Part 1

The Wyoming Military Establishment.

A HISTORY

--OF THE--

TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT

--OF--

CONNECTICUT MILITIA.

An Address

before

The Tioga Point Historical Society

delivered December 3rd, 1901, by

Hon. CHARLES TUBBS,

Honorary Member Tioga Point Historical Society. Corresponding Member Wyoming Historical & Geological Society.

Athens, Penna. 1903.

LIEUTENANT LEBBEUS TUBBS, PRIVATE SAMUEL TUBBS, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GEORGE DORRANCE.

TO THE MEMORY OF THESE, MY ANCESTORS, MEMBERS OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT, I DEDICATE THIS STUDY OF COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY EVENTS, IN WHICH THEY PERFORMED A PART.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Map of Wyoming Valley, Frontispiece.

Lazarus Stewart's Block House, Page 16

Forty Fort in 1778, 22

Pittston Fort, 25

Wyoming Monument, 28

The plates from which the above illustrations were printed were kindly loaned by the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

Athens Gazette, Athens, Pa.

The Wyoming Military Establishment.

Alsace-Loraine is a conquered province. The flag of Germany floats over it. Within the memory of most of us it was an integral part of France. At the time of the conquest, no heart of all its people went willingly to the side of the victor.

We are met to-day in Pennsylvania. Yet for years, in the eighteenth century the soil beneath our feet, and five thousand square miles of adjacent territory, inside the present limits of Pennsylvania, was an integral part of the State of Connecticut. It was settled by Connecticut people, was under Connecticut institutions, was governed by Connecticut laws. It was a Connecticut town; it was a Connecticut county; had a judge, a sheriff, other officers, and sent representatives to the Connecticut legislature.

Pennsylvania made conquest of it. No heart of all the people of this Connecticut town went willingly to the side of the victor. The Alsatians were no more stunned, at being forcibly wrenched from their allegiance to the flag they loved, than were the Connecticut people who had settled a town of their own in the heart of Pennsylvania.

How did this cataclysm befall? I will tell you. It all came of the ignorance or carelessness of a King. In 1620 King James I. of England granted a Charter to the Plymouth company for the ruling of New England in America. The charter covered North America from the fortieth to the forty-eighth degrees of north latitude, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The Plymouth Company proceeded to sub-divide its territory. In 1631 it granted a charter to the Connecticut Colony which covered the space between the forty-first and forty-second degrees of north latitude "and from the Narragansett river on the east to the South Sea on the west throughout the main lands." The South Sea was the Pacific Ocean. In 1662 King Charles II. gave a new charter to Connecticut confirming the act of the Plymouth Company. Nineteen years later this same King in the grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn, included a portion of the same territory, already given by him to Connecticut.

The ignorance or carelessness of King Charles, in due time bore a rich harvest of strife and bloodshed. Under the Connecticut charter (which was the older) my ancestors, and perhaps yours, came into this valley of the Susquehanna, and sat themselves down. Under the Pennsylvania charter (which was the younger) came sheriffs, and armed men, to drive them off. On the tongues of men this disputed section was known as Wyoming. In the statute book it is called Westmoreland.

Having explained how the Connecticut people under a claim of right, built up a government within the present boundaries of Pennsylvania, I have said all I desire to say on that subject. It explains how a part of what is now Pennsylvania was really a part of Connecticut in the last years of our Colonial history, and in the first years of our history as an independent nation--from 1774 to 1783.

This Twenty-fourth regiment of Connecticut Militia was organized on that part of the soil of Pennsylvania which was known as the Wyoming region, and in that region it performed its deeds, and lived its organic life.

I am aware that this explanation is quite unnecessary. I am aware that the Society that listens to me contains many descendants of the men who made the history I am about to relate. I am aware that the great-grandchildren of Captains Bidlack, Franklin, Spaulding, and Whittlesey here reside. I know that descendants of the Buck, Gore, Mathewson, Satterlee, Stevens and Tozer families abound in this old town. A writer who knows your community better than I do could mention others.

