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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC L|BRARY
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GENEALOGY
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1919-192:
1919
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
Wyoming Commemorative
Association
On the 141st Anniversary of the Battle
and Massacre of Wyoming
July 3, 1919
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Allen County Public Library
900 Webster Street
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Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
One Hundred Forty-First Anniversary
Forty-second Annual Commemoration bjj this Association
of the Battle and Massacre at Wyoming
Wyoming Commemorative
\i77s\ Association \1919
Incorporated 1881
ANNUAL EXERCISES
THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 3rd, 1919
TEN OCLOCK
AT WYOMING, PENNSYLVANIA
Officers of the Association
President
Benjamin Dorrance, Dorranceton
Vice Presidents
John W. Hollenback Wm. H. Richmond Pierce Butler
Hon. J. B. Woodward Ralph H. Wadhams John S. Harding
Mrs. Charles A. Miner Gen. C. Bow Dougherty Hendrick E. Paynk
William A. Wilcox Col. Asher Miner Nathan F. Walker
Secretary and Treasurer Assistant Secretary and Treasurer
Frederick G. Johnson, Wilkes-Barre Miss Emily Wilcox, Scranton
Corresponding Secretary Librarian
Col. Asher Miner, Wilkes-Barre Miss Anne Dorrance, Dorranceton
General Committee
The Officers, ex-officio, and the following four Sub-committees :
Anniversary and Grounds Publication Program
Jesse B. Schooley Guy W. Moore William A. Wilcox
Col. Asher Miner Hon. J. B. Woodward Maj. John S. Hakding
G. B. La France John D. Farnham Henry H. Welles
Nelson Burgess Frederick G. Johnson Maj. Oliver A. Parsons
Wyoming Monument Association Committee
Mrs. Ruth Dorrance, President
Flags — Mrs. Shoemaker, Miss Markham
Table and Rags— Miss Emily Wilcox, Miss Jacobs
F] 0wers _MRS. Reilay, Mrs. M. G. Shoemaker, Misses Dorrance,
Johnson, Smith
Grounds— Mrs. Eliza R. Miner, Mrs. M. Atherton
Program
"Marche Militaire Francaise" — Finale from Algerian Suite
109TH Field Artillery Band Saint-Saens
"Star- Spangled Banner" Audience
Invocation Rev. George P. Eckman, D. D., Scranton
,, f (a) "La Madelom de la Victoire" ) u
March - >,< (<c ,, „ Band
( (b) Sambrede Meuse \
Both these are famous marching songs effectively used in the German war.
Remarks President Benjamin Dorrance
Selection — Attila, from G. Verdi's Opera Band
Address Rev. James M. Farr, D. D., Wilkes-Barre
Chaplain 109th Field Artillery
British National Hymn — "Britannia Rules the Wave". .
Band
Descriptive Fantasie — "Morning of Battle" Band
Infantry is heard approaching. Cavalry in distance. Charge of
the enemy, infantry, cavalry and artillery in melee of hattle.
Defeat of enemy, pursued by cavalry.
Address Mat. Lawrence Hawley Watres, Scranton
108th Machine Gun Battalion
Hymn — "America" .Rev. Samite! F. Smith. 1832
Audience
My country, 'tis of thee, Our father's God, to Thee.
Sweet land of liberty. Author of Liberty,
Of thee I sing. Of Thee we sing;
Land where our fathers died : Long may our land be bright
Land of the Pilgrims' pride : With freedom's holy light ;
From every mountain side Protect us by Thy might.
Let freedom ring. Great God, our King.
Address Col. Asher Miner
109th Field Artillery
Address Lieut. Col. Olin F. Harvey, Jr.
109th Field Artillery
French National Hymn — "The Marseillaise" Band
The music is furnished by the 109th Field Artillery Band (John MacLuskie, Band-
master), which was in France throughout, and under fire with the troops. Besides
furnishing the inspiration of its music the band was active in rescue from the field of
the wounded and in assistance to the medical and hospital organizations.
An annual meeting is held in May or June of each year at the rooms of the Wyo-
ming Historical and Geological Society in Wilkes-Barre to arrange for the Commemo-
rative exercises of July third. Postal card notices are sent to the officers and committees
ana to such others as have indicated their wish therefor. Other members are notified
through the newspaper announcements. The General Committee specially desire the
participation with them of the membership in the way of attendance at this preliminary
meeting and a more active interest in the association.
MEMBERS
Residence in Wilkes-Barre unless Specified
Alexander, Mrs. Francis P.
Allaban, Frank, New York City
Alworth, Harry B., Luzerne
Alworth, Mrs. Harry B., Luzerne
Andrews, Mrs. Sallie M., West Pittston
Archbald, Hon. R. W., Scranton
Ashelman, Charles P., Scranton
Atherton, Melanie
Atherton, Sarah H.
Atherton, T. H.
Atherton, T. H., Jr.
Badders, Mrs. Leona B., Kingston
Baird, William, Trucksville
Beardslee, Charlotte, Dorranceton
Bender, William K., Scranton
Bennett, Capt. F. C, Bridgeport, Conn.
Bennett, Richard Dana, Jr.
Bennett, S. B., West Pittston
Berry, Mrs. Jennie Dana, West Pittston
Bixby, Mrs. Edward W.
Blair, Brice S.
Blanchard, Grace D., Dorranceton
Boies, Mrs. Elizabeth D., Scranton
Bowkley, Mrs. Clara Langford, W. Pittston
Boylston, Mrs. Samuel, New York City
Boynton, Elizabeth Watson, Highland Park,
Illinois.
Boynton, Mrs. Frederick P.
Boynton, Frederick Perry, Jr., Highland
Park, Illinois
Boynton, Helen Leavenworth, Highland Park,
Illinois.
Boynton, Mallery Miller, Highland Park, 111.
Boynton, Woodward Leavenworth, Highland
Park, Illinois
Brodhead, Mr. and Mrs. Robert P., Kingston
Buck, Adaline Everitt, Waverly, N. Y.
Buck, W. C, Waverly, N. Y.
Burgess, Nelson, Wyoming
Bush, Mrs. Bess Denison
Butler, Edmund G.
Butler, Mary Beardslee, Dorranceton
Butler, Pierce, Carbondale
Chase, Mrs. Augusta Dana Coolbaugh. Mt.
Airy, Pa.
Conyngham, Mr. and Mrs. John N.
Conyngham, W. H.
Coolbaugh, J. R.
Cooper, B. G., Pittston
Crary, Martha L., Shickshinny
Crary, Natalie Beach, Shickshinny
Crary, Sara Wood, Shickshinny
Crisman, Mrs. Neal
*Dana, Fanny P., Morrisville, Pa.
Dana, Dr. R. S., Morrisville, Pa.
Dana, Richard Edmund
Dana, Sylvester, Morrisville, Pa.
Davenport, Hon. S. W., Plymouth
Davenport, Samuel M., Plymouth
Dean, Arthur D., Scranton
Dean, W. L., Kingston
Decker, Mrs. Clare Denison, Swoyerville
Denison, Dr. Charles
Denison, Dr. L. B., Swoyerville
Denison, Dr. L. W.
Derby, L. K.
Derr, Andrew F.
Derr, Mrs. Andrew F.
Derr, Elizabeth Lowrie
Derr, Katherine
Derr, Thompson
Dewitt, Ira, Wyoming
Dickover, George T.
Dickson, Mrs. Allan H.
Dorrance, Anne, Dorranceton
Dorrance, Mr. and Mrs. Benj., Dorranceton
Dorrance, Frances, Dorranceton
Dougherty, Gen. C. Bow
Dreher, Mrs. E. R., Colon, Panama.
Drew, Mrs. Mercur M., Pittston
Eckard, Rev. J. M., Smyrna, Del.
Edgar, Mrs. Gilbert Hammond. Dorranceton
Emory, Mrs. Louis
Farnham, John D.
Farr, Rev. James M., D. D.
Flanagan, Mrs. George H.
Gamble, Mrs. Susanna, Luzerne
Gibby, Mrs. Jessie Ross, Westfield, N. J.
Graeme, Mrs. Thomas
Harding, Maj. J. S.
Harrington, Mrs. Jeanne E. S., Scranton
Harris, I. J., Forty Fort
Harris, Mrs. I. J., Forty Fort
Harrower, C. D. S.
Harsch, C. G., Wyoming
Harvey, Mrs. H. Harrison
Harvey, Oscar J.
Hillard, Tuthill R.
Hodgdon, Anderson Dana
Hollenback, Anna W., Brooklyn, N. V.
Hollenback, Mr. and Mrs. J. W.
Hollister, Mrs. Sherman P., Storrs, Conn.
Hunlock, Andrew
Hunt, Charles P.
Hunt, Lea
Hunt, Mrs. Lydia A.
Hutchins, Mr. and Mrs. Richard E., Wyoming
Ives, Mrs. Henry M., Dalton
Tames, E. R., Pittston
Johnson, Frederick Green
Johnson, Mrs. Georgia P.
Johnson, Mrs. Grace Derr, Brooklyn. N. Y.
Johnson, Margaret
Jones, Harriet L., Oakland, Cal.
Kaiser, George Peck, Scranton
Keatley, Mrs. Elizabeth Swallow, Kingston
Kennedy, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. DeWitt, Scranton
Kirby, Allan Price
Kirby, F. M.
Kirby, Sumner Moore
Kitchen, J. B., Wyoming
Kunkle, Charles D., Dallas
Labagh, F. Forrester
Labagh, James F.
Lathrop, Mrs. W. A., Dorranceton
Lazarus, George
Leach, I. M., Sr., Allentown, Pa.
Leach, I. M., Jr.
Leach, Mary H.
Leach, Nellie K.
Leavenworth, Mrs. Woodward
Lees, Henry, Plymouth
Lewis, Russell Conwell, Forty Fort
Somewhere in France
Linskill, Charles D., Wyoming
Loveland, Elizabeth, Kingston
Maffet, Martha A.
Mandeville, Mrs. Maria K.
Mandeville, William Arthur
Mandeville, Mrs. William Arthur
Markham, Frances G., Dorranceton
Markham, George D., St. Louis, Mo.
Markham, Robert D., New York City
McKeehan, Bert Hayes, Wyoming
McKeehan, Harry H., Wyoming
McKeehan, Harry Robertson, Wyoming
Miller, Burr, Jr.
Miller, Mrs. Helen Reynolds
Miller, Reynolds
Miller, Mrs. Sarah Perkins. Wyoming
Miner, Col. Asher
Miner, Mrs. Asher
Miner, Mrs. Charles A.
Miner, Dr. Charles H.
Miner, Mrs. Charles H.
Miner, Charles H., Jr.
Miner, Robert Charles
Miner, Margaret M.
Miner, H. Lonsdale
Miner, Stella M. S.
Minich, Harry K., Plymouth
Mitchell, Mrs. Wm. B., Oak Lane, Philadelphia
Moore, Guy W.
Morgan, Mrs. T. Archer
Mosier, .Frank C, West Pittston
Murray, Mr. and Mrs. C. F.
Nesbitt, Abram
Newell, Mr. and Mrs. T. L., Kingston
Oakford, Maj. J. W., Scranton
Owen, W. B., Dorranceton
Paine, Mrs. Ernest I., Scranton
Paine, Kendrick E., Scranton
Parke, W. G., Scranton
Parsons, Maj. O. A.
Patterson, Roswell H., Scranton
Peck, Theodorus H., West Pittston
Peck, William H., Scranton
Peck, William J., Pittston
Pettebone, George, Forty Fort
Pettebone, J. S., Dorranceton
Pettebone, Mrs. George, Forty Fort
Pettebone, Mr. and Mrs. W. T., Forty F"ort
Phelps, William G., Binghamton
Plumb, Edith Agnes, Battle Creek, Mich.
Plumb, Mr. and Mrs. H. B., Battle Creek,
Mich.
Plumb, Rollo G., Battle Creek, Mich.
Polen, Abbie, Wyoming
Potter, John E., Pittsburg
Reynolds, Constance
Reynolds, Mr. and Mrs. Dorrance
Reynolds, John B.
Reynolds, Nancy Buckingham Dorrance
Reynolds, Patricia
Reynolds, Schuyler L.
Rice, Hon. C. E.
Richmond, William Henry, Scranton
Richmond, Clara Morss, Scranton
Ricketts, Col. R. Bruce
'Ricketts, Mrs. Elizabeth Reynolds
Ricketts, Jean
Ricketts, Leigh
Rockafellow, Grace Ferdinand
Rogers, Dr. L. L., Kingston
Root, A. R., 441 S. 43d, Philadelphia
Root, Stanley, 441 S. 43d, Philadelphia
Ross, Mr. and Mrs. K. J., Pittston
Ross, Mariana F., Pittston
Roushey, O. L., Dallas, Pa.
Rowley, Thompson H.
Saxe, Sterling B., Wyoming
Schooley, H. B.
Schooley, J. J.
Schooley, Jesse B., Wyoming
Scott, Eben Greenough
Sharpe, Caroline Johnston (life member)
Sharpe, Elizabeth Montgomery (life member 1
Sharpe, Margaret Johnston, Jr. (life Tnemjber)
Sharpe, Mary A. (life member)
Sharpe, Richard
Sharpe, Richard, Jr. (life member)
Sharpe, Rosa Duncan (life member)
Sharpe, Sallie (life member)
Shepherd, W. C.
Shoemaker, Jacob I., Wyoming
Shoemaker, Jane A.
Shoemaker, Mrs. Harold Mercer
Shoemaker, Mrs. Jennie M., Wyoming
Shoemaker, Mrs. Mary S., Wyoming
Smith, Mrs. May Cary, West Pittston
'Stark, Corp. John D., died in service
Stevens, Adelia Ross
Stites, Rev. W. Scott
Stuart, Robert D., Carbondale, Pa.
Sturdevant, Mrs. Carrie Rogers
Sturdevant, Jessie T.
Sturdevant, Thomas K.
Sturdevant, Mr. and Mrs. W. H.
Taylor, Dr. Lewis H.
Thayer, W. E., Scranton
Thomas, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac M.
Thompson, Dr. L. M., Dorranceton
Thompson, Mrs. L. M.
Tracy, Mrs. Frederick K., Scranton
Trumbower, Charles K., West Pittston
Trumbower, Mrs. Mary B. Richart,
Pittston
( Died since preceding meeting.
West
Tucker, Mrs. Henry St. George, Lexington,
Virginia.
Von Storch, Theodore Constant, Scranton
Wadhams, Ralph H.
Watres, Hon. L. A., Scranton
Wellburn, Rev. George W., Scranton
Welles, Albert H., Scranton
Welles, Mrs. Anna M.
Welles, Mrs. Edward
Welles, Mr. and Mrs. Henry H.
Wells, Mrs. Annette C. Line
Wilcox, Emily, Scranton
Wilcox, William A., Scranton
Wilcox, Maj. William Jenkins, Scranton
Williams, Mrs. Delphine
Witman, Miss Mary A.
Witman, Merritt
Wolfe, Mrs. Dale, Philadelphia
Wolfe, Mr. and Mrs. Horace G., Morristowii,
New Jersey.
Woodward, J. B.
Wren, Christopher, Plymouth
Wright, George R.
Members of Wyoming Monument Association
The Wyoming Monument Association, incorporated in 1860 bg a special Act of the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, pays $25 annually for the care of grounds
Andrews, Mrs. Sallie
Atherton, Mrs. Margaret
Bixby, Mrs. Helen M.
Blair, Dr. Lovisa I.
Bowkley, Mrs. Clara L.
Bowman, Mrs. Elizabeth L.
Coward, Mrs. Harriet S.
Crane, Mrs. Jennie M.
Crisman, Mrs. Elizabeth M.
De Witt, Dr. Emma G.
Dickey, Mrs. Anna E.
Dickson, Mrs. Kate P.
Dorrance, Mrs. Ruth, President
Dorrance, Anne
Dorrance, Frances
Fear, Mrs. E. A., Honorary President
Grier, Mrs. Minnie R.
Hugh, Mrs. H. C.
Hunt, Mrs. Lydia A., Treasurer
Jacobs, Mrs. Elizabeth, Second Vice President
Jacobs, Ruth
Johnson, Emily S.
Keith, Mrs. Phoebe S.
Kennedy, Mrs. Amelia
Law, Mrs. Ellen A.
McCabe, Mrs. Flora K., Secretary
Miner, Mrs. Asher
M4ner, Mrs. Eliza R., First Vice President
Markham, Frances G.
Maffet, Martha
Morgan, Mrs. Ruth Johnson
Park, Mrs. S. M.
Polen, Abbie
Sharpe, Sallie
Shoemaker, Mrs. Jennie C.
Shoemaker, Mrs. Mame G.
Smith, Mayme
Stevens, Mrs. R. A.
Stroh, Mrs. Gara A.
Stroh, Dorothy E., life member, fourth
generation
Strong, Emily
Strong, Mrs. Theodore
Sutherland, Mrs. Grace K.
Taylor, Mrs. Emily H.
Van Scoy, Mrs. Alice S.
Watson, Mrs. William L.
Winner, Mrs. Sarah S.
Wilcox, Emily, Third Vice President
A request was made for the names and records of members in the service, but the
responses were so incomplete that the list was deferred until next year. Please send this
information to the secretaries at your earliest convenience.
6
Wyoming Commemorative Association
JULY 3rd, 1919
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
President Benjamin Dorrance:
Ladies and Gentlemen, and members of the Commemorative
Association : Most of you know why we gather here on the 3rd
of July on ordinary occasions. But we deemed that this was an
extraordinary occasion for your gathering-, for we have just closed
with honor to America the greatest war that the world ever knew,
and we thought we would do honor to the Khaki Boys who did
it. And I am sorry to say that I do not see as much khaki here
as there ought to be, but what there is we will bear in our hearts
dear to us, and wish God-speed to the rest of them — those who
did not come. It seems to me that while we take off our hats
when our Red, White and Blue comes and the Starry Banner
waves where we can see it, that we are derelict in not taking off
our hats when we see the boys in khaki come, for they are boys
who took their lives in their hands, that men throughout the world
might be free, and to-day instead of doing homage to those who
died a hundred and odd years ago, we are here to praise those
who live now and those who died now, and as a representative
of the Commemorative Association I want to carry you through
a programme that represents our soldiers of the day, and we
have here a band that helped to carry off the wounded and to bury
the dead on the field of battle. We have here to represent their
cause to you those who fought and bled, in honor of our country
and to uphold our honor. We have here men who fought in
Mexico for the starry flag, and they have been through all the
slaughter, and, thank God, they are home safe to talk to you.
(Applause).
We had expected to> have with us Col. Asher Miner and Col.
Olin Harvey, but the Infinite Power above has said no. Both
are in a hospital, both were wounded, and both are unable to be
here, and in their stead we have brought to you three majors who
fought and bled in our cause, and, therefore, as the representative
of the Commemorative Association, I ask your close attention to
what these gentlemen may say.
The first on the programme will be an address by Dr. Farr,
Chaplain of the 109th Field Artillery, and who had charge of
the souls of the men. (Applause).
REV. JAMES M. FARR.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
When I read the other day, in the very charming Reminis-
cences of our friend, Mr. George R. Bedford, that he had often,
in his boyhood, talked with his grandmother about the battle of
Wyoming, in whose historic scenes she had been a participant, it
made me realize that that memorable event which we celebrate
to-day is not so distant from us, after all. Only by the span of
two life-times is it separated from us. There are those still with
us who conversed with the men and women of that heroic time.
And yet what tremendous changes have taken place during
that comparatively brief period ! It seems incredible to us as we
sit here in the centre of the teeming life of this valley, that only
one hundred and forty years ago, all the men whom the region
could muster for the defense of home and life numbered no more
than three hundred. Yet a year ago the valley had sent forth
her sons by the thousand to fight the battles of liberty on the
far-off soil of France !
Just a year ago to-day I was with the men of this valley as
they were putting the final touches to the training which would
fit them to take their places in the trenches "over there". We
were in Camp de Meucon, Brittany. A year ago, Sergt. Mac-
Luskie with the same band you have listened to to-day, would
play for us in that camp beyond the sea. But what a difference
in the audience which gathered about him ! Nothing could have
been more curious than that audience of a year ago. There were
the Americans in their khaki uniforms, the Frenchmen in their
sky-blue, Orientals from French Cambodia, Breton peasants in
their quaint costumes and on the outskirts of the crowd, German
prisoners of war, clad in vivid green ! How significant was such
a scene of the changes which the span of two life-times have
wrought !
Early in August, a year ago, the men of the Valley again
were fighting the battles of freedom, not now against the British
but side by side with them, as comrades in a common cause ! And
how great the changes which had transpired in the outward
aspects and machinery of war. On the day we commemorate,
men still were fighting with bows and arrows and ancient flint-
lock muskets. Contrast such weapons with the modern high-
powered rifles, cannon, air-planes and "tanks".
Yet in spite of these vast changes which have come about
since the Battle of Wyoming was fought upon this spot, I used
to be impressed at times with the things which had not changed,
as revealed by modern warfare. In the first place, it was interest-
ing to note how modern war had adopted absolutely the American
Indian's principle of "invisibility" as fundamental both in defense
and offense. It was, I believe, in the memorable campaign of
General Braddock against the Indians that this principle first
demonstrated its importance to the soldiers of the old world, but
not until the World War did they realize that concealment
afforded the only possibility of existence before modern means
of observation and machinery of destruction. "Camouflage" is
a new word in our vocabulary but the settlers of Wyoming knew
only too well what the art was for which the word stands and
they had learned it by many a bitter lesson from the Red-skins.
There was a wonderful observation point near our head-
quarters on the Vesle river where I used often to go to watch the
marvellous panorama of modern warfare which stretched out
before one. One could look over the lines of the opposing armies
almost from Soissons to Rheims. As far as vision could reach
one could see the parallel lines of the "sausage" balloons — the eyes
of the modern army. One could watch the shells bursting far
and near, sometimes in intense and concentrated bombardment,
sometimes in scattered "harassing fire". But except for these
evidences of the presence of man, it appeared a deserted country.
No travellers passed along the roads, no laborers worked in the
fields, and stranger still, there were no bodies of troops to be
seen. Now and then a solitary soldier might be seen hurrying
along or a military automobile would race by, but for the most
part it was a seemingly deserted country.
One day as I was watching this wierdly fascinating scene, in
all its deceptive solitude, I heard, high in the air the sharp rat-
tat-tat of machine gun fire, sure evidence of a battle in the skies.
In another moment an air-plane came rushing earthward in a
vast spiral. It fell in a field just behind the clump of woods on
whose edge we were standing. It only took a moment or two
to run through the woods, but by the time we came out on the
other side, that seemingly deserted land was swarming with a
humanity whose curiosity had overcome both discipline and pre-
caution ! So I suppose, a hundred and forty years before, from
seemingly deserted woods, the Indians had swarmed out upon
the hapless settlers of Wyoming.
And then, too, at night, when the screen of darkness
descended upon the earth, it was in "Indian file" and utter silence
that the "doughboy" moved to and from the battle trenches. To
the son of the pioneer and the settler this phase of modern war-
fare was no new thing.
But after all, that which was most impressive of the things
which are the same to-day as yesterday, was the spirit of the
men of the Valley when the duty of the hour called them to the
stern tasks of war. We used sometimes to wonder, before the
war, whether the easier conditions of life which the modern
American has enjoyed had not relaxed the fibre of the soul.
Whether with all our gains in wealth and luxury and pleasures,
we had not suffered a corresponding loss in the fundamental
things which go to make heroic character. You do not need my
testimony, who was more of a spectator of than a participant in
what took place "over there", to assure you that this degeneration
we sometimes feared has by no means taken place. The men
who fought and died for the honor of Wyoming Valley and their
native land, a year ago, are fully as worthy of the tribute of this
memorial hour as those who fought and died one hundred and
forty years ago. If we remember with all honor Col. Zebulon
Butler, the leader in that heroic struggle which this day especially
commemorates, we should pay a no less heartfelt tribute of recog-
nition to Col. Asher Miner, the leader, in our latest struggle, of the
109th Field Artillery, the Regiment which in a special way repre-
sented this Valley.
And in no less than those in high command, did the men in
the ranks prove themselves to be worthy representatives of the
spirit of the pioneers. When we consider the surroundings
among which many of our men have been reared — the comfort,
refinement and luxury to which many of them were habituated —
was it not to their greater honor that, all unaccustomed to hard-
ship as they were, they met the gruelling tests of the life in
trench and dug-out, the weariness of the long night marches and
the perils of the firing line without fear and without complaint.
We, the people of Wyoming Valley, have to-day great cause
for pride and thankfulness in the memory of those who on this
spot, one hundred and forty-one years ago, played an heroic part
and sealed the foundation-stones of its civilization with their life's
blood. But we have an even greater cause of pride and thankful-
ness to-day, in that on the far off battle fields of France, the men
of Wyoming have proved themselves no unworthy heirs of the
Spirit of their Fore-fathers.
President Dorrance:
Upon the very apt suggestion of Dr. Farr, 1 want the mem-
bers of this society and all those present to join in passing a
resolution that we extend to Col. Asher Miner and Col. Olin F.
Harvey our sincere sympathy with them in their affliction and
our hearty congratulations that they have come thus far with so
much honor to our land which they left to protect.
All those in favor of that will please rise. T don't believe
there is any opposition.
President Dorkance:
If you don't believe the "sun do move", one hundred and
forty-one years ago this valley rang with the crack of English
<Tins I want you to stand up while we make it ring now with
the British national song— Britannia Rules the Waves. Will you
do it? Show we are allies, no longer enemies.
(Song by audience).
(Music by band).
10
President Dorrance:
I want to introduce to you the only soldier that we have here
who was wounded and who came back to us. He will relate to you
something of his experience when in this war. Major L. H.
Watres, who was a member of the 13th Regiment and afterwards
109th Infantry of the American Expeditionary forces, who fought
in Mexico as well as France. (Applause).
MAJOR L. H. WATRES.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Among the compensating results for the last few years of
strife and strain and of sacrifice we all have had, not the least,
I think, is the fact that we have all as a nation taken a greater,
livelier interest in the questions which affect our country. If we
continue this we need have no concern about the panic — the con-
tagion of fear that comes with the reports of new menaces which
threaten our country.
That to me is one of the big compensations for what this
whole country has been through — the knowledge that as long as
we have this lively, wide-awake interest in things we are secure.
If we make it our concern to continue that, we need have no fear
for the future.
The conditions which swept this country from coast to coast
and which so forcefully united this country in a single purpose,
with the notable unity of action which we witnessed — those con-
ditions, which caused that, no longer exist, but the results of that
do persist in the awakened and aroused interest that we still
witness.
One important feature to me, as a member of the expedition-
ary force, was the fact that throughout the entire army, as I saw it
at least, there was a remarkably clear and definite conception in
the mind of each man as to what he was representing, as to what
his country meant, as to what was behind it all — that probably
was one of the natural results of the condition of the country,
the aroused condition of the minds of the whole country ; but, in
addition to it, as I see it, it was largely brought about through
the wisdom of someone connected with the War Department, as
a result of which an order was issued while the army was still in
training in this country, and as a result of this order every man
in the army heard a series of discussions as to the purposes for
which this country was engaged in the war. This brought before
him concretely the definite objectives that we had in mind, and
as a result of being encouraged to think along these lines and
talk and discuss among themselves the men came to have especially
clear, definite thoughts in this respect.
Now this had, to my mind, a remarkable result later on when
II
they reached the other side. They arrived there having clearly
defined notions and this enabled them to rise when the occasion
came, and these convictions which they had fixed in their own
minds had become theirs, they were their own. They were
dynamics which when the time came translated their thoughts
into actions which lifted them out of their narrow limited views
of things, their former environment, lifted them far above and
out of that into broader and higher and nobler realms, and the
glimpse which they thus secured of what they were doing will
never die out of their memories. That must be to everyone an
encouraging reassurance of the fact that all we need concern
ourselves with is to have the truth of any question which comes
up, understood. Enlightened discussion and intelligent consider-
ation of questions is all that we need. If we influence in this
country, in time to come, the people's minds to enlightened discus-
sion and intelligent consideration of the questions we have before
us we will need not concern ourselves as to the outcome.
Deeds of valor were seen by all of us on the other side. Valor
was not the exception but the rule, and I am sure you all know
and take great pride in the accomplishment, the history that
was made by those who went from this section; they — many of
them — stood out and were pictures of glory, standing out over
and above the rule of valor which was everywhere being enacted.
As I said, we have reassurance and encouragement from the
knowledge that discussion is a stronghold for this country for
the future, and we have cause to give great thanks for the fact
that in that respect we are privileged far above those countries
with whom we came in contact. To-day we have the satisfaction
not only of having the history of our own past as a guide and as
an inspiration, but we know that for the future the history which
has been made in the last few years will take its proper place and
the proper estimate will be given of that with our other glorious
history of love for freedom and will be in itself the added inspira-
tion which will safely guide the destinies of this country. In this
connection the words of a poem which was written for the one
hundredth anniversary of this occasion might be appropriate :
"Over a century's historic dust,
This be our legacy, this our proud trust —
That no invading and arrogant tread
Pressed the dear turf folded over our dead :
And the sweet tide of each incoming spring
To our fair homes no disloyalty bring :
This be our legacy, this our proud trust.
Over a century's love-hallowed dust."
(Applause).
(America sung by audience).
12
President Dorkance :
I want to introduce to you Major Ralph A. Gregory, one of
those who saw and experienced, passed through, and. thank God,
came back to us safe, after a wonderful, a wonderful experience.
( Applause) .
When on J uly 1 5th the 28th Division went into action the
commander of the first battalion was instantly killed in the early
morning. The colonel could not be found and on his own initiative
Maj. Gregory assumed command of the battalion and dis-
tinguished it and himself in its leadership. One other of our
heroes under somewhat similar circumstances was seriously
wounded. Both have been spared by the chances of war and
both honor us with their presence to-day.
These four men are reticent about their own part in the great
things they did. No one of them has been willing to speak of
his services. The soldier who gave me these particulars said there
were weeks and months of the same peril and effort and achieve-
ment. "The half can never be told." The glory of it is that they
are representatives, typical of and only a little more conspicuous
than millions of others, who making up together our wonderful
army saved America and saved civilization. Maj. Gregory. (Ap-
plause).
MAJOR RALPH A. GREGORY.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
J am very glad to see ( taking a drink of water) that they have
not changed the quality of this since July 1st. (Laughter).
I have enjoyed very much being here among this assemblage
at this time, and for a particular reason. First, it is in memory of a
grand body of men who made it possible for this country to live
in peace, and, second, it is the anniversary of the regiment, to
which I have the honor to belong. A year ago to-day we made
our first trip from the rear up to the front line. We didn't know
what we would do or how we would do it, and if our knees were
not shaking it was probably because we were sitting, down.
(Laughter).
This monument here calls to my mind at this time a feeling
that I never had for it before. Since having our experience in
Prance we look at many things in a different light. Can you hark-
back one hundred and forty years and think that you are one of
a small band destined to make the supreme effort if necessary
to protect your home, fireside, family and friends? I can see
to-day those Indians and those Tories advancing and I can place
myself in the position of any one of a little band that was here at
that time to protect it. They didn't know how long they could
hold it. They could not foresee what the result would be. but they
did one thing. Every man did the best that he could, and the
13
consequence is we pass here daily and give little thought to it
because it happened one hundred and forty years ago. Over there
in France when we went into the lines, I am sure many of us
went through exactly the same experience as that little band.
The Indians came down here and where they could they toma-
hawked and speared and mutilated their victims. We had an
aggregation against us with far more intellect and it was directed
in channels quite as barbarous as the Indian formerly practiced
in this part of the country. The German started the gas, and had
one supreme time until our chemists were able to get a gas that
would penetrate the mask of the Germans. Then they were en-
tirely willing to make an arrangement whereby gas was not to be
used. We, however, had manufactured considerable of this gas
at large expense and under the economies of the war could not
afford to waste it.
There is one thing that that little band of one hundred and
forty years ago left to us that we will never forget, and that is
rememberance of the unity which followed, so that our people
grew up with the idea that they would fight for right and for
peace, when it was necessary. We lived many years and a great
many of us thought that it would never be necessary. However,
when the time came the men of this part of the State came
forward and did their work like men. I believe that it was due
largely to the legacy of blood left by the settlers who took care of
this country and made their effort to live in peace and quiet here
when the Indians and the English almost overwhelmed them.
The 109th Field Artillery, the 108th Machine Gun Battalion
and the 109th Infantry came from this part of the State.
There were other units which I will not mention, although I
have heard that they did very good work. I was not with them
and could not say from first hand experience. Those three outfits,
I had the pleasure of serving with and honor them, and while
many of them have returned now, I cannot say just what kind of
a position they will hold in civil life, and don't know how well
they will do in their citizens' clothes, but I do want to say to you
if you have a real fighting job to do, take the men from the north-
eastern part of this State to do it. (Applause).
Now, they frequently speak of officers doing such remarkable
work. Well, an officer does plan and strive to carry out orders
which are given to him, but if he doesn't have the men with the
requisite amount of backbone to carry through his efforts he is
what we describe as "S. O. L."— sure out of luck. (Laughter).
I remember once in going to an Artillery P. C. in the night and
looking through the binoculars to the Boche lines toward a little
village. The intelligence officer called to my attention a certain
window in a certain house. He said, "That is an observation
station that we have been watching for the last couple days.
14
L said. "When are you going to move it ?" He said, "Well, we are
waiting until the infantry get ready to go forward and then we
will move it ; but," he said, "if we move it before then they will put
up another one and we will have to hunt around and locate it."
At another time there was a prisoner came down through our
lines who talked very good English, and our intelligence officer
was quizzing him as to the amount of Boche troops in our front
and he gave us a reply which the intelligence officer told him
quite frankly he did not believe, and then the prisoner asked how
many troops we had, and our intelligence officer said, "Oh, some-
thing over two million," and the Boche prisoner said that he did
not believe that. (Laughter). And then he came out quite
frankly and said, "Well, I will tell you, we have fought the British
troops and we have fought the French troops for the last
four years, and we know what they are going to do ; but we never
can tell what you damned Americans are going to do." (Laughter
and applause). Which rather reminded me of a story of a school
director who wasn't quite satisfied with the advancement the
childrn were making in his school. He called attention to the fact
that the children were not observant enough, and finally he took
one of his co-directors with him to this school and they went in
and he said, "Now, I will demonstrate to your satisfaction that
these children do not observe properly." He asked one of the
children to give him a number. A little girl said forty-three. He
made a mark on the blackboard "34," transposing the numbers.
The next pupil he asked gave the number eighty-three, and he
marked on the board "38." No response in either case from the
children. He turned to his colleague and he said, "Now, you see
they don't pay any attention at all. They are not observant. I will
try once more, and he asked for another number and one little
boy, over in the corner, said "Seventy-seven. Twist that."
(Laughter). The Boche never could believe that we were doing
things until it was necessary for us to do them. In other words,
they were "from Missouri" and we had to "show them" and I
feel quite satisfied that they were shown.
The other day I was speaking with a lady and she expressed
the opinion that it was a great pity that this war had not kept on
a matter of six or eight weeks longer, and she asked me what I
thought about it. I told her quite frankly I was glad it was over
and I had a private opinion about it, for the reason that I was in
the 28th Division and the 28th Division was slated for the next
drive, which was to take place on the 14th of November.
(Laughter).
There is one thing we must not forget. The aggregation of
one hundred and forty years ago did not forget. When they came
into a town, they brought their ammunition with them and they
brought their groceries with them. Notice the two — one was to
^5
take care of them while they were there, the other was to take
care of the fellow they might meet. Now, we have to do the same
thing, and this assemblage and every other patriotic assemblage
ought to see to it that such laws are enacted as will provide ade-
quate protection against the Boche. He will strive, as he always
has, and when he gets enough power will be troublesome, unless
we take some measures to keep him where he belongs. (Ap-
plause). And he belongs in a place where this great nation will
be able to say to him what the United States is going to do in the
United States. (Applause). The British and the French and the
Italians are an altogether different people from us, and they
have their own troubles to solve, and we in turn have ours, and
if we do as any other good business man would do, attend to our
own business, we will be pretty busy. (Applause).
President Dorrance:
Maj. Vail had command of two companies of the machine gun
battalion that crossed the Vesle river before the infantry to open
up the way. That was the first and only time a machine gun
outfit went out ahead of the infantry. The infantryman carries
a rifle of only about 9 pounds. The machine gun weighs 58
pounds, the fire box 54 pounds and the tripod weighs 64 ponds.
With these incumbrances they forded the river in absence of
bridges and the water was up to their necks. They were under
the fire of the enemy all the time. They reached the far side of
the river and drove the Germans from the bridge head up the
river. That opened the way for the infantry to cross. That was
the service for which Major Vail got the Distinguished Service
Cross.
Major Watres was in command of one of those two com-
panies and it was his company that was first to cross.
On another occasion a command had lost its head and was in
confusion. Captain Watres left his company with its other
officers and went out to the men who were in confusion and in
extreme peril, and he there re-organized them and led them on.
Captain Watres was himself wounded and while in the hospital
was for his gallantry promoted to major.
I introduce to you a man who went into action on the 1 5th day
of July, and was in every engagement to October 21st, and who
was gassed. I hope he will explain to you the sensation of being
gassed by gassing. (Laughter). After what he went through,
lying in a shell hole, with a wounded officer whom he packed out,
he has no call to live, but he is here with us and I hope you will
enjoy, as I know you will, the recitation of his experience-
Major Vail.
i6
MAJOR R. M. VAIL.
Col. Dorrance, Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have heard several reasons why we won the war. The
English and French will tell yon now that we did not win the war.
but that is human nature.
The chaplain made a remark that — 1 always take exceptions
to chaplains, naturally — that I want to take exception to. He said
we fought the war for others. We did, but we also fought this
war for ourselves. (Applause). The reason why, men were as
they were: Men, two-fisted, he-fighting men. That is the kind
of men they were. And it was not officers, as Major Gregory
said. It was the individual initiative of the average American
prompted by ideals and ideas that did the trick for the American,
and the colonel has said that in conjunction with taking off the
hat to the Stars and Stripes we take off the hat to the khaki, and
I will go him one further: I will say take off the hat to the blue,
the men who fought in the Civil War (applause), the men who
fought in the Mexican War, to the mothers of the men who
fought.
I will tell you this business of "hero" on the other side don't
amount to much. And there is a good deal — well, I was going
to say bunk about "hero." You are doing your duty, and there
are very few men who are yellow, and it seems to me they some-
times pay the penalty of being yellow. Courage was the com-
monest quality over there. Self-sacrifice was the commonest
quality. There is no question about it, and if we who have
learned a lesson in France can impart some of the lessons we have
learned to the people back here this country is safe indeed.
Mr. Wilcox called me up on the phone and asked me to come
here, and he asked me to talk about war, and I told him I thought
the people were fed up on war. The English have an expression
— they are "fed up" about things, and I should think you people
would be rather fed up about war. He said owing to the fact that
Col. Miner and Col. Harvey were in the hospital he had to get
someone else to take their places. It is pretty hard work to take
the place of Col. Miner and Col. Harvey, and I would like to tell
you just a few things about Col. Miner.
In September some of my battalion had the honor of captur-
ing some German prisoners, which was rather exceptional for a
machine gun battalion to do. Well, I was very much elated, and
we were down at the Brigade P. C. Headquarters. Col. Miner
was there, and I went to him and said, "What do you think of that,
Colonel, some of my men have captured twenty-six prisoners."
"That is fine," he says, "what do you think of the artillery captur-
ing seventy-six?" I said, "Did they?" He said, "No. but what
do you think of it?" (Laughter).
17
Now, that was his spirit. I remember a man telling me about
a certain bridge that was particularly dangerous, for bridges were
the target for German artillery, and Col. Miner stood by that
bridge until his entire outfit got over. (Applause).
I was in Apremont in the Argonne when Col. Miner was hit
and was at the Brigade P. C. and talked to him about fifteen
minutes before he was hit. I saw him when he was hit. The
surgeon attached to my battalion dressed his wound. Colonel
Miner was an inveterate cigarette smoker. He was as cool — he
was cooler than I am now. I asked him, would you like to have
a cigarette? He said he would. I lit a cigarette and gave it to
him. He was conveyed to a hospital and one of the regimental
surgeons wanted to go along with him. He said : "No, your place
is back there with the men." That was his constant spirit, and I
will say this : There have always got to be some units better than
others, and it is necessary it should be so. although all deserve
praise ; but I will say this for the artillery : I think it is the con-
sensus of opinion in the 28th, that the 109th Artillery was by far
the best artillery organization in the division. I saw them in
action. I saw an advanced battery under Captain Atherton at
Apremont right out. firing point-blank at the Germans, and the
Germans doing likewise. You could see the flashes from the
German seventy-sevens, and they were answered by Atherton's
battery very promptly. There was not much slowness about that
proposition, that the chaplain has been talking about.
Things have changed. When you talk about Indians, life has
been a mass of contradictions and contrasts lately. I can recall
calling for two Indians in an organization to go on reconnaissance.
I thought, being Indians, they will know how to get through
and get back with the information we desire. So I sent for them
to come to Brigade Headquarters. Those Indians didn't know
anything about anything except chewing, and things of that kind.
I suppose the Indian of one hundred and forty years ago would
have taught the Indians of to-day some tricks in the particular
art of scouting.
Take for instance the matter of the costs of the war : I don't
know whether this will bring home the magnitude of the thing to
your mind or not. but the war cost this country more during the
period of the war than it did to run the country from 1791 until
the war. That is all. in money. That is all.
I will try to tell you a little of the Argonne. We left the
Fismes Sector on the 6~7th of September and went by 'bus to a
little town called Chemmon-le Ville and while there we had what
will interest the ladies — we had a wedding. All the men in France
were in the service and only wounded men had time to get married.
This was a wounded soldier, and thev had some time. This was
i8
an old town untouched by the war, and they had a church there
built in the thirteenth century. They have a custom in France
that people have to be married by the civil authorities and the
church. They have two weddings, and they celebrated this
wedding for two days. It must have been an unusual event. All
the old men got out their hats — of the vintage of '76, very broad
and high ; and the old ladies their bonnets. One way they cele-
brated this wedding was to march up and down the street singing,
and they did that. We could not sleep the first night. The groom
when married in the church had a cigarette behind his ear and
turned and winked at the audience behind him. He was very
much elated. They had a wedding supper. The father of the
bride was an old French Algerian soldier, and he would insist on
getting up and letting out their Algerian war-whoop during the
time of this supper. Everybody had to> sing or tell a story. There
was one young fellow there, but he was not the age of a soldier
and all the soldiers there wished he was and had been shot before
that time, because he insisted on reciting. Someone would recite,
and then he would get up and say something, and he did it all the
evening, but finally the night was wound up by an old lady sing-
ing — and she must have been eighty-five years old if she was a
minute . Well, that is just a little picture of French life. The war
was going on, the battle of the Argonne had not been fought.
That was the spirit. The women of France are just as much
responsible for the attitude and victory of the French as the men.
They worked in the fields, worked from early dawn until late at
night.
We went on from there, and owing to our — we know all
about fitting shoes. We have been taught that. You put so
much weight on a man and he stands in the shoes — we know all
about that. Then comes along a clothing unit and they give you
shoes, any size they have. They gave my outfit shoes of various
sizes and the next day we had an order that we were to proceed
somewhere, and we did to the extent of thirty-one kilometers,
and I sent all the busses back I could get to pick up my battalion
and bring them up. That was not our fault, but that was the
system, and that was due to the lack of preparedness on the part
of this country. There is not any particular danger, but you
pay the price. That is, I mean no danger for the ultimate results,
but you will pay the price in lives and money and everything else
if you are not to a certain extent prepared, and you have to be
prepared in the spirit as well as the mere manual end of it. If
you have not the spirit behind it, the rest of the thing would not
be worth a rap.
At Chateau Thierry they told a story about one American
Division going up on one side of the road while a French Division
19
came down the other. Well, they were troops that had never
been in action and of course the French were not to blame for
they had been whipped and whipped and whipped ; but there was
the spirit there, and we have to produce and keep alive the spirit
here.
I hear a great deal about doing things for soldiers. It is well
to do things for soldiers, but the average two-legged soldier —
I don't think he ought to want to have things done for him. The
soldier who is back here alive, he has gone through an experience
that he would not exchange, if he is honest, he would not ex-
change for anything. He could not, and the soldiers that are
dead — well, the English sing a song, they say Our soldiers never
die. Our soldiers never die, our soldiers never die. They only
pass away ; and life, after all, what is it? We are here to-day and
we are gone to-morrow, and it is up to us while we are here to
do the best we can. while we can. I thank you. (Applause).
President Dorrance:
I want to say to you that the last soldier who has been talking
to you doesn't wear his decorations in public but the French
Government gave him the Croix de Guerre, with palms, and made
him Chevalier Legion de Honneur, and our own Government gave
him the Distinguished Service Cross.
1920
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
Wyoming Commemorative
Association
ON THE 142d ANNIVERSARY OF THE
BATTLE AND MASSACRE OF WYOMING
JULY 3. 1920
PATRIOTISM AND HISTORY
AN ADDRESS BY
MILLEDGE L. BONHAM, JR., A. M., Ph. D.,
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY. HAMILTON COLLEGE.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE W. C. A.
Memorial Volume, a record of one-hundredth year commemorative observance
of the Battle and Massacre, July 3, 1878. Edited by Wesley Johnson Esq.,
secretary of the Association, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1882, 355 pages. Includ-
ing proceedings of 1879, 1880, 1881.
Craft:
;s
of" the Fathers." Charles I. A. Chapman; "Names on the Monument," Hon.
Steuben Jenkins; "Flight from Wyoming," Wm. A. Wilcox, Esq.; "Growth
of the Republic," John S. Harding, Esq.
Proceedings for 1882-1888, with historical addresses by Rev. David Craft:
Hon. Steuben Jenkins on "Early Gospel Efforts in Wyoming;" "Principles
Proceedings for 1889-1892, with addresses by Dr. W. H. Egle, ex-Governor
Henry M. Hoy I, Henry Coppee, LL. P., Benjamin Dorranc e.
Proceedings for 1893, wiih address by E. Greenough Scott, Esq., 18 pages.
Proceedings for 1894, with addresses by Judge Sylvester Dana, Concord, N. H. ;
"The Fatherland of the Wyoming Settlers"; address by Sidney Koby
Miner, Esq., "Who Was Queen Esther?;
Proceedings for 1895, with adress by Rev. Thomas K. Beecher, D. D., of
Elmira, N. Y.; historical paper by Mrs. Miles L. Peck, of Bristol, Conn;
on "A. Wyoming Heroine of the Revolution.'
Proceedings for 1896, with address by Sidney G. Fisher, Esq., of Philadelphia;
John Dorrance Farnham, Esq., of Wilkes-Barre, on "Col. John Franklin;"
Ralph H. Wadhams, Esq., of Wilkes-Barre, on "Two Years of Self Gov-
ernment in the Second Wyoming Colony;" retrospect on building the
Monument, C. I. A. Ch apman.
Proceedings for 1897, with address by Rev. Henry M. Kieffer, D. D., of Easton,
on the "Old Sullivan Road."
Proceedings for 1898, with address by Francis W. Halsey of New York, on
"Pennsylvania and New York in the Border Wars of the R evolution."
Proceedings for 1899, with an address on "Our National Tenure," by John
How ard H arris, Ph. P., LL. P., Pres ident of Bucknell University.
Proceedings for 1900, with an address on the "Men of Wyoming," by Wm.
Henry Egle, A. M., M. P.
Proceedings for 1901, with an address on "Our Pebt to the Pioneer," by Dr,
E. P. Warfield, President of Lafayette College.
Proceedings for 1902, with an address on "Connecticut Character and Aehieve-
ment." by Alfred Mathews, of Philadelphia.
Proceedings for 1903, with an address on "The History and Mythology of Sulli-
van's Expedition of 1779," by William Elliot Griffis, P. P., LL. P.. Of
Ithaca, N. Y. _^
Proceedings for 1904, with an address, "A Colony Out of the Northern Wilder-
ness, " by Ma jor George G. Groff, Professor in Bucknell University.
Proceedings for 1905, with an address, "The Nemesis of Wyoming," by Prof.
Enoch Perrine, of Bucknell University.
Proceedings for 1906, with an address, "Benjamin Franklin as a Common-
wealth Builder," by Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart, of Harvard University.
Proceedings for 1907, with an address, "Connecticut in Pennsylvania," by
Simeon Eben Baldwin, LL. D., Governor of Connecticut.
Proceedings for 1908, with an address, "Some Contrasts Suggested by the
Massacre of Wyoming," by Henry Budd, Esq., Philadelphia.
Proceedings for 1909, with an address, "The Wyoming Valley and Union Sen-
timent in the American Revolution," by Dr. Claude Halstead Van Tyne,
Professor of History University of Michigan.
Proceedings for 1910, with an address, "Wyoming the Pivot of the Revolu-
tion," by Dr. William Elliot Griffis, Ithaca, N. Y.
Proceedings for 1911, with an address, "The New Patriotism," by Rev. Charles
Alexander Richmond, D. D., LL. D., President of Union College, Schnec-
tady, N. Y.
(Continued on inside of back cover-)
1920
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
Wyoming Commemorative
Association
ON THE 142d ANNIVERSARY OF THE
BATTLE AND MASSACRE OF WYOMING
JULY 3. 1920
PATRIOTISM AND HISTORY
AN ADDRESS BY
MILLEDGEL BONHAM, JR., A. M., Ph. D..
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY. HAMILTON COLLEGE.
One Hundred Forty-second Anniversary
Forty-third Annual Commemoration by this Association
Wyoming Gommemorative
1778 Association 1920
Incorporated 1881
ANNUAL OBSERVANCE
Saturday Morning, July 3rd, 1920
TEN O'CLOCK
AT WYOMING, PENNSYLVANIA
Officers of the Association
President
BENJAMIN DORRANCE, Dorranceton
Secretary and Treasurer Assistant Secretary and Treasurer
FREDERICK G. JOHNSON, Wilkes- MISS EMILY WILCOX, Scranton
Barre
Corresponding Secretary Librarian
COL. ASHER MIXER, Wilkes-Barre MISS ANN DORRANCE, Dorranceton
Vice Presidents
John W. Hollenback Wm. H. Richmond Pierce Butler
Hon. J. R. Woodward Ralph H. Wadhams John S. Harding
Mrs. Charles A. Miner General C. Bow Dough- Hendrick E. Paine
William A. Wilcox erty Nathan F. Walker
Col. Asher Miner
General Committee
The Officers, ex-officio, and the following four Sub-committees:
Anniversary and Grounds Publication Program
Jesse B. Schooley Guy W. Moore William A. Wilcox
Col. Asher Miner Hon. J. B. Woodward Maj. John S. Harding
G. B. La France John D. Farnham Henry H. Wellers
Nelson Burgess Frederick G. Johnson Maj. Oliver A. Parsons
Monumental Association Committee
MRS. RUTH DORRANCE, President
Flags— MRS. JENNIE C. SHOEMAKER, MISS FRANCES G. MARKHAM
Table and Rugs— MISS EMILY WILCOX, MISS ELIZABETH JACOBS
Flowers— MRS. HUGHS, MISS SMITH, MRS. MILLER, MRS. MA. UK
SHOEMAKER
Grounds and Trees— MRS. ELIZABETH R. MINER, MRS. LYDIA A. HUNT,
MRS. MARGARET ATHERTON, MISS MAFLETT, MISS MAME
SMITH, MRS. JENNIE C. SHOEMAKER
Program
1920.
The music by The Alexander Band. Chas. F. Pokorney, Conductor.
MARCH— "NATIONAL SPIRIT" S. E. Hummel
"THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER" \ AUDIENCE
INVOCATION REV. LORENZO R. FOSTER, SCR ANTON
POLONAISE MILITAIRE, Op. 40, No.l Frederic Chopin
1810-1849
This Polonaise was composed for the piano in 1843, and through-
out is the most consistently bright and popular piece that Chopin
wrote, a Polonaise is a dance of Polish origin, in three-fourths time
and moderate tempo. A well-known writer describes this piece as
follows: "Is this the composer of dreamy nocturnes, the elegant
waltzes, who here fumes and frets, struggling with a fierce, suffocat-
ing rage, and then shouts forth, sure of victory, his bold and scornful
challenge? And in the trio, do we not hear the tramping of horses,
the clatter of arms and spurs, and the sound of trumpets? Do we not
hear and see, too, a high-spirited chivalry approaching and passing in
this martial tone picture?"
REMARKS PRESIDENT BENJAMIN DORRANCE
TROMBONE SOLO — "THE LOST CHORD" Sir Arthur Sullivan
1842-1900
GEORGE F. MOORE
The death of his brother Frederick in 1877, at the age of thirty-
six, was a severe blow to Sir Arthur Sullivan, who watched beside
him during his illness. It was then that "The Lost Chord" was com-
posed. One night when the invalid had for a time fallen into peaceful
sleep and Sir Arthur was sitting by the bedside, he chanced upon
some verses of Adelaide A. Proctor with which he had five years
previously been much impressed. He had then tried to set them to
music, but without satisfaction to himself. Now, in the stillness of the
night, he read them over again, and almost as he did so he conceived
their musical equivalent. A sheet of music paper was at hand and he
began to write. Slowly the music grew and took shape. As he pro-
gressed he felt sure that this was what he had sought and failed to
find in his previous attempt. In a short time the song was complete,
and not long after, in the hands of the publisher. To-day it is a uni-
versal favorite.
FANTASIE— "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" J. Bodewalt Lampe
1869
A dream picture of the Old South. Uncle Tom is drowsing before
the log fire in the enjoyment of his cabin in Old Kentucky when there
pass before him familiar scenes of the "Old South", and finallv a
vision of the Emancpiation. The composer is an American who has
•written much that has become popular.
HYMN— "AMERICA" Rev. Samuel F. Smith
1832
AUDIENCE
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where our fathers died;
Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
Our father's God, to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
Of Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS... MILLEDGE LOUIS BONHAM, JR., A. M., PH. D.
Professor of History, Hamilton College
MARCH— "CARRY ON" M. L. Lake
Members
Residence in Wilkes-Barre Unless Specifieb
PERPTUAL MEMBERS
By the payment of $50.00. or endowment, the names being thereafter retained
here in perpetuity, as a memorial.
Sharpe, Miss Sallie
Sharpe, Miss Mary A.
Sharpe. Miss Elizabeth
Sharpe, Richard, Jr.
Montgomery
Sharpe. Rosa Duncan
Sharpe. Caroline Johnston
Sharpe, Margaret Johnston.
Jr.
ANNUAL MEMBERS
By the payment of $1.00 annually.
Alexander, Mrs. Francis P.
Allaban, Frank. New York City
Harry B.. Luzerne
Mrs. Harry B.. Luzerne.
Mrs. Sallie
M., West Pitts-
Alworth,
Alworth.
Andrews
ton
Archbald, Hon. R. W., Scranton
Ashelman, Charles P., Scranton
Atherton, T. H.
Atherton. Melanie
Atherton, Sarah H.
Atherton, T. H. Jr.
Badders. Mrs. Leona B.. Kingston
Baird. William, Trucksville
Beardslee, Charlotte, Dorranceton
Bender, William K.. Scranton
Bennett, Capt. F. C. Bridgeport, Conn.
Bennett, Richard Dana, Jr.
Bennett, S. B. West Pittston.
Berry, Mrs. Jennie Dana, West Pittston
Bixbv, Mrs. Edward W.
Blair, Brice S.
Blanchard, Grace D. Dorranceton
Boies Mrs. Elizabeth D., Scranton
Bowklev. Mrs. Clara Langford, West
Pittston
Boylston. Mrs. Samuel, New York City
Boynton, Mrs. Frederick P.
Bovnton. Elizabeth Watson, Highland
Park. 111.
Bovnton, Helen Leavenworth, High-
land Park. 111.
Boynton, Woodward Leavenworth
Highland Park, Illinois
Boynton, Frederick Perry,
land Park, Illinois
Boynton. Mallery Miller,
Park, Illinois
Brodhead, Mr. and Mrs.
Kingston.
Buck, Adaline Everitt. Waverlv,
Buck, W. C, Waverlv. X. Y.
Burgess, Nelson. Wyoming
Bush. Mrs. Bess Denison
Butler, Mary Beardslee. Dorranceton
Butler, Pierce, Carbondale
Butler, Edmund G.
Chase. Mrs. Augusta Dana Coolbaugh,
Mt. Airy, Pa.
Conyngham. Mr. and Mrs. John X.
Convneham, W. H.
Coolhaugh, J. R.
Cooper, B. G.. Pittston
H.. Kingston
L.. Shickshinny
Beach. Shickshinny
Crary, Sara Wood, Shickshinny
Crisman, Mrs. Neal
Dana, Richard Edmund
•Dana, Fanny P., Morrisville, Pa.
Dana, Sylvester. Morrisville. Pa.
Dana, Dr. R. S., Morrisville, Pa-
Davenport, Hon. S. W., Plymouth
Davenport, Samuel M., Plymouth
Dean, Arthur D., Scranton
Jr., High-
Highland
Robert P.,
N. Y.
Corss, Martha
Crary, Martha
Crary, Natalie
Dean. W. L.
Decker. Mrs.
ville.
Denison, Dr.
Denison, Dr.
Denison, Dr.
Derby. Mrs.
Derr,
Kingston
Clare Denison,
Swoyer-
Charles
L. B.. Swoyerville
J. W.
L. K.
F.
Dor-
Dorranceton
Bow
Colon, Panama
M.. Pittston
Smyrna. Del.
Hammond, Dor-
Mrs. Andrew
Derr, Andrew F.
Derr. Elizabeth Lowrie
Derr, Katherine
Derr, Thompson
Dewitt, Ira, Wyoming
Dickover, George T.
Dickson, Mrs. Allan H.
Derby. L. K.
Dorrance, Anne. Dorranceton
Dorrance, Mr. and Mrs. Benj.,
ranceton.
Dorrance, Frances.
Dougherty, Gen. C
Dreher, Mrs. E. R.
Drew, Mrs. Mercur
Eckard, Rev. J. M..
Edgar, Mrs. Gilbert
ranceton
Emory. Mrs. Louis
Farnham, John D.
Farr. Rev. James M.. D. D.
Flanagan. Mrs. George H.
Gamble. Mrs. Susanna. Luzerne
Gibby, Mrs. Jessie Ross. Westfield,
N. J.
Harding. Maj. J. S.
Harrington, Mrs. Jeanne E. S., Scran-
ton
Harrower. C. D. S.
♦Harris, Mrs. I. J.. Forty Fort
Harsch, C. G.. Wyoming
Harvey, Mrs. H. Harrison
Harvev. Oscar J.
Hillard, Tuthill R.
Hodgdon. Anderson Dana
Hollenback, Anna W.. Brooklyn, N. Y.
Hollenback, Mr. J. W.
Hollister, Mrs. Sherman P.. Storrs,
Conn.
Hunt, Charles P.
Hunt. Lea
Hunt. Mrs. Lydia A.
Hunlock Andrew
• r - - • •„=; ,\r r and Mrs. Richard E.,
"■"-- r iv -
T . , "sr-ry
j- - ■■•■ . I-:. p. . ; itts
Jchnson, Mrs. Georgia P.
Johnson, Frederick Green
Johnson, Margaret
Johnson, Grace Derr, Brooklyn N. Y.
Jones. Miss Harriet L.. Oakland, Cal.
Kaiser, George Peck. Scranton .
Keatley, Mrs. Elizabeth Swallow.
Kingston
Kennedy Mr. and Mrs. Win. Dewitt,
Scranton
Kirby, F. M.
Kirby, Allan Price
Kirby, Sumner Moore
Kitchen, J. B., Wyoming
Kunkle, Charles D., Dallas
Labagh, James F.
Lathrop, Mrs. W. A.. Dorranceton
Lazarus, George
Leach, I. M., Sr. t Allentown, Pa.
Leach I. M., Jr.
Leach, Nellie K.
Leach, Mary H.
Leavenworth, Mrs. Woodward
Lees, Henry, Plymouth
Lewis. Russell Conwell, Forty Fort
Linskill, Charles !>.. Wyoming
Labagh, J. Forrester
Loveland, Miss Elizabeth, Kingston
Maffet, Miss Martha A.
Mandeville, William Arthur
Mandeville, Mrs. William Arthur
Mandeville, Mrs. Maria R.
Markham. Robert D., New York City
Markham, George D.. St. Louis, Mo.
Markham, Miss Frances D., Dorrance-
ton
McKeehan, Bert Hayes, Wyoming
McKeehan, Harry H., Wyoming
McKeehan, Harry Robertson. Wyom-
ing
Miller, Mrs. Helen Reynolds
Miller, Reynolds
Miller. Burr, Jr.
Miller, .Mrs. Sarah Perkins, Wyoming
Miner, Mrs. Charles \.
Miner, Dr. Charles H.
Miner, Mrs. Charles H.
Miner, Robert Charles
Miner, Col. Asher
Miner, Mrs. Asher
Miner, Miss Margaret M.
Miner, Miss H. Lonsdale
Miner, Miss Stella M. S.
Miner. Mrs. Charles H., Jr.
Minich, Harry K., Plymouth
Mitchell, Mrs. Wm. B., Oak Lane Phil-
adelphia
Morgan. Mrs. T Archer
Moore, Guy W.
Mosier, Frank C, West Pittston
Murray, Mr. and Mrs. C. F.
Nesbitt, Abram
Norris, Mrs. L. V.
Newell, Mr. and Mrs. T. L.. Kingston
Oakford, Maj. J. W.. Scranton
*Owen, W. B., Dorranceton D. June
1921.
Paine, Mrs. Ernest I., Scranton
Paine, Hendrick E., Scranton
Parke, W. G., Montrose.
Parsons, Maj. O. A.
Patterson, Roswell H., Scranton
Peck, William H., Scranton
Peck, Theodorus H., West Pittston
Peck, William J., Pittston
Pettebone, Mrs. George, Forty Fort
Pettebone, Mr. and Mrs. W T. For-
ty Fort
Phelps, William G., Binghamton
Pettebone. J. S., Dorranceton
Plumb, Mr. and Mrs. H. B., Battle
Creek, Michigan
Plumb, Rollo G, Battle Creek Mich.
Plumb, Edith Agnes, Battle Creek,
Michigan
Polen, Miss Abbie, Wyoming
Potter, John E., Pittsburg
Reynolds, John B.
Reynolds, Schuyler L.
Reynolds, Mr. and Mrs. Dorrance
Reynolds Constance
Reynolds, Nancy Buckingham Dor-
rance
Reynolds, Patrica
Richmond, William Henry, Scranton
Richmond, Clara Morss, Scranton
Rickets. .Miss Jean
RickettS, Miss Leigh
Rockafellow, Grace Ferdinand
Rogers, Dr. L. L., Kingston
Root, .A. R., 441 S. 43d. Philadelphia
Root, Stanley, 441 S. 43d. Philadelphia
Ross. Mr. and Mrs. K. J., Pittston
Ross, Mariana F. t Pittston
Roushey, O. L., Dallas, Pa.
Rowley. Thompson H.
Smith, Mrs. May Cary, West Pittston
Saxe, Sterling B., Wyoming
Schooley, H. B.
Schooley, Jesse B., Wyoming
Scott, Eben Greenough
Sharpe, Richard
Shepherd, W. C.
Shoemaker, Jacob I.. Wyoming
Shoemaker, Miss Jane A.
Shoemaker, Mrs. Harold Mercer
Shoemaker, Mrs. Jennie M., Wyoming
Shoemaker, Mrs. Mary S., Wyoming
*Stark, Corp. John D., died in service
Stevens. Adelia Ross
Stites, Rev. W. Scott
Stuart. Robert D., Carbondale, Pa.
Sturdevant, Mrs. Carrie Rogers
Sturdevant, Mr. and Mrs. W. H.
Sturdevant, Miss Jessie T.
Sturdevant, Thomas K.
Taylor, Dr. Lewis H.
Thayer, W. E., Scranton
Thomas, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac M.
Thompson, Dr. L. M. Dorranceton
Thompson , Mrs. L. M.
Tracy, Mrs. Frederick K., Scranton
Trumbower, Charles K., West Pittston
Trumbower, Mrs. Mary B. Richart,
West Pittston
Tucker, Mrs. Henry St. George, Lex-
ington. Ya.
Yon Storch, Theodore Constant,
Scranton, Pa.
Wadhams, Ralph H.
Watres, Hon. L. A., Scranton
Wellburn, Rev. George W., Scranton
Welles, Mrs. Anna M.
Welles. Principal Albert H., Scranton
Welles, Mrs. Edward
Welles, Mr. and Mrs. Henry H.
Welles, Mrs. Annette C. Line
Wilcox, Emily. Scranton
Wilcox, William, A., Scranton
Wilcox, Maj. William Jenkins, Harris-
burg
Williams, Mrs. Delphine
Witman, Merritt
Witman, Miss Mary A.
Wolfe, Mr. and Mrs. Horace G., Mor-
ristown, N. J.
Wolfe, Mrs. Dale Philadelphia
Woodward, J. B.
Wren, Christopher, Plymouth
Wright, George R.
Members of Wyoming Monument Association
The Wyoming Monument Association was incorporated in 1860 by special
act of Legislature of Pennsylvania and pays $25.00 annually for the care of
grounds.
Andrews. Mrs. Sallie
Atherton, Mrs. Margar-
et
Bixby, Mrs. Helen M.
Blair. Dr. Lovisa I.
Bowkley, Mrs. Clara L.
Bowman, Mrs. Eliza-
beth L.
Coward. Mrs. Harriet S.
Crane. Mrs. Jennie M.
Chrisman, Mrs. Eliza-
beth M.
Church, Mrs. Steuben
Dickey, Mrs. Anna E.
Dorrance, Mrs. Ruth,
President
Dorrance, Miss Ann
Dorrance. Miss Fran-
-
De "Witt, Dr. Emma G.
Dickson, Mrs. Kate P.
Elliot. Miss Elizabeth S.
Fear, Mrs. E. A., Hon.
Pi
Greir, Mr-. Minnie R.
Hughs, Mrs. H. C.
Hunt. Mrs. Lydia A.,
Trei -
Hay. Mrs. E. S.
Heesler, Mrs. D. M.
Hutchins, Mrs Gertrude
Jacobs,, Mrs. Elizabeth
Jacobs, Miss Ruth
Johnson, Miss Emilv S.
Keith, Mrs. Phoebe S.
Kennedy, Mrs. Amelia
Law. Mrs. Ellen A.
Laycock, Mrs. Emma
McCabe. Mrs. Flora K.,
Secretary
Miner, Mrs. Eliza R.,
First V. President
Miner, Mrs. Asher
Miner, Mrs. Grace S.
Miller. Mrs. Sara P.
Maffet. Miss Martha
Markham, Miss Fran-
( s G.
Morgan. Mrs. Ruth
Johnson
len, Miss Abbie
Polen. Miss Mary E.
Reeve. Miss Mary L.
Rielay. Mrs. Richard
Mrs Theodore
ong, Miss Emily
irpe, Misg Sallie
Smith, Miss Mayme
maker, Mrs. Jennie
C.
Shoemaker, Mrs. Mame
Shoemaker, Mrs. Wil-
liam
Shoemaker, Miss Ger-
trude
Shoemaker, Mrs. Ar-
thur
Shoemaker, Mrs. Harry
Shoemaker, Mrs. Thom-
as
Shoemaker, Miss Maria
Smith, Mrs. Frank
Smith, Mrs. A. B.
Snell, Miss Pansy
Stevens, Mrs. Sarah C.
M.
Stroh, Mrs. Clara A.
Stroh, Miss Dorothy E.,
life member, fourth
feneration
Sutherland, Mrs. Grace
K.
Taylor, Mrs. Emily H.
Van Scoy. Mrs. Alice S.
Watson, Mrs. William
L.
Winner. Mrs. Sarah S.
"Wolfe, Miss Ada
Wilcox, Miss Emily,
- wild V. P.
*Died since preceding
meeting
Patriotism and History
Address by Milledge L. Bonham. Jr., Professor of History in Hamilton
College at Wyoming, Pa., July 3. 1920, on the 142nd anniversary of the
massacre.
"THE LAND we live in is safe, as long as we are dutifully careful of
the land that lives in us." * These words of that eminent statesman
and patriot, Grover Cleveland, appear to me to be a fitting keynote for
our celebration today and a worthy motto for the WYOMING COMMEM-
ORATIVE ASSOCIATION. By that sentence, I understand Mr. Cleveland
to mean that just so long as we are careful to understand and cherish our
national ideals, just so long as we shall live up to them, just so long
will our nation endure. A pre-requisite for such an understanding is a
knowledge of the history of our institutions. As another great patriot
and statesman, Woodrow Wilson, has said, no one can really love the
flag of the United States unless he knows something of the history of
that flag. ** Accordingly, it has seemed fitting to me that we should
discuss today the subject of "PATRIOTISM AND HISTORY," endeavor-
ing to see how the history of this region inspires one to patriotism.
PATRIOTISM, of course, means a loyal and intelligent regard for our
country's best interests. But how can we understand what the best inter-
ests are unless we know the history of our country? Therefore, the
WYOMING COMMEMORATIVE ASSOCIATION is doing a patriotic ser-
vice in keeping alive the interest in the history of this community, and
passing on to its successors a knowledge of the patriotism of their fore-
bears. Not that they may idly recline upon the glories of their ancestors,
but that they may emulate their virtues and continue to build upon the
foundations laid by those forebears. In other words, we need to know
the historical background of the present — to study it carefully and
let it be a guide to our feet. Someone has coined a motto — "Look forward,
not back." Like most epigrams, it is only partly valid. We should of
course strive to go forward continuously, but unless we occasionally look
back and get our bearings, we are likely to go astray. At this celebra-
tion, in 1897, the poet Homer Greene, of Honesdale, expressed this idea:
"Ah! but my friends, 'tis by the past we live;
We know what we can do by what our sires
Have done. We grasp the touch their spirits give,
And with it light ambition's latent fires.
"Each age is but the step from which the feet
Of men inspired spring lightly up to tread
The higher walks of younger life, and greet
The task made light by labor of the dead." *
It is needless for me, I hope, to say that I am very glad to be here.
Not only as an American citizen and as a teacher of history am I inter-
ested in the event we commemorate, but I have a personal interest also.
An ancestor of mine, who like the leader of the Wyoming patriots, bore
the ill-fated name of Butler, was slaughtered with all his band, by the
Tories, in 1782, near Cloud's Creek, South Carolina. ** Like your own
Zebulon Butler, this Captain James Butler had his advice over-ruled by
the rest, and like Wyoming's Denison, he had surrendered his command
to overwhelming numbers. The prisoners were butchered in cold blood
and their corpes mutilated. Again, I find in the "HISTORY OF LUZERNE,
LACKAWANNA AND WYOMING COUNTIES," *** that Winfield Scott
Bonham, engineer of the East Boston mines, who was born at Kingston,
in 1848, served in the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War.
In the year that Winfield Scott Bonham was born, my grandfather Bon-
ham was commanding a regiment under Winfield Scott in Mexico, and
had for a time Winfield Scott Hancock as his adjutant. Nor is this the
total ot my interest in the occasion. Well do I remember how, when a
boy at the dame school in my native village, my heart thrilled as I read
the first, time in Swinton's school history, the story of the massacre
of Wyoming. It made an impression upon my boyish imagination which
time has deepened rather than effaced. Also, some of my ancestors,
like the settlers of Wyoming, were New Englanders. Furthermore I
now live in a part of New York settled by emigration from New England *
Few spots are so crowded with historic associations as is this vale of
Wyoming. The very name of the county in which we stand today re-
calls the Chevalier Anne Cesar de la Luzerne, who was the French min-
ister to the United States from 1779 to 1783. The thriving city of Wilkes-
Barre commemorates two other friends of the American colonies From
the end of the French and Indian war until the Revolution John Wilkes
was struggling for the liberty of the press, the liberty of the person
against general warrants, for religious toleration and for the right of
a constituency to choose its representatives. It pleases me to recall that
the legislature of my native state, South Carolina, in 1770, appropriated
money to help pay Wilke's debts. ** In 1775. as Lord mayor of London.
Wilkes presented tq George III a protest against the coercion of the
American colonists. Colonel Isaac Barre, born in Ireland, of French par-
ents, fought in the French and Indian war, and was wounded at tte
taking of Quebec. He was one of the few members of Parliament to
protest against the Stamp Act, and it is said, used in this debate the
phrase "Sons of Liberty," which became the name of the colonial organi-
zation for resisting royal oppression. Pittston recalls to our minds the
great William Pitt, earl of Chatham, the consistent exponent of constitu-
tional liberty in England and America. Finally, we stand upon the scene
of the massacre of July 3, 1778. In an early volume of your Proceedinigs,
I find a poem by Miss Susan E. Dickinson, read here iii 1883. Two stan-
zas of that poem explain the purpose of these celebrations.
"Aye, bring memorial speech and song.
Bring laurel wreaths and blossoms sweet;
And teach the children to prolong
Through years to come remembrance sweet.
"The land by hero blood bedewed
Should bring forth patriot sons alway:
Go forth, with nobler power endued,
To make more bright her coming day." *
JULY 3! What a stimulus to our patriotism is that dat^e! Not only is
it the date of the massacre here in 1778 it is otherwise significant in
American ristory. July 3, 1776, was the eve of the Declaraton of Inde-
pendence. July 3, 1863 was the end of the battle of Gettysburg, when
George G. Meade, a son of Pennsylvania, on Pennsylvania soil, had the
honor of checking "the high tide of the Confederacy." July 3, 1863, was
also the eve of the surrender of Vicksburg to Grant. July 3, 1898 marked
the end of the land battles of San Juan and El Caney, and saw the de-
struction of Admiral Cervera's fleet by the American squadron. Just as
July 4, 1776, was the birthday of the United States as a nation, so July
3, 1898, was its birthday as a world-power.
Indeed, my friends, the 'month of July as a whole, has been significant
in history. As far back, almost, as our records run, we find important
eventa occurring in July. We have but time to mention a few, and asso-
ciate them with our own July anniversary. It was in July, 394 B. C. that
the warlike Spartans overcame the Athenians at the battle of Corinth,
only to go lown to defeat at the hands of Thebes twenty-three years later,
in July, 371, at Leuctra. Alexander the Great, on his eastward march
overwhelmed the Phoenician Metropolis of Tyre in July 332 B. C. Such
was the end of the seat of Hiram, the friend of Solomon. Of all events
associated with July, the most intimate, of course, was the birth of him
who gave the month its name. Julius Caesar, soldier, statesman, histor-
ian, was born at Rome July 12, 100 B. C. It was on July 3, 987 — July 3..
mark you — that Hugh Capet was crowned king of the Franks at Noyon.
10
From this germ developed the French nation, our ally in 1778 and in 1917.
Noyon was also the birthplace, July 10, 1509, of John Calvin, the founder
of the religion of the valiant Connecticut settlers of this valley. Noyon,
as you know, was the object of some of the fiercest fighting between the
Germans and the Allies in the World War. Perhaps men from Wyoming
vallev were fighting there in 1918. It was on July 15. 1099, that Godfrey
de Bouillon and his crusaders took Jerusalem from the Saracens. Joan
of Arc. that unique warrior-saint, saw the fruition of her efforts when on
July 17, 1429, the despicable Charles VII was crowned at Rheims. The
last week of July, 1588, saw Elizabeth's gallant sailors destroying the
Spanish Armada. That was a step in the decline of Spain as a colonial
power, and helped pave the way for the rise of the British empire. It
would be easy to show, had we the time, that July, 1588, influenced the
history of the United States. William III, prince of Orange, became stadt-
holder of the Dutch Republic in July, 1672. and fourteen years later
formed the League of Augsburg, in July (16S6) against, the menace of
Louis XIV. It was on July 1. 1690 that his troops defeated .lames II at
the battle of the Boyne, thus making secure William's seat upon the throne
of England, thereby ensuring a constitutional monarchy instead of an
autocracy. The duke of Marlborough overcame the French at Oudenarde,
in Flanders, on July 11, 1708. A year later, July 8. 1709, Peter the Great
crushed Charles XII at Pultowa. Our own Washington rallied Braddock's
demoralized troops on July 9, 1755. Twelve years later. July 11, 1767. John
Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, and an important
contributor to the Monroe Doctrine, was born. Pope Clement VII sup-
pressed the Jesuits in July, 1773— six years before "Mad Anthony" Wayne
captured Stony Point, July 16, 1779. Savannah regarded July. 1782 as
doubly a month of Independence, for it was then that the British evacu-
ated the city. Who does not thrill at the sound of the Marseillaise and
the memory of the storming of the Bastile, July 14. 17S9! Of that em-
blem of tyranny only the site and the key remain; and the latter, sent
by Lafayette to Washington, reposes today at Mt. Vernon, thus linking
liberty in France and America. At Niagara, July 25, 1814, was fought a
battle of the War of 1812. July, 1830, saw another revolution in France,
when the tyrannical and reactionary Charles X was driven from the
throne by the indignant citizens. Perhaps some hearts in this audience
were heavy, on the night of July 21, 1861, when the news flashed over
the wires of McDowell's defeat at Manassas 1 . Similar was the news from
McClellan at Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862. For though he held the field, he
retreated during the night. Banks had another tale to tell, July S, 1863,
when he received the surrender of Port Hudson, thereby completing the
opening of the Mississippi from Canada to the Gulf. Von Moltke crushed
the Austrians at Sadowa, July 3, 1866, and so prepared Bismarck's way
for the Franco-Prussian war, which began on July 19, 1870. The treaty of
Berlin, July 13, 1878, repudiated the treaty of San Stefano, between Russia,
the Balkans and Turkey, at the end of the Russo-Turkish war. By bol-
stering up the Turk, it became one of the contributing causes of the World
War. r>oubtless there are those present who recall with sorrow July 1,
1881, when the hand of the cowardly assassin struck down President
Garfield. More of you remember our feelings of jubilation at the news
of the surrender of Santiago, July 17, 1898. Austria-Hungary dug her
own grave when, on July 23, 1914, she sent that drastic ultimatum to
Serbia. Two years later, July, 1916 saw the end of the battle for Verdun,
which has been called "the grave of Germany's claim to military invinci-
bility." And Marshal Haig, you remember, commenced his first Somme
campaign on July 1, 1916. Mothers and fathers here, and young men
too, recall the mingled sadness and pride felt upon July 20, 1917, when
the secretary of war began drawing the lots of the soldiers. Ludendorff,
rushed upon his fate, July 15, 1918, when the last German drive began.
Glorious Foch began his counter-stroke July 18, and did not pause until
the Hun owned himself defeated. How we rejoicied at the news of the
splendid record of American troops at Chateau-Thierry, July 19-21, 1918!
Truly, July is a month replete with great events. A mere glance at the
II
pare of history yet it shows that this pleasant month of July is filled
with anniversaries to link with the one we celebrate.
In reading the various addresses that have been delivered on this spot,
I have been struck by the frequency with which the speakers have said:
"It is not necessary for me to rehearse the history of Wyoming." Doubt-
less these gentlemen were correct but I shall not follow their example.
First, because this glorious story cannot be repeated too often. Like the
fairy story to the child, its fascination increases with familiarity. Sec-
ond, it is well to keep these events fresh in the minds of those of mature
years and to impress them upon the memories of the young. Third, Per-
haps there may be one, solitary, soul here as; innocent of history as
the freshman who gravely informed me that Christianity was introduced
into Britain by the Romans in 55 B. C. So I shall summarize the lead-
ing facts of this thrilling story and seek to associate with each of them
other historic events, to show that while Wyoming was developing the
world at large was passing through momentous crises.
Two years after coming to the throne, Charles II of England, on April
23. old style, May 3, new style. 1662, granted a charter to Connecticut,
giving dominion over a vast region, which included Wyoming valley. That
was the s^rae year that Charles and his Parliament, by the. Act' of Uni-
formity, sought to stamp out religious liberty in England. Thereby they
stimulated migration to America. Two years before, John Sobieski. a
great Polish general, overcame the Tartars. One year after this grant,
Carolina was settled. Thus the first event in Wyoming's history was en-
circled by significant occurrences. Charles II granted a charter, March 3,
16S0, old style, or March 14, 1681, as we say, to William Penn, giving
him authority over a domain which included part of the Connecticut grant,
That was a serious fact for the yet unborn settlers of Wyoming. Perhaps
Charles did this through ignorance — mc're likely through heed/lessnes.
For he wis very much like the negro window-washer, who, according to
another negro, did not "dee-teck the deefecks of his liabilities." 1681 was
two years after Lord Shaftesbury had gotten the Habeas Corpus Act
passed, as a bulwark of British liberty. It was one year after Huguenots
first came to South Carolina; one year after Louis XIV seized Alsace; one
year before Peter the Great became Tsar; one year before LaSalle de-
scended the Mississippi. It was two years before John Sobieski, now king
of Poland, drove the Turks from the gates of Vienna — the beginning of
the decline of the Ottoman empire.
Three years after John Kay invented the flying shuttle — the beginning
of the industrial Revolution, which has transformed manufacturing and
commerce — three years after the beginning of the War of Polish Succes-
sion; three years after Georgia was settled, namely in 1736, the Penn
family bought from the Iroquois Indians an option on the Wyoming valley.
Frederick the Creat and Maria Theresa ascended the thrones of Prus-
sia and Austria, respectively, in 1740, and shortly thereafter the War
of Austrian Succession commenced. The same year Governor Oglethorpe
led Carolina and Georgia troops into Florida against; the Spaniards.
Next year the first missionary came to Wyoming. On June 3, 1741, thirty-
seven years and one month to a day, before the massacre, Rev. John
Sergeant, a Congregationalist minister came here to convert the Indians. *
His attempt was futile.
Xext year, that is 1742. the year tint Robert Walpole fell from power
as prime minister, and the year before the battle of Dettingen — the last
in which a king of England led his troops in person — came Count Zin-
zendrof. He arrived on October 13, — two hundred and fifty years and
one day after Columbus discovered America. Zinzendorf was a Moravian
missionary. Far be it from me to asperse the character of such a person,
yet judging by those snake stories of his, he certainly did not belong to
the Anti-Saloon League.
Rev. David Brainard, a Presbyterian minister, was the next recorded
visitor to this region. He came to Wapwallopen in 1744 — the year before
the colonial troops captured Louisburg from the French, and the Young
Pretender invaded Scotland and England.
One of the books that helped form the political philosophy of the
American and French revolutions was Montesquieu's "Spirit of the Laws."
12
This work was first published in 1748. Two years later, Camerhoff and
Zeisberger, two Moravian missionaries, passed through Wyoming and
preached to the Indians. The same year (1750) Benjamin Franklin was
carrying on his fruitful electrical experiments and Connecticut sent scouts
to explore this region and report upon it. How Wyoming appeared to
their eyes let a distinguished Pennsylvania historian, Sydney George
Fisher, tell us.
"The valley was about twenty-one miles long, and three miles
wide. The broad, rippling Susquehanna wound through it. now
burying itself in groves of sycamores, and again flashing into
the sunlight in wide expanses. There were woodland and meadow,
level plains and rolling plains, and the remains of ancient
fortifications of a vanished race. Mountain-ranges bounded
every side Game was abundant. The quail whistled
in the meadows, the grouse drummed in the woods, and the wild
ducks nested along the river. The deer and elk wandered at will
from the plains to the mountains. The streams that poured down
ravines to join the river were full of trout, and in the spring
large schools of shad came up the Susquehanna. Wild grapes and
plums grew in the woods, and here and there on the plains the
Indians had cultivated tracts of corn. It was an ideal spot,
the natural home of the hunter and the poet, a combination of
peace, beauty, abundance and wild life such as is seldom found." *
The Gregorian calender was adopted by the British Parliament in 1751.
Two years later, the first theater was opened in New York and the Sus-
quehanna Company was chartered by Connecticut (1753) to establish set-
tlements in Wyoming valley. The next year was an eventful cue in the
history of the British empire. In 1754 Robert Clive secured control of
the Carnatic in India. In 1754 Columbia University (King's College) was
founded. In 1754 the French and Indian war began. In 1754 the Al-
bany Congress was held to devise ways and means of colonial co-operation
in the war. In 1754, at Albany, despite the opposition of Pennsylvania,
the Susquehanna Company, for £2,000 purchased Wyoming valley from
the Six Nations.
George III ascended the English throne in 1760. The same year Mon-
treal surrendered to the Britisih forces. Two years later, the year that
Catharine the Great became Tsarina of Russia. tw r o hundred settlers from
Connecticut came to Wyoming. They brought with them the Rev. Wil-
liam Marsh, a Baptist preacher.
The Peace of Paris, ending the French and Indian War here, the Seven
Years War in Europe, was signed in 1763. It ceded Canada and Florida
to England, Louisiana to Spain. That year John Wilkes, in his "North
Briton No. 45" published his criticism of the speech from the throne, which
initiated his fight for the freedom of the press. On June 13, the
Quaker, John Woolman, that pioneer of the anti-slavery movement, visited
the Wyoming settlement. Pontiac's war broke out this year, and perhaps
as a by-product of that struggle, in October most of the Wyoming settlers
were exterminated a foretaste of the disaster of 1778.
Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, in 1767, two years
after the Stamp Act, introduced his famous laws which put an import
duty on various commodities entering the colonies. Next year, the French
in Louisana revolted and expelled the Spanish Governor. That same
year of 1768, at Fort Stanwix. (now the city of Rome, New York), the
Penn family persuaded the Six Nations to sell them the valley of Wyoming.
Evidently the Iroquois had as little regard for their word as King Charles
; ' hlmsei?. Wo have seen that they sold this region to the Susquehanna
Company in 1754.
James Watt patented his first steam-engine in 1769, and the famous
"Jenius" began his excoriation of the royal government. That year, the
Susquehanna Company sent forty settlers to Wyoming, under the command
of Colonel Zebulon, a veteran of the French and Indian War. Amongst
of Col. Zebulon Butler, a veteran of the Franch and Indian War. Amongst
men were the builders of the famous blockhouse — "Forty Fort." They
found here some Pennsylvania settlers, under Amos Ogden, Charles Stewart
and John Jennings. The last-named was the sheriff of Northampton county,
which it was claimed by Pennsylvania, included this valley within its
limits. Sheriff Jennings had as troublous a time with the Yankees as
the medieval sheriff of Nottingham had with Robin Hood. His attempt
to drive out the Connecticut men, with his posse, was the beginning of
the noted "Pennamite Wars" which lasted with varying fortunes until
after the Revolution. In this first phase, though the Connecticut men
were arrested several times, and taken away, they always returned to
the valley, and when a large posse came in May, it found the Yankees
too strong to attack.
A momentous year was 1770! Marie Antoinette married the Dauphin
of France that year, and Captain Cook discovered Australia. Lord North
became prime minister and levied his famous Tea Tax. This year oc-
curred the "Boston massacre" in March, while in September Ogden at-
tacked Wyoming and captured many of the settlers. Lazarus Stewart,
with men from Connecticut and Lancaster, compelled the surrender of
Ogden's fort in December. In the same year the site of Wilkes-Barre
was surveyed by one David Meade — I wonder if he was a relative of the
victor of Gettysburg.
Next year (1771) at Alamance, Governor Try on suppressed the "Regu-
lators" of western North Carolina. Zebulon Butler this year led another
band of Connecticut settlers, who came to Wyoming and drove out Ogden,
who had returned.
Warren Hastings became governor of Bengal in 1772, and Prussia,
Austria and Russia participated in the first partition of Poland. Wyoming
this year made her first essay in self-government. * She followed the
New England plan of town-meetings. At one of the first steps were taken
to procure a pastor, the Rev. Jacob Johnson, who served until 1797. * *
This zeal for religious privileges is a continuous thread, running through
the story of Wyoming, and one of which the descendants of these settlers
should be proud. It is interesting to note that in May, 1772, there were
but five white women in Wyoming. The first marriage, that of Colonel
Nathan Denison to Miss Sin, was celebrated this year, by Mr. Johnson. ***
With a strange perversion of New England thrift, some Bostonians
dumped a quantity of tea into their harbor in 1773. Perhaps they be-
lieved, with the little girl, that the "British had put tacks in it." Certainly
Boston and other communities brewed a drink which set King George's
teeth on edge. Connecticut, meanwhile, was erecting Wyoming into the
town of Westmoreland, in the county of Litchfield.
The ill-starred and incompetent Louis XVI became king of France in
1774_the year in which Wyoming chose Zebulon Butler and Joseph
Sluman as her first representatives in the legislature of Connecticut.
That year saw the first Continental Congress meet. The next saw Con-
cord and Lexington and Bunker Hill fought. Also, 1775 saw a renewal
of the Pennamite war, by an Irishman named Plunkett. The settlers had
increased so, since 1771, that Butler easily beat off two attacks by Plun-
kett, who thereupon withdrew. The Connecticut settlers— now numbering
about six thousand — hoped to live in peace and quiet.
But this was not to be. Adam Smith published his great treatise on
"The Wealth of Nations" in 1776. George III decided to squander some
of the wealth of his two nations, England and Hanover, in an attempt to
subdue the American colonists. The capture of Boston, the Declaration of
Independence and the battle of Trenton were some of the protests against
this policv. Wyoming played a brave part in the struggle for American
rights. We can spare time only to recall that the town-meeting provided
for raising funds, making ammunition, building forts, sending men to
the army and expelling Tories. Lieutenant Obadiah Gore led forty men
direct to the army. Zebulon Butler and George Dorrance became lieu-
tenant colonels in the Connecticut forces and Captains Robert Durkee
and Samuel Ransom commanded two companies, raised here by order
of Connecticut. Wyoming furnished many other men and officers to the
army, denuding herself of all but the aged and the very young, besides
raising a considerable sum for the Connecticut treasury.
14
My good friend, your efficient vice-president, Mr. William A. Wilcox,
has called to my attention an item in last Saturday's New York Tribune,
which shows that Jenkins Fort was commanded in 1778 by Captain Stephen
Harding, the great-great-great-great-great-uncle of Senator Warren G. Har-
ding, the republican nominee for President.
"La Belle France"! the France of Charles Martel, of St. Louis, of Joan
of Arc, of Lafayette, of Joffre and Foch, became our ally in 1778. This
year saw also the death of the great Pitt. But for Wyoming, its most
momentous day was July 3, when the British, Tories and Indians per-
petrated their cruel massacre. The gifted pen of Miner * has delineated
that event far better than I could hope to. Instead, therefore, of reciting
the heroic and piteous incidents of that tragic day, I wish to pause a
moment to appeal to your broad-mindedness. Just as the United States
should not be judged solely by Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr, as France
should not be judged solely by St. Bartholomew and the Reign of Terror,
so England should not be judged by the Wyoming massacre alone. Re-
member that this horrid deed evoked protests in Parliament itself. Re-
member, also, what we have derived in law, political institutions, religious
freedom and literature from England. Remember, too, that it was not
the British nation, but the British king who was responsible for such
atrocities. Though born an Englishman, George III was German by par-
entage, German in political philosophy. He had little understanding of
English history, little respect for the English constitution. The best minds
of England realized that the struggle of the American patriots was simply
a phase of the fight for constitutional liberty, then proceeding in England
against the encroachments of the crown. Against July 3, 1778, let us
balance Pitt, Wilkes, Fox and Barre. Hating the British is neither good
religion, good sense nor good patriotism. The more we love America, the
more we strive to be "dutifully careful of the land that lives in us," the
less time, the less room, the less disposition shall we have for hating any
other land. The more we hate other lands, the less worthy will be our
love for America.
The year that John Paul Jones capturded the Serapis, and that Wayne
took Stony Point — 1779 — was also the year of Sullivan's punitive expedi-
tion against the Indians. Various historians, speakers here, have shown
you how the Wyoming massacre and similar outrages stimulated colonial
co-operation and thus helped win victory.* So we see that even from
this evil some good came. Direful as were the events of July 3, 1778,
they have sanctified Wyoming to us, as no triumphs of peace would have
done. It has been well said:
"A land without ruins is a land without memories — a land
without memories is a land without history. A land that wears
a laurel wreath may be fair to see; but twine a few sad cy-
press leaves around the brow of any land, and be that land
barren, beautiless and bleak, it becomes lovely in its conse-
crated coronet of sorrow, and it wins the sympathy of the
heart and of history. Crowns of roses fade — crowns of thorns
endure. Calvaries and crucifixions take deepest hold of humanity
— the triumphs of might are transient— they pass and are
forgotten — the sufferings of right are graven deepest on the
chronicle of nations."
With this sentiment as a text the Southern poet, Father Ryan, wrote a
beautiful ode, the concluding verses of which might well apply to Wyoming:
"Yes, give me a land with a grave in each spot,
And names in the graves that shall not be forgot;
Yes, give me the land of the wreck and the tomb;
There is grandeur in graves — there is glory in gloom;
For out of the gloom future brightness is born,
As after the night comes the sunrise of morn;
And the graves of the dead with grass overgrown
May yet form the footstool of liberty's throne,
And each single wreck in the war-path of might,
Shall yet be a rock in the temple of right."
15
Shortly after Yorktown, the question of jurisdiction over Wyoming was
appealed to Congress, November 3, 1781. The decision was given in De-
cember, 1782, the year that Charlestown and Wilmington were evacuated
by the British. This decision was in favor of Pennsylvania. Connecti-
cut quietly and patriotically acquiesced.
Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Wagram in July, 1809. But a more
important event that year was the birth of Abraham Lincoln, February
12. Let me remind you that the ancestors of Lincoln, like those of the
Wyoming settlers, came from old England to New England. This same
year of 1809 saw the beginning of the movement to erect this monument.
It was not until 1832— the year of Nullification and of the liberation of
Greece from the Turk — that the bones of the victims were discovered.
New Zealand was annexed by Great Britain in 1839, the year that the
famous "scrap of paper" was signed, guaranteeing the neutrality of Bel-
gium. This year the people of Wyoming appealed to Connecticut for
aid in erecting a monument, but in vain; and again in 1841, also in vain.
William H. Harrison became president that year; and that was the year
that the ladies attacked the monument problem. What happened? Just
glance back a moment. Men began the movement in 1809. By 1841 they
had not succeeded. The women took hold in 1841, and on July 3, 1842
the monument was dedicated'- *
England, under Peel's leadership, started upon her free-trade policy in
1842. This was also the year of the Webster-Ashburton treaty, settling
the Canada-Maine boundary dispute. It is significant that this monument
was dedicated the same year. By that statement I mean this: by the
Rush-Bagot agreement of 1817, England and the United States decided
that neither side of the Canadian border should be fortified, nor should
armed vessels ply the lakes. Over a century of peace has demonstrated
the wisdom of that treaty. Yet it left remaining as a source of friction
and possible war the undetermined boundary between Maine and Canada.
When Lord Ashburton and Daniel Webster, by peaceful negotiatipn settled
that question in 1842, it was a long step toward Anglo-American solidarity.
Now I ask you. to what purpose did the people of Wyoming dedicate this
monument in 1842? Was it to perpetuate hatred of the British? A thou-
sand times NO! Was it not to commemorate the virtues of those whose
bones repose beneath it? Indubitably! Would those victims want us to
show our respect for their memories by animosity towards anyone else?
The question answers itself.
'Wyoming seems inextricably and inexplicably associated with events
of great portent. I have seen it stated that a Wyoming Monument Asso-
ciation was formed in 1860 — the year my native state seceded, the year
Garibaldi drove the Bourbons from Sicily and Naples. It was left for
Messrs. Steuben Jenkins and Calvin Parsons, as you know, to propose
such a memorial organization at Wilkes-Barre on July 3, 1877. This
"Hundreth Anniversary Association" was formed the year that Hayes
became president, that the Russo-Turkish war began, and one year after
the centennial of American Independence.
On the centenary of the massacre, July 3, 1878, the first of these cele-
brations was held, and it is greatly to the credit of your Association that
no year has passed since without one. Montenegro, Serbia, and Rumania
became independent in 1878; Pope Leo XIII succeeded Pius IX; Stanley
completed his exploration of the Congo.
Next year, Chile, Peru and Bolivia went to war over the nitrate fields,
the United States government resumed specie payments and Grevy became
president of France. This year a permanent organization was effected
and the name WYOMING COMMEMORATIVE ASSOCIATION adopted
find from your "Wyoming Memorial Volume" that your charter was granted
in 1881 the year that Tsar Alexander II and President Garfield were as-
sassinated; the year of Gladstone's second Irish land act, and of Frances
occupation of Tunis.
I have traced hastily the story of Wyoming from 1662 to 1881-yOver two
centuries. I have sought to associate with its annals other historic events^
Many of these had no connection with Wyoming. Some influenced the
16
valley. Others, like the outcome of the Revolution, were affected by it.
But one point I wish to call to your earnest attention: in all this two
hundred and nineteen years of narrative, I have not once quoted Camp-
bell's "Gertrude of Wyoming." For this I expect your thanks.
Now .fellow Americans, let me remind you again that your ancestry —
the heritage you have received from the Wyoming settlers and martyrs —
entails upon you a great responsibility. You owe it to them not merely
to keep their memories green, but to follow their example and justify
their sufferings by your civic virtues — by being "dutifully careful of the
land that lives in you." Today we are passing through the most inter-
esting and important epoch in history. Its problems can be solved only
by the zealous co-operation of the entire citizenry of all nations. The
nations need leaders who are men and women of vision but not visionaries
— men and women, who, from a thorough knowledge of history have de-
rived an understanding of current problems and some insight into the
future. No nation has a more important part to play than the United
States — yet she is not playing it today. The fault is partly yours and mine.
The world hates a quitter — and rightly so. Yet that is the unenviable
position in which some politicians would place America. Rightly has such
a politician been characterized as being "seven pounds lighter than a
straw hat." The Bourbons, the Romanovs, the Hapsburgs and the Hohen-
zollerns fell because they did not realize that you cannot turn the clock
of history back. As I read American history, I see that our development
has advanced us, in the apt phrase of Professor Latane, "from isolation
to leadership." Yet those there be, so dark of soul, who would have us
revert to isolation. IT CAN'T BE DONE!! Would you go back to our
position before April 1917? Before Aprili 1898? If so, you must undo
St. Mihiel and the Argonne, Santiago and Manila Bay! Whether we wish
it or not (and I, for one do wish it) we are inevitably, by historic causes,
linked with the rest of the world. Shall we be dragged whining, unwillingly
along, behind brave little Belgium and struggling Poland? Or shall we
take our place at the head of the procession, beside our brothers in arms,
and lead the world to a happier and saner era?
America can be saved from her danger only by her sons and daughters.
Never before has she had such a need of enlightened patriotism. This
thought has been felicitously expressed by the American poet, J. G. Hol-
land. If you will measure up to the ideal set forth in the following lines,
then, indeed, will you be true sons and daughters of Wycruing.
"GOD give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill:
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy:
Men who possess opinions and a will:
Men who have honor: men who will not lie:
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking."
THE END
(Continued from inside of front cover)
Proceedings for 1912. with an address, "To the Death," by Charles Francis
Richardson, Ph. D., Litt. D., formerly Professor of Anglo-Saxon and
English at Darmouth College.
Proceedings for 1913, with an address, "The American Revolution- a Fresh
Survey of the Patriots," by Rev. Anson Titus, of West Somerville, Mass.
Memorial sketches of Dr. F. C. Johnson and Sidney R. Miner.
Proceedings for 1914, with an address, "The Rise, Glory and Fall of the
Iroquois^ Confederacy," by William Elliot Griffis, L . H. D., of Ithaca, N. V.
Proceedings for 1915, with an address, "The Contribution of Colonial Con-
uevi.cut," by S amuel Hart, 1>. P., LL . P., of M iddletown, Conn.
Proceedings for 1916, with an address, "The Connecticut Grants and the Vir-
feiiiia Boundary Controversy," by Hon. John E. Potter, Treasurer of the
Historica l S ocie ty o f We stern Pennsylvania.
Proceedings for 1917, with an address, "Col. John Franklin and the Last Stand
of t he Co nnecti cut Settler," by Mrs. Louise Murray Welles, of Athens Pa.
Proceedings for 1918, with address by Wm. Orrin C. Lester of Washington, P.
C. on Patriotism of the Great War.
Proceedings for 1919 with addresses by Capt. James M. Farr DD. Chaplain
109th Field Artillery; Major Lawrence Hawley Watres, 108th Machine Gun
Battalion; Major Ralph Amherst Gregory, 109th Infantry and Robert M
Va il of the 108t h Ma chine Gun Battalion, all of A. E. F.
Proceedings for 1920, with an address, "Patriotism and History," by Milledge
Bonham Jr., A. M., Ph. D., Professor of History, Hamilton College.
All proceedings, except Memorial Volume, can be had of the Librarian, Miss
Anne Doiance, Doranceton, Pa., at 50 cents each.
1921
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
Wyoming Commemorative
Association
ON THE 143rd ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE
AND MASSACRE OF WYOMING
JULY 1,^1921.
WAS BRANT AT WYOMING?
WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D. D., L. H. D.
REPRINTED FROM
THE WILKES-BARRE TIMES-LEADER
FOR THE
Wyoming Commemorative
Association
BENJAMIN DORRANCE, Dorranccton
President
FREDERICK. GREEN JOHNSON, fVilkis-Barre
Secretary and Treasurer
EMILY WILCOX, Scranton
Assistant Secretary
"Where their sires in spirit, or in
blood also, battled valianting 143
years ago against overwhelming odds,
hundreds of people from distant
points, as well as from this valley,
gathered this morning at 10 o'clock
at Wyoming Monument to hear again
the story of their valor and pay trib-
ute to their immortal sacrifice.
At the forty-fourth annual observ-
ance of the awful sassacre of July ,
1778, Dr. William Elliot Griffis,
author, traveler and lecturer, was the
orator of the day. He considered the
question, "Was Brant at Wyoming?"
Some statements in his address were
founded on the history of Oscar J.
Harvey and the tales which Isaiah M.
Leach, now in his ninety-third year,
heard from those themselves in the
fated and fatal vale on that day.
In the beautiful environment of the
Wyoming Monument, with the en-
trancing music of Alexander's Band,
and under the spell of the inspiring
sentiments of the gifted orator, the
following was observed as the pro-
gram :
March — "The Messenger"
C. L. Barnohuse
Selection — "Airs of Our Allies"
M. L. Lake
Closed with "The Star Spangled
Banner," in which the audinece
joined.
Invocation Rev. L. K.
"Willman, D. D., Wilkes-Barre
Minister of the First Methodist Epis-
copal Church.
"Romance" Joseph S. Svendson
Remarks
President Benjamin Dorrance
Cornet Solo — "A Request and a Re-
ply" G. Marckwald
Thompson H. Rowley
Descriptive American and Indian
Fantasy — "Death of Custer"
Dee Johnson
Hymn — "America"
Rev. Samuel F. Smith
Audience
Historical Address — "Was Brant at
Wyoming?"
William Elliot Griffis, D. D., LL. D.
March — "The Rainbow Division"..
Danny Nirella
William H. Richmond, a vice presi-
dent of the association, who has at-
tended the exercises regularly and
who is still at his winter home in
Cuba, was sent the following tele-
gram:
Wyoming, Pa., July 2, 1921.
William H. Richmond,
La Gloria, Cuba.
The Wyoming Commemorative As-
sociation, missing your customary at-
tendance at its annual commemora-
tion, sends to you and all yours its
earnest wishes for your and their
comfort and happiness and its con-
gratulation on your hundredth year
almost completed. The association is
honored that you have crowded so
many years with so full a measure of
usefulness, of success and of honor.
BENJAMIN DORRANCE,
EMILY WILCOX, President.
Acting Secretary.
Dr. Griffis spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I have t»een invited by the officers
of the Wyoming Commemorative As-
sociation to address you on the sub-
ject, "Was Brant at Wyoming?"
I felt at first diffident at appearing
before you to speak "the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the
truth," as requested, and this for ob-
vious reasons. The rumors, the be-
liefs, even the hardened prejudices,
fortified by local feeling and exag-
gerated not only by what passes for
patriotic feeling, but even by religious
rancor, have distorted the historical
perspective. The tradition that Brant
was not only the inspiration of the
Wyoming massacre, so called, but
was actually present in the flesh, has
been made seemingly impregnable, by
historians on both sides of the Atlan-
tic.
Furthermore, the poetic decoration
by Campbell, in a notable poem, had
brought home to the youthful imagi-
nation the picture of Brant as a
blood thirsty monster; so that wher-
ever the English language was spoken
this has been the general view. It
was considered both fact and truth
that Joseph Brant planned and exe-
cuted the desolation and slaughter
which are annually commemorated.
Here, more than on any elect spot or
superficial area of equal size on earth,
has the tongue of the orator, with the
fascinating splendors of eloquence
and rhetoric, confirmed popular tra-
dition.
Nevertheless, I believe that today
we shall summon a larger number of
witnesses before the bar of history,
than has yet been convoked, to give
most abudant testimony and to unite
in a final verdict.
3
And if we should be able to settle
the question once and forever, let the
praise be to the officers of the Wyo-
ming Memorial Association. For this
is their mandate which, from first to
last. I have striven to obey. I quote
from the letter of May 10, 1921, from
William A. Wilcox, Esq., of Scranton.
Pa.
"The truth of history must be rec-
ognized. What we want is facts.
Please take all the evidence."
Counting it an honor to obey and
serve in this field of inquiry, I have
reserved for some future occasion a
subject which has long fascinated my
imagination as a student of human
events, namely, The influence of the
Wyoming Episode upon Universal
History; and I shall today confine
myself to the special theme allotted
me. I shall first strive to convince
you that if I have not exhausted the
subject, I have at least summoned and
cross-questioned all the obtainable
data and witnesses. For this pur-
pose I have, at one time or another,
visited most of the scenes of Joseph
Brant's activities, and corresponded
with the persons and societies most
likely to have documents bearing on
the subject.
Pardon then all personal allusions,
for with me the welkin of memory
rings often with the echoes of the
American Revolution; for my an-
cestors were in it and on the right
side, while most of my life has been
spent on soil hallowed by inspiring
events and by the mighty men and
women of the past.
My maternal ancestors, who came
originally from the Federal Republic
of Switzerland, lived very near Val-
ley Forge. My paternal forbears
came in the early eighteenth century
from Midland and Eastern England
and settled in or near Philadelphia.
Of three ancestors in Continental
service, one of them, Colonel Eyre,
had charge of Independence Hall,
during the war of the Revolution, ex-
cept, of course, during the brief in-
terval of the British occupation. In
front of this edifice, which we of to-
day count sacred, were brought from
Wyoming, in July, 1778, and laid for
public view, some of the ghastly
proofs of savage barbarities inflicted
by white Tories and red Indians, in
the form of mutilated and scalped
corpses. This had been done to con-
vince those, especially the Quakers,
who cherished a long lingering notion
that the Indians were more sinned
against than sinning.
When but a child, I heard of the
Wyoming massacre. The very name
Susquehanna then and in later years
charmed my ear — as Coleridge de-
clared, t did his, alone by the rhymic
music of its syllables. Moreover, I
know also of the coal regions in this
wonderful valley, of which nature had
made a storehouse for her treasures
both above and below ground. So it
was not wonderful — my father's busi-
ness being that of distributing "black
diamonds" — that, with a boy comrade
my initial pedestrian tour, made to
behold the beauties of my native state
and to enjoy the sight of mountains,
was into this region — the land of en-
chantment in boyhood's dreams.
These longings had been kindled to
passionate eagerness after reading
"Gertrude of Wyoming." Perhaps I
might say Campbell was one of my
favorite poets. In any event. I com-
mitted to memory, many of his most
melodious lines, especially, those in
the lovely poem, "The Soldier's
Dream." And this is what I read on
Campbell's page, who puts into the
mouth of an Oneida Indian chief, ally
of the Continentals, the following
phillipic:
"The mammoth comes — the foe, the
monster, Brant
With all his howling desolating band.
These eyes have seen —
'Gaint Brant himself I went to battle
forth.
Accursed Brant! He left of all my
tribe
No man, no child nor thing of living
breath
No, not the dog!"
That is, a popular poet in a widely
read poem, which is in itself a fasci-
nating narrative, fixes in the minds
of the young and immature readers, a
literary photograph of Joseph Brant
as a monster. This picture remains
constant throughout the adult years
of myriads of people. It is then dif-
fused over our country, from the At-
lantic to the Pacific, until it becomes
almost an hereditary national article
of faith. We have before us a mons-
ter and not even a human being. Alas
for human credulity!
So fixed and rooted has this idea
of Brant, as a common, uneducated
savage become, that in this nation in
its results are like tares among wheat
— impossible of eradication during
their growth. Some would say they
are not to be pulled up, lest the wheat
of truth be harmed also. Even in the
far West of our country, this exag-
geration and caricature of Brant is
actually that, not of a noble son of
the forest but, of a torturer of prison-
ers, a murderer of women and chil-
dren, and a monster embodying the
bloody lusts and the worst traits of
the two races.
Nevertheless, undiscouraged in this
field of literature, we have the im-
plicit word of the Master-Husband-
man to wait until full harvest time
for the deserved fate of the tares —
that of destruction by fire, in order to
show that truth is mighty, yes, even
eternal and must prevail.
"Bind them." Yes, bind all false-
hoods, "in bundles and burn them" is
the divine order and one not to be
ignored or disobeyed.
And on that fire today, as we kindle
here and now the flame of historical
what shall we throw on the fire and
what save apart?
"What are tares? What is wheat?
Our task today is to unravel the
skein of mingled fact and fancy, in
order to show the shining thread of
truth. We shall enter into the store-
house, to sift out the grain of truth
from the chaff of tradition .
First, then, to the written record.
Where is there one line of trustwor-
thy contemporaneous writing from an
eye-witness which states that Brant
was present at Wyoming in July,
1778? Where is the proof that this
Mohawk chief was the inspiration of
the attack and the massacre which
were carried out entirely by Seneca
Indians?
There is none.
Your executive committee's secre-
tary wrote to me as follows:
"Please take all the evidence in
favor, as well as against the idea
that Brant was here in July, 1778." So
I began expecting to find much in
favor of the popular tradition that he
was here. I repeat it, I found none.
Let us not forget that the English
Lord Germaine and of the British
Government in employing the Indi-
ans as allies and that they rejoiced
in the fall of that ministry.
Hence, popular writers of history
even in England, as well as on the
frontiers in America, horrified as they
were, were usually uncritical in state-
ments about what happened where
savages were employed, and who were
their chiefs. They mentioned Indian
names, without much discrimination
as to persons, geography or chrono-
logy. In the very eagerness of the
Whigs to overthrow that Tory minis-
try, their writers were not careful or
exact as to Indian matters or per-
sons.
My business, today, is not to dis-
prove the poetic or oratorical asser-
tions that Brant was a monster, or
that he annihilated the family and
household, even to a dog, of an Oneida
chieftan, but to answer the question
— Was Brant at Wyoming in July,
1778? Let me tell you how I went
about the solution of the problem:
Forty-four years ago, in 1877, I was
pastor' of the Schenectady Reformed
Church, which had sheltered the re-
fugees from those towns along the
Mohawk Valley, which had been deso-
lated by Brant. In 1878 I went to
Cherry Valley, N. Y., to visit the lo-
cal historian, the Rev. Dr. Henry U.
Swinnerton. My purpose was ta
study into the origin and incident of
that episode in border warfare, call-
ed The Cherry Valley Massacre. This,
you remember, took place in Novem-
ber, after the Wyoming slaughter,
which was in July. Then my interest
was awakened in the whole subject
of the Iroquois Confederacy, the em-
ployment of savage allies by Great
Britain and the character of that
unique representative of two civiliza-
tions, or worlds or thought — that of
the red and the white man — Joseph
Brant. This warrior held the royal
commission, first as captain and then
as colonel in the British army. Hence,
he was an officer and a gentleman — at
least, according to the ideas and
standards of that day. He was a Con-
servative in both his theology, includ-
ing government and in politics.
What specially aroused my atten-
tion — leading afterwards to critical
investigation — was a statement, writ-
ten in a letter many years before of
an educated Indian maiden, that
Brant was not present at the so-called
massacre at Wyoming. This asser-
tion, I found, had fortified the opinion
held by Dr. Swinnerton. Only seven
years before this date of 1878, this
pastor at Cherry Valley had officiated
at the funeral of James Campbell, one
of the boys taken as prisoner to Can-
ada and sent back later, who lived to
be 98 years old. He insisted that
Brant was not at Wyoming, and he
told where he was.
How near the Revolution seems
when some of us have talked with
relatives, who themselves talked with
Washington and Lafayette, as mine
did!
Since that date, original documents
have come to light and several books
of first class merit by critical investi-
gators have been written in both Can-
ada and the United States. All of
these, without exception, show not
only that Brant had nothing to do
with planning the British and Seneca
Indian expedition to Wyoming, but
that he was nowhere near this place,
on July 3, 1778; and that during the
whole Revolutionary war, he never
got any nearer to it, than Tioga Point.
Even more than this, they tell us
where he was and what he was doing
at that time.
Later on, I visited the scene of
Brant's operations in Otsego, Dela-
ware, Schoharie and other counties. I
questioned and cross-questioned those
who had heard their stories from the
survivors of 1778 and I examined not
a few extant documents of that date
or period.
Still later on, in Western New
York, I visited the place by the Che-
mung river where the Seneca Indians
built their fleet of canoes, on which
they made their water-way to Wyo-
ming.
Having lectured in almost every
county in New York State and at
many places in Pennsylvania, I made
myself familiar, not only with the va-
rious local traditions and relics, but,
also, with the mythology and fairy
tales, which usually follow on the
trail of actual events: for no counter-
feits are ever made, unless the
genuine coin or paper has value. Even
a hypocrite is a compliment paid to a
Christian.
It is mainly, however, in this year
1921, that I have gathered most of the
convincing evidence and mastered the
literature of the subject, while learn-
ing how worthless is tradition when
compared with contemporaneous
written records.
Let us now look, first, at the ori-
gin of the rumor, notion, legend, or
tradition that Brant was at Wyoming.
Where and how did it arise and how
did it gain currency? We shall tell
the story of those baseless and false
reports that have corrupted the
minds of the people who do not study
real history, and shall then picture
the situation, as shown in the certi-
fied activities and the documents of
1778.
What if historiographers, twenty,
fifty, or a hundred — and the more the
worse — books, by the Americans,
Marshall, Gordon, Botta, Drake, and
the English books by the dozen, on
which Campbell, the poet, says he
based his slander, tell us the same
false statement which was copied
from the first wild, unfounded rumors?
What if even the centennial orator, in
1878, besides many other authors,
echo and re-echo or, parrot-like, re-
peat the same unfounded tradition?
What if all the old, unrevised ency-
clopaedias stereotype the same story,
for which they can give no real au-
thority but only copy a copy?
Yet true history is not won by the
manifolding process, nor is the rub-
ber-stamp method of producing his-
tory to be commended.
All these assertions, not to add to
these the after-dinner rhetoric, with
the fury of exaggeration, rest upon
the reports of frightened fugitives
who, without knowing, who was fight-
ing them, told excited and willing
hearers what they did not see, what
they did not know, and what they
could not prove, but only what they
fancied? The pebble cast upon the
troubled waters has been for over a
century making ever widening circles
of deception. Mighty harvests, by
mistake, have sprung from a tiny
seed; i. e., the first suggestion that
Brant was at Wyoming is found in a
letter written shortly after some of
the Wyoming refugees had reached
Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
In the Public Papers of Governor
George Clinton (vol. 3, p. 523) is a
letter dated July 3, 1778, from the
citizens of Goshen, which states that
Butler and Brant had arrived at
Wyoming and had attacked two
forts.
A proverb declares that "the beaten
soldier fears the tops of the tall
grass." No one saw Brant at. Wyo-
ming, no one had any basis for his
belief that he was there, and not one
of the affidavits or statements of the
survivors gives any circumstantial de-
tail attributed to Brant's imaginary
presence or actions at Wyoming
which tradition has ascribed to this
Mohawk chief, in July, 1778.
A letter of Mr. Solomon Avery
at Poughkeepsie states "of five thou-
sand inhabitants in the Wyoming
Valley, one-half are killed or are pris-
oners and the other half have fled
and are naked and distressed."
Picture to yourselves the situation
in the region, in which this notion of
Brant at Wyoming, had its birth.
Since rumors of impending attacks
and many alarms caused by Brant's
activities in the MonawK region had
reached Albany and the Hudson river
towns, it seemed as though Brant
was apparently omnipresent in East-
ern New York. Whenever an Indian
foray or incursion was made, it was
attributed to Brant. When the news
of Wyoming came, people at once
jumped to the conclusion that Brant
had been in Pennsylvania, also, for
his name was the one among the In-
dians, with which they were familiar.
Of the Senecas who lived in the
West, which was not, please remem-
ber, yet New York State, but an un-
known region, of which they knew lit-
tle or nothing, and certainly not the
names of the Seneca chieftains. There
were no telegraphs, telephones, wire-
less messages, or even an organized
postal service in those days. So it
was easy enough to ascribe the Wyo-
ming calamity to Brant, for most peo-
ple were familiar with his name if
with no others among the Indians. We
all know and have known it, since we
went to school, that all great names
gather round them, legends, stories,
anecdotes and even songs and jokes —
some of which are as old as Noah's
ark, or the Devonian strata in geology.
Who can believe all the stories told of
George Washington, Abraham Lin-
coln, Davy Crockett, or Lloyd George?
So, we see, that it does not matter
how many people said so, or how
many believed it or how old the tra-
dition is. When a statement has been
a hundred or a thousand times copied
and repeated, the one question before
us is, what was its origin or how did
the notion originate?
So we drop the fiction that Brant
was at Wyoming, for no modern cri-
tical author, American, Canadian or
British, and no revised encyclopaedia
holds to this exploded notion and let
us see what went before the Wyo-
ming massacre. Let history explain
itself.
Few, if any, of previous writers be-
fore Stone made inquiry as to where,
if not at Wyoming-, Brant was in
July, 1778, or what he was doing.
Passing by the personality and his-
tory of Brant, his education at the
school which is now Dartmouth Col-
lege, his visit to England and his de-
cision to be loyal to the king, let us
begin with Oriskany.
Mary Jameison, the white captive
and wife of the Seneca chief, who
led the expedition to Wyoming, tells
us that early in 1777 the British in-
vited the Senecas to be allies of Great
Britain to cross the frontier and to
behold them, that is the British, whip
the Yankees, even to annihilation.
The Senecas could sit down and
smoke their pipes, while looking on to
enjoy the fun.
Instead of this program, what real-
ly happened was the battle of Oris-
kany, which proved to be the fiercest
fight, as it was the bloodiest battle of
the Revolution. In this conflict Brant
was an active leader. The Senecas
lost over one hundred braves and
their villages were filled with the
howlings of lamentation and woe.
Now, right after Oriskany, and
while Colonel Walter Butler was in
Canada, a council of the Iroquois
tribes was held at Kanedesaga
(Geneva, N. Y.) This event, rightly
understood, gives us the key to the
whole history of the Wyoming and
Cherry Valley affairs; for at this
council the campaign of revenge was
decided on and the plans elaborated.
Start from records in Canada and
England confirming this historical
fact, the editor of the New York State
Centennial volume of the Sullivan ex-
pedition, Mr. Conover of Geneva, N.
Y, called my attention to this in 1883
as the key to the Wyoming and Cher-
ry Valley affairs.
All the Indian allies of King George
were to be divided into two parties,
to operate in different regions. One of
these, consisting chiefly of the
Senecas, the largest of the six tribes
in the confederacy, was to pass out
of their own country and down the
Susquehanna into Pennsylvania to at-
tack Wyoming and desolate the val-
ley.
Please do not forget that the
frontier of New York was not then
at Niagara, but was far eastward,
and that there were no settlements of
white men west of this boundary;
and none as far west as Utica; nor
was what is now central New York
State surveyed until long after the
Revolution.
So, while the Senecas should act
in Pennsylvania, Brant and his Mo-
hawk and other Indians were to at-
tack and desolute the region of the
river heads and valleys in the east;
i. e., all there was of New York State
west of Schenectady.
Both chiefs, i. e., of the Mohawks
and the Senecas, disappointed at the
results of Oriskