an officer, unhappily fell into the hands of the Indians, who, without regarding her youth and beauty, murdered her with many circ.u.mstances of barbarity.
"Scenes of this nature served to render the royal party extremely odious. However the Americans might be conscious that the Indians were as offensive, and as much abhorred by their enemies as by themselves, still they could not forgive them the acceptance of such auxiliaries as must necessarily disgrace the best cause.
"The resentment occasioned by the conduct of the Indians, and no less the dread of being exposed to their fury, helped considerably to bring recruits from every quarter to the American army. It was considered as the only place of refuge and security at present. The inhabitants of the tracts contiguous to the British army took up arms against it almost universally. The preservation of their families was now become an object of immediate concern. As the country was populous, they flocked in mult.i.tudes to the American general's camp; and he soon found himself at the head of an army which, though composed of militia and undisciplined men, was animated with that spirit of indignation and revenge which so often supplies all military deficiencies." (Dr. Andrews' History of the Late War, Vol. II., Chap. xxviii., pp. 393, 394.)]
[Footnote 84: Dr. Ramsay's History of the United States, Vol. II., Chap.
xix., p. 322.]
CHAPTER x.x.xIV.
THE Ma.s.sACRE OF WYOMING--FOUR VERSIONS OF IT BY ACCREDITED AMERICAN HISTORIANS, ALL DIFFERING FROM EACH OTHER--THE FACTS INVESTIGATED, AND FALSE STATEMENTS CORRECTED.
It would be useless and tedious to attempt even a condensed account of the battles and warfare in which the Indians took part between the English and the Congress; but there is one of these revengeful and murderous occurrences which must be minutely stated, and the American accounts of it thoroughly investigated, as it has been the subject of more misrepresentation, more declamation, more descriptive and poetic exaggeration, and more denunciation against the English by American historians and orators than any other transaction of the American revolution--namely, what is known as the "Ma.s.sacre of Wyoming." There are four versions of it, by accredited American histories.
The account of this ma.s.sacre is thus given in the words of Dr. Ramsay's history:
"A storm of Indian and Tory vengeance burst in July, 1778, with particular violence on Wyoming, a new and flourishing settlement on the eastern branch of the Susquehanna. Unfortunately for the security of the inhabitants, the soil was claimed both by Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
From the collision of contradictory claims, founded on Royal Charters, the laws of neither were steadily enforced. In this remote settlement, where government was feeble, the Tories were under less control, and could easily a.s.semble undiscovered. Nevertheless, twenty-seven of them were taken and sent to Hartford, in Connecticut, but they were afterwards released. These and others of the same description, instigated by revenge against the Americans, from whom some of them had suffered banishment and loss of property, made common cause with the Indians, and attacked the Wyoming settlement with their combined forces, estimated at 1,100 men, 900 of whom were Indians. The whole was commanded by Colonel John Butler, a Connecticut Tory. One of the forts which had been constructed for the security of the inhabitants, being very weak, surrendered to this party; but some of the garrison had retired to the princ.i.p.al fort at Kingston, called Forty Fort. Colonel John Butler next demanded the surrender thereof. Colonel Zebulon Butler, a continental officer, who commanded, sent a message to him, proposing a conference at a bridge without the fort. This being agreed to, Colonel Zebulon Butler, Dennison, and some other officers repaired to the place appointed, and they were followed by the whole garrison, a few invalids excepted. None of the enemy appeared. The Wyoming people advanced, and supposed that the enemy were retiring. They continued to march on till they were about three miles from the fort. They then saw a few of the enemy, with whom they exchanged a few shots; but they presently found themselves ambuscaded and attacked by the whole bodies of Indians and Tories. They fought gallantly, till their retreat to the fort was cut off. Universal confusion ensued. Out of 417 who had marched out of the fort, about 360 were instantly slain. No quarter was given. Colonel John Butler again demanded the surrender of Forty Fort. This was agreed to, under articles of capitulation, by which the effects of the people therein were secured to them. The garrison, consisting of thirty men and two hundred women, were permitted to cross the Susquehanna, and retreat through the woods to Northampton county. The most of the other scattered settlers had previously retired, some through the woods to Northampton, others down the river to Northumberland. In this retreat, some women were delivered of children in the woods, and many suffered from want of provisions. Several of the settlers at Wyoming had erected good houses and barns, and made considerable improvements. These and the other houses in the vicinity were destroyed. Their horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs were, for the most part, killed or driven away by the enemy. A large proportion of the male inhabitants were in one day slaughtered.
In a single engagement, near two hundred women became widows, and a much greater number of children were left fatherless." (Dr. Ramsay's History of the United States, Vol. II., Chap. xix., pp. 323, 324.)
REMARKS UPON DR. RAMSAY'S ACCOUNT.
Such is the account of this melancholy affair by Dr. Ramsay, a friend of General Washington, and a distinguished officer in the American army.
Let us note Dr. Ramsay's admissions and his omissions. He admits that the Tories or Loyalists had been persecuted, imprisoned, plundered, and banished; that no less than twenty-seven of them had been taken, and sent to Hartford, in Connecticut, but were afterwards released; yet he might have added that they were kept prisoners nearly a year, and then discharged for want of any evidence against them. It is also admitted that "others of the same description (as those who had been sent prisoners to Connecticut) were instigated by _revenge_ against the Americans, from whom some of them had suffered banishment and loss of property." It is likewise admitted that the whole invading party consisted of but 1,100 men, of whom only 200 were Tories, the remaining 900 being Indians. But it is not stated that those Indians were neighbours, and many of them the connections of the northern tribes of those Indians whose settlements had been invaded, their fields and towns destroyed, as a precaution lest they should co-operate with the British; nor is it said that many of these Indians were residents in the neighbourhood, and were treated like the Tories.
It furthermore appears from this narrative that the Americans in Wyoming were not even taken by surprise, but were prepared for their enemy; that none were killed except in the conflict of the battle; that the thirty men and two hundred women in the garrison were not murdered, but were "permitted (with their effects) to cross the Susquehanna and retreat to Northampton." The taking of the cattle and burning of the houses and barns was after the example of the Americans in invading and destroying the Indian settlements. It is therefore clear, according to Dr. Ramsay's own narrative, that the "Ma.s.sacre of Wyoming" was not an _unprovoked aggression_, like that of the Americans against the more Southern Indians, but a _retaliation_ for injuries previously inflicted by the aggressors.[85]
But as the "Ma.s.sacre of Wyoming" is the case selected by American historians and poets to exhaust their indignation against English cruelty in employing the Indians in the civil war, we will not dismiss it with the above cursory remarks, but will examine it with some degree of minuteness.
Wyoming was a pleasant and fertile valley, situated on the eastern branch of the Susquehanna, and consisted of eight townships, five square miles each. It had been claimed as part of Pennsylvania; but Connecticut, relying upon the authority of a more ancient Charter, had since the last war made a large settlement on the banks of that beautiful river. "The exquisitely beautiful valley of Wyoming, where, on the banks of the Susquehanna, the wide and rich meadows, shut in by walls of wooded mountains, attracted emigrants from Connecticut, through their claim of right under the Charter of their native colony, was in conflict with the territorial jurisdiction of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania."[86]
Such was the scene of a tragedy which thrilled all America and Europe; for the accounts published in Europe were the repet.i.tions of the exaggerated American statements, omitting for the most part the causes of the tragedy and the retaliation which followed it.
I will now present and collate the three other accounts, with that of Dr. Ramsay, of those tragical events on both sides.
Mr. Bancroft states as follows:
"The Seneca tribe, fresh from the memory of their chiefs and braves who fell in conflict with the New York husbandmen at Oriskany. Their king, Sucingerachton, was, both in war and in council, the foremost man of all the Six Nations. Compared with him, the Mohawk Brant, who had been but lately known upon the warpath, was lightly esteemed.[87] His attachment to the English increased to a pa.s.sion on the alliance of the Americans with the French, for whom he cherished implacable hate.
Through his interest, and by the blandishments of gifts and pay and chances of revenge, Colonel John Butler lured the _Seneca_ warriors to cross the border of Pennsylvania under the British flag.
"The party of savages and rangers, numbering between five hundred and seven hundred men, fell down the Tioga river, and on the last day of June hid in the forests above Wyoming. The next day the two northernmost forts capitulated. The men of Wyoming, old and young, with one regular company, in all hardly more than three hundred, took counsel with one another, and found no hope of deliverance for their families but through a victorious encounter with a foe twice their number, and more skilful in the woods than themselves. On the 3rd day of July, the devoted band, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler, who had just returned from the continental service, began their march up the river.[88] The horde of invaders, pretending to retreat, crouched themselves on the ground in the open wood. The villagers of Wyoming began firing as they drew near, and at the third volley stood within a hundred yards of the ambush, when the Seneca braves began the attack, and were immediately seconded by the rangers. The Senecas gave no quarter, and in less than half an hour took two hundred and twenty-five scalps, among them those of two field officers and seven captains. The rangers saved but five of their captives. On the British side only two whites were killed and eight Indians wounded. The next day the remaining forts, filled chiefly with women and children, capitulated. The long and wailing procession of survivors flying from their fields of corn, their gardens, the flames of their cottages, the unburied bodies of their beloved defenders, escaped by a pa.s.s through the hills to the eastern settlements. Every fort and dwelling was burned down.
"The Senecas spread over the surrounding country, adepts in murder and ruin. The British leader boasted in his report that his party had burned a thousand houses and every mill (a great exaggeration). Yet, marauders came to destroy and deal deaths, not to recover or hold; and the ancient affection for England was washed out in blood (more truly, the revenge for wrongs previously received). When the leader of the inroad turned to desolate other scenes, Pennsylvania was left in undisputed possession of her soil." (Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. X., Chap. v., pp. 137, 138.)
Mr. Tucker briefly states the affair in the following words:
"The settlement of Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, was a.s.sailed in July by a large body of savages, who, having obtained easy possession of it, indiscriminately butchered both the garrison and the inhabitants; and soon afterwards Wilkesbarre shared the same fate. Near three thousand had succeeded in effecting their escape.[89]
"To prevent their return to the scenes of their former happiness, everything that could contribute to their comfort--houses, crops, animals--were, with an industry equal to their malignity, destroyed by the savages." (Tucker's History of the United States, Vol. I., Chap.
iii., p. 239.)
The following account of the "Wyoming Ma.s.sacre" appears more intelligible and consistent than any of the preceding. Says Mr.
Hildreth:
"There had come in among the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming a number of Dutch and Scotch from New York, some thirty of whom, shortly after the commencement of the war, had been seized under the suspicion of being Tories, and sent to Connecticut for trial. They were discharged for want of evidence; but if not Tories before, they soon became so. Returning to the valley of the Mohawk, whence they had emigrated to Wyoming, they enlisted into the partisan corps of Johnson and Butler, and waited eagerly for chances of revenge.
"Though Wyoming did not number three thousand inhabitants, it had furnished two full companies (one writer says, a thousand men) to the continental army, and had thus in a manner deprived itself of the means of defence. Congress, upon rumours of intended Indian hostilities, had ordered a third company to be raised as a local garrison; but this corps was as yet hardly organized, and very imperfectly armed. Such was the state of the settlement when there appeared at the head of the valley an overwhelming force of Tories and Indians, princ.i.p.ally of the Seneca tribe of the Six Nations, led by Colonel Butler. Some of the inhabitants were waylaid and slain. The upper fort, held by disaffected persons, surrendered at once. The continentals, with such others as could be mustered, marched out to meet the enemy: but they were surrounded, defeated, and driven back with heavy loss, and several who were taken prisoners were put to death by the Indians with horrible tortures. Those who escaped fled to Fort Wyoming, which was speedily invested. The surviving continentals, to avoid being taken prisoners, embarked and escaped down the river; after which the fort surrendered, upon promise of security of life and property. Desirous to fulfil these terms, Butler presently marched away with his Tories, but he could not induce the Indians to follow. They remained behind, burned the houses, ravaged the fields, killed such as resisted, and drove the miserable women and children through the woods and mountains to seek refuge where they might.
"These barbarities, greatly exaggerated by reports embodied since in poetry and history, excited everywhere a lively indignation. Wyoming was presently re-occupied by a body of continental troops. A continental regiment of the Pennsylvania line, stationed at Schoharie, penetrated to the neighbouring branches of the Upper Susquehanna, and _destroyed the settlement_ of Unadilla, occupied by a mixed population of Indians and refugees. The Indians and Loyalists soon took their _revenge_ by surprising Cherry Valley. The fort, which had a continental garrison, held out; Colonel Alden, who lodged in the town, was killed, the lieutenant-colonel was made prisoner, and the settlement suffered almost the fate of Wyoming." (Hildreth's History of the United States, Vol. III., Chap, x.x.xviii., pp. 262, 263.)
REMARKS ON THESE FOUR ACCOUNTS OF THE Ma.s.sACRE.
The attentive reader has doubtless observed that the four versions given above, by four accredited American historians, in regard to the "Ma.s.sacre of Wyoming," differ from each other in several essential particulars.
1. Two of these versions imply that the "ma.s.sacre" was a mere marauding, cruel, and murderous invasion of an inoffensive and peaceful settlement; while the other two versions of Dr. Ramsay and Mr. Hildreth clearly show the provocation and cruel wrongs which the Loyalists, and even Indians, had experienced from the continentals and inhabitants of Wyoming; that the settlement of Wyoming was the hot-bed of revolutionism, in which, out of three thousand inhabitants, several hundred had volunteered into the continental army, while they, as may be easily conceived, insulted, imprisoned, banished and confiscated the property of those who regarded their oath of allegiance as inviolate as their marriage vow, "for better for worse," until death released them from it. Instead of treating a solemn oath as secondary to caprice and pa.s.sion, the Loyalists carried it to an excess of integrity and conscience; they were to be the more respected and honoured, rather than made on that account criminals and outlaws, subject to imprisonment and banishment of their persons and the confiscation of their property.
2. Two of these four versions import that the inhabitants, men, women, and children, were "indiscriminately butchered;" the other two versions import that none were "butchered" except in battle, and none were "scalped" except those who had fallen in battle.
3. In two of these versions it is stated that those who were in the forts after their surrender were "ma.s.sacred," without respect to age or s.e.x; in the other two versions it is stated that not one of them was ma.s.sacred, but they were all permitted to cross the Susquehanna with their effects.
4. In one of these versions, Colonel John Butler is represented as not only the commander of the whole party of invasion, but the author of all the cruelties perpetrated in the "ma.s.sacre" of Wyoming; yet Mr.
Hildreth's statement shows the reverse--that Colonel Butler had accepted the surrender of Fort Wyoming "upon the promise of security to life and property;" that "desirous to fulfil these terms, he presently marched away with his Tories; but he could not induce the Indians to follow;"
that "the depredations which followed were inflicted by the Indians alone, and whom Colonel Butler could not command, and against his remonstrance and example and that of his Tories."
It is therefore plain that the accounts at the time of the "Ma.s.sacre of Wyoming," published by the Congress party, were of the most exaggerated and inflammatory character, containing the grossest misrepresentation, and doing the greatest injustice to the leaders and conduct of the expedition, of which accounts they had no knowledge, nor any means of correcting them. These partial and shamefully exaggerated accounts and misrepresentations were spread through Europe, and produced the most unfavourable impression in regard to the "Tories" and their mixture with the Indians--the only place of refuge for them, as they were driven from their homes to escape the sentences of death, imprisonment, or banishment, subject in all cases, of course, to the destruction and confiscation of their property. The English Annual Register for 1779, after reproducing these unjust and inflated accounts, candidly says:
"It is necessary to observe, with respect to the destruction of Wyoming, that as no narrative of the exploits of the leaders in that transaction, whether by authority or otherwise, has yet appeared in this country, we can only rely for the authenticity of the facts which we have stated upon the accounts published by the Americans.
"Happy should we deem it, for the honour of humanity that, the whole account was demonstrated to be a fable." (Vol. IV., p. 14.)
The testimony furnished by the four versions of the transaction by American historians shows how largely the original accounts of it were fabulous.
Since compiling and a.n.a.lysing the foregoing four historical versions of the "Ma.s.sacre of Wyoming," I have read Colonel Stone's _Life of Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, including the Border Wars of the American Revolution_, and have carefully examined his account of the "Ma.s.sacre of Wyoming." Colonel Stone visited the place (1838), and obtained all the information which the oldest inhabitants and family letters could give, and examined all the papers in the State Paper Office, and obtained much information from correspondence and personal interviews with aged and distinguished inhabitants, well acquainted with all the particulars of the alleged "Ma.s.sacre." The result of his researches was to justify the hopes of the British Annual Register, quoted on previous page, which, after having republished the American accounts of the "Ma.s.sacre," says: "Happy should we deem it, for the honour of humanity, that the whole account were demonstrated to be a fable."
This has been done by Colonel Stone after the lapse of more than half a century. In the fifteenth chapter of the first volume of his eloquent and exhaustive work he gives a history of the settlement, and of the many years' wars between the rival claimants of Connecticut and Pennsylvania--the former styled "the Susquehanna Company," and the latter "the Delaware Company." The question was also complicated by Indian claims, as the land had been once acquired by the Six Nations, and alleged to have been sold to both companies. Many of the Mohawks and other Indians resided in and near the settlement. On the breaking out of the war, politics largely entered into the disputes, and armed conflicts ensued, and no less than ten forts were erected in the settlement.
According to Colonel Stone, the "Ma.s.sacre" was not the result of surprise, nor did it involve the indiscriminate ma.s.sacre of women and children, but was the result of a pitched battle between the Loyalists and Continentals, in which the latter were the a.s.sailants and were defeated, and whatever "ma.s.sacre" there was followed the battle.[90]
Colonel Stone, after having given an account of the battle, as stated in previous note, and having corrected several erroneous statements, makes the following correction of what had been often written and generally believed respecting the famous Chief Brant:
"There is another important correction to be made in reference to every written history of this battle extant, not even excepting the revised edition of the Life of Washington, by Chief Justice Marshall. This correction regards the name and just fame of Joseph Brant, whose character has been blackened with all the infamy, both real and imaginary, connected with this b.l.o.o.d.y expedition. Whether Captain Brant was at any time in company with this expedition, is doubtful; but it is certain, in the face of every historical authority, British and American, that so far from being engaged in the battle, he was many miles distant at the time of its occurrence. Such has been the uniform testimony of the British officers engaged in the expedition, and such was always the word of Thayendanegea (Brant's Indian name) himself. It will, moreover, be seen toward the close of the present work that after the publication of Campbell's 'Gertrude of Wyoming,' in which poem the Mohawk chieftain is denounced as 'the Monster Brant,' his son repaired to England, and in correspondence with the poet, successfully vindicated his father's memory from the calumny."--_Ib._, p. 338.