I have been attracted to the history of the Twenty-fourth regiment of Connecticut Militia because in all the histories it has received so little attention. Mr. Chapman, in his "Sketch of the History of Wyoming," (1830) says: "The whole body of the citizens was formed into a militia." (p. 102). He does not say it was a regiment nor designate it by its number. Col. Stone, in his work entitled, "Wyoming and its History," (1841), alludes to it in the phrase, "a regiment of militia being organized," (p. 202), but does not state its number nor give it further attention. Charles Miner, in his "History of Wyoming in a Series of Letters," (1845), gives many facts, but notices only six of the ten companies of which the regiment was composed and details only the organization of those companies as it was in 1775. George Peck, in his "Wyoming: its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures," (1858), devotes to it a passing allusion in the words, "a regiment of militia having been established." (p. 28). Stewart Pearce does not allude to the Twenty-fourth regiment at all in his "Annals of Luzerne," (1866), but does mention five of its companies. (p. 34) Steuben Jenkins, in his "Historical Address at the Monument," (1878), mentions its existence (p. 17), and at another place enumerates seven of its companies. (p. 34) Horace Edwin Hayden, in his monograph entitled, "Major John Garret; a forgotten hero of the Massacre of Wyoming," (1895) explains the existence of the regiment, credits it with nine companies, and gives the changes of the officers made in 1777.

In my judgment, the services of this regiment were of more importance than have been accorded them by the historians. I shall seek to arrange those already well known, into a comprehensive whole, to show their relation to other events, and to add some facts not hitherto brought to light.

The Wyoming community was isolated in its situation. It was seventy miles from it to the settlements on the Delaware; it was sixty miles to Fort Augusta; to the north and to the west, was a howling wilderness. This wilderness was filled with a savage Indian population. A continual fight was waged with the proprietaries of Pennsylvania.

The settlement, which became permanent, was begun in 1769. It was a self-governing community. It kept a record of its official acts. In 1772 it was voted, "That each and every settler should provide himself with a flint lock and ammunition, and continue to guard around the threatened plantations until further notice."[1] That was the first step--individual action, every man defend his own castle. This did not prove effectual. Organization was needed. That was the second step in the evolution. It took time to bring it about--perhaps a year. At a meeting of the inhabitants held March 22, 1773, it was voted: "That the Comtee of settlers be Desired to send to the several towns or to their Comtee. Requiring them to Call all the Inhabitants in Each of ye said towns to meet on Thursday Next at five a Clock in ye afternoon of sd Day in some Convenient place in sd town, and that they then Chouse one Person in Each of sd towns as an officer to muster them, & so that all are oequipt according to Law with fire arms, and ammunition, and that they Chuse two Sergants & a Clerk & that the said Chieff officer is Hereby Commanded & Directed to Call ye Inhabitants together once in 14 Days for ye future until this Company orders otherwise & that in case of an allarm or ye appearance of an Enemy he is Directed to call ye sd Inhabitants together & stand for ye Defense of ye sd towns & Settlements without further orders."[2] In speaking of these preparations Miner says: "If the splendid uniform, the glittering bayonet, the evolution rapid and precise, with the imposing band of music, did not grace their trainings, there was yet upon the ground the strong banded old French musket, the long duck shooting piece, and more efficient than either the close drawing rifle, little known in New England, but becoming familiar on the banks of the Susquehanna." Trainings once in fourteen days! They certainly believed in the strenuous life. Those trainings were not holidays. They were serious preparation for impending warfare.

In January. 1774, the Wyoming settlements which had grown to a population of 1922 souls,[3] were taken official notice of by the legislature of Connecticut which incorporated them as the town of Westmoreland. Wyoming and Westmoreland may henceforth be regarded as interchangeable terms.

The next step in the evolution of the military establishment had its origin at the second town meeting after the incorporation, which was held on the 12th day of April, 1774. The town, by a vote, applied for the establishment of a regiment.[4] For some reason the legislature was slow to act. It may have been for the want of a representative in the law making body. The town, however, did not neglect to keep itself in a state of preparedness. They kept everlastingly at it. At the fourth town meeting held that year "Votes were passed to form themselves into companies in a military way,"[5] each district in Westmoreland to be a company and Zebulon Butler, Esq., Major Ezekiel Pierce and Mr. John Jenkins were appointed a committee to repair to the several districts and lead each company to a choice of officers.

From this it is clear that the officers were chosen by a vote of the men in each company. The subsequent "establishment" of the rank of officers by the Connecticut Assembly was but a ratification of what had already been done by vote of the men.

It was more than a year after the action of the town meeting asking for the legal organization of a regiment before the legislature acted upon the subject. At May session, 1775, it enacted "That the town of Westmoreland shall be one entire regiment distinguished and called by the name of the Twenty-fourth regiment and shall be under the same rules and orders, and have the same powers, privileges and advantages as other regiments of this Colony by law have."[6]

One of these advantages was the promise of six pence for half day training and twelve pence for whole day training, and this to be paid out of the Colony treasury.

The regiment was assigned to the sixth brigade, Connecticut State Militia, commanded by Brig. Gen. Oliver Wolcott. The organization was begun by the "establishment" of the regimental officers at the same session. Zebulon Butler was made Colonel; Nathan Denison, Lieutenant Colonel; William Judd, Major.[7]

Zebulon Butler, the newly elected colonel, born at Lynne. Conn., 1731, was no novice in the military service. In the French and Indian war he was Ensign in Captain Andrew Ward's 2 company of the 4 Conn. Regt. in 1755-6-7. He was Lieutenant in Captain Timothy Mather's company of the 3 Regt. in 1758. He was Captain in the 4th and 1st regiments in 1759, 1760 and 1761.[8] He had served seven enlistments. The territorial range of his service extended from Crown Point on the north to Havana on the south. When elected Colonel his home was in Wilkes-Barre.

Nathan Denison, the newly elected Lieutenant Colonel, born in Conn., 1741, had seen service in the French and Indian war as a private in Col. Eleazar Fitch's 3d Conn. Regt. His services extended from May to November, 1758. His home was in Kingston.

Speaking of these two men Miner says: "Nature never formed two excellent men in more distinct contrast. Butler polished in manner, quick in perception, vehement and rapid in execution: Denison, plain though courteous, slow to speak, as careful to consider, cool and firm, if not alert in action. They were the two great and acknowledged leaders in Westmoreland."[9]

William Judd, the newly elected Major, does not seem to have had any military experience outside of the militia.

The accessible records are silent about the progress made with the regiment during the summer of 1775, but it is fair to assume that the newly commissioned field officers did not neglect their duty in perfecting their organization and in training their men.

At the October session of the Connecticut legislature the election of the officers of nine of the companies were ratified. They were as follows:[10]

First (Lower Wilkes-Barre) Company, Stephen Fuller, Captain; John Garret, Lieutenant; Christopher Avery, Ensign.

Second (Kingston) Company, Nathaniel Landon, Captain; George Dorrance, Lieutenant; Asahel Buck, Ensign.

Third (Plymouth) Company, Samuel Ransom, Captain; Perrin Ross, Lieutenant; Asaph Whittlesey, Ensign.

Fourth (Pittston) Company, Solomon Strong, Captain; Jonathan Parker, Lieutenant; Timothy Keyes, Ensign.

Fifth (Hanover) Company, William McKarachan, Captain; Lazarus Stewart, Jr., Lieutenant; Silas Gore, Ensign.

Sixth (Upper Wilkes-Barre) Company, Rezin Geer, Captain; Daniel Gore, Lieutenant; Matthias Hollenback, Ensign.

Seventh (Exeter) Company, Stephen Harding, Captain; Elisha Scovill, Lieutenant; John Jenkins, Jr., Ensign.

Eighth (Lackaway) Company, Eliab Farnham, Captain; John Shaw, Lieutenant; Elijah Winters, Ensign.

Ninth (Up the River) Company, James Secord, Captain; John De Pui, Lieutenant; Rudolph Fox, Ensign.

Some of these officers had seen service as soldiers in the French and Indian War.[11] Captain Eliab Farnham, of the Lackaway Company, had done a tour of duty lasting twenty-five weeks in 1758 in Capt. Nathan Whiting's Company, 2d Conn. Regt. Lieut. Elisha Scovill had served 32 weeks in 1759 in Capt. Amos Hitchcock's Company in the seventh Connecticut regiment.

Lieutenant Jonathan Parker had served 34 weeks in 1761 in the third company of the First Conn. Regt. commanded by Major David Baldwin.

The citizen liable to serve in the Connecticut militia was a man, between 16 and 50 years of age, but for specified reason many were exempt from the service.[12]

There was an almost immediate call for all the skill and ability of the newly commissioned officers not only in the training field, but in the arena of actual war. The Governor of Pennsylvania had made up his mind to completely destroy the Connecticut settlement at Wyoming. Wyoming was within the Pennsylvania county of Northumberland of which William Cook was Sheriff. William Cook, under pretense of serving sundry writs at Wyoming, took with him an armed force of 700 men under the command of Colonel William Plunket. He called it a "posse."

This force left Northumberland early in December, 1775, marching up the west side of the river over the almost impassable roads. The supplies for the expedition were loaded into boats. Progress was slow, as the boats had to be propelled against the current, encumbered as it often was at that season of the year by floating ice. December 20th, Col. Plunket was at Nescopeck Creek, nineteen miles below the south eastern extremity of the valley. His progress now was closely watched by scouts. On Saturday, the 23d he arrived at Harvey's landing, one-fourth of a mile below the mouth of Harvey's Creek, where he landed, unloaded his boats, and encamped for the night.

What preparation had been made to receive the invader? On this same Saturday Col. Zebulon Butler mustered the newly formed Twenty-fourth regiment. He also collected all the old men and boys who did not belong to the ranks of the regiment and armed them the best he could. In number, his force thus made up, was about four hundred. The two armies spent the night within a half mile of each other. From this point Col. Butler sent out a flag to Col. Plunket, in charge of Lieutenant Garret, inquiring the object of the invasion. Col. Plunket's reply was that he came on a peaceful errand, simply to serve some Pennsylvania writs at Wyoming.

On Sunday morning. Col. Butler left Ensign Mason F. Alden[13] with 18 men on the ground where he had spent the night. At the same time he sent Capt. Lazarus Stewart[14] of the Hanover Company, with 20 men across the river to the east side above the Nanticoke Falls to prevent the enemy from landing, should they attempt to do so. He then, with the main body of his force, retreated about one mile up the river to a place where a natural defence existed. This consisted of a ridge of rocks projecting about one-half a mile south easterly from the Shawanese mountain to the river. Near the river it was 1 or 2 feet high, but as it ran back toward the mountain it was of great height. Wherever there were breaks in this natural rampart, Butler's men filled in the space with logs and stones. Behind this breastwork the Twenty-fourth regiment and its co-operating forces were stationed. About 11 o'clock Alden and his men became conscious that the enemy was moving, and they withdrew. They announced the approach of the enemy to Col. Butler and joined him behind the fortification. When the enemy advanced it was met with a fusilade of shots along the whole line, killing one man, wounding others and throwing the whole force into the utmost confusion. Without firing a shot Col. Plunket withdrew to the camp at Harvey's Creek.

Late in the afternoon the enemy brought two of its boats by land from Harvey's landing above the Nanticoke Falls. At night fall they were loaded with soldiers and rowed across the river. When they attempted to land they were fired upon by Captain Stewart and his men, who lay in ambush upon the bank, killing one man, and wounding others. The attempt to land was given up and the boats and their cargoes floated down through the rapids and were safely moored at Harvey's landing. Thus ended the events of the day.

On Christmas Day Col. Plunket renewed the attack on the breastwork. He divided his forces into two divisions. One division assailed the fortification in front, while the other attempted a flanking movement on Col. Butler's right. This was promptly met and repelled. The battle lasted nearly all day, but the enemy, baffled at all points, finally withdrew. The invasion known by Col. Plunket's name was at an end. Eight or ten men on each side were killed and many wounded.[15]

The battle with Plunket had made the officers and men of the regiment painfully conscious of their lack of equipment. Powder! How could they get powder? Offer a reward for it? That was what they did at a town meeting, March 10, 1776--two and a half months after the battle. "Voted that the first man that shall make fifty weight of good salt peter, in this town, shall be entitled to ten pounds lawful money, to be paid out of the town treasury."[16]

Patriotism and this bounty no doubt produced an effect, as witness the following: "Mrs. Bethiah Jenkins says. The women took up their floors, dug out the earth, put it in 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 out to cool, and the salt peter rose to the top. Charcoal and sulphur were then used, and powder produced."[17]

In May, 1776, John Jenkins, representative to the legislature, obtained leave for the selectmen to erect a powder mill in Westmoreland, but I can not learn that any mill was ever built.[18]

In July of the same year the Council of Safety at Hartford "Voted that the Selectmen of Westmoreland may receive at Messrs. Elderkin & Wales mill, not exceeding 200 pounds of gun powder: they to account to the Colony therefor at the price of 5s, 4d per lb."[19]

Col. Butler, in a letter to Roger Sherman, dated August 6, 1776, speaks of being in want of arms, "as those 80 guns taken from our people at Warrior Run have not been returned."[20]

The Continental Congress the next year undertook to aid in supplying these wants, as witness the following action April 11: "Resolved, that 175 fire arms, either musquets or rifles, 200 wt. powder, 800 wt. lead, and 500 flints be sent to the town of Westmoreland, on the east branch of the Susquehanna river, to the care of Colonel Nathan Denison, to be used by the malitia there, for the defense of the said town, if necessary: the arms to be returned when the service there will admit of it."[21]

I am telling the story of a regiment whose fortunes were profoundly affected by the Revolutionary War. The men of which it was composed were intense rebels against the authority of England. Therefore when the Congress on the 23d of August, "Resolved, That two companies on the Continental Establishment be raised in the town of Westmoreland"[22] it responded with an enlistment of 82 men in each company. Captain Samuel Ransom, Lieutenant Perrin Ross, Ensigns Asahel Buck and Matthias Hollenbeck, with others, were elected as officers. I mention these because they were officers in the Twenty-fourth regiment. The men were all taken from the ranks of the Twenty-fourth regiment. Twenty other men in the summer of 1776 also enlisted under Lieutenant Obadiah Gore, to serve in a New York State regiment under Colonel Weisner, as well as ten more men to serve under Captain Strong. Our regiment thus lost of its most robust men, 194 in the Summer of 1776, who enlisted into the Continental Army.

While this depletion was going on the town assigned additional duties to the field officers at a meeting held August 28. "Voted ye field officers of ye regiment of this town be appointed a committee to view the most suitable places to build forts for ye defense of sd town, and determine on some particular spot or place in each district for the purpose, and mark out the same."[23] Think for a moment of the work imposed on this Committee! Think of the large territory to be gone over, the consideration of reasons for or against any particular location. Think of the work imposed on the men who were to build the forts.

There were some old forts like Forty Fort in Kingston, and Fort Brown in Pittston, that were repaired and enlarged, but in other districts there were no suitable works of the kind and accordingly new sites were selected, and the proposed works laid out on the ground. Such was the case in Wilkes-Barre, Plymouth and Exeter. In Lower Pittston and Hanover, block houses were recommended and built. The work of repairing and building the forts ran through the years 1776, 1777 and was not completed until 1778.

Before closing the regimental history for 1776 I wish to mention the advent of the tenth company into its ranks, representing the train bands of the Districts of Huntington and Salem, of which Frethias Wall was elected Lieutenant and John Franklin, Jr., Ensign, at the October session of the legislature.[24] I have not seen this company assigned its proper place in the regiment in any of the histories. Of this company John Franklin, Jr., was ultimately to become the Captain and Stoddart Bowen the Lieutenant.

In December, 1776, a supplement to the militia law was enacted by the Connecticut legislature, by which the age limit of those liable to serve was extended to persons from 50 to 60 years of age, and many theretofore exempt were brought into the service. These persons were to be formed into companies to be called the "Alarm List," to elect their own officers and to be attached to already existing regiments.[25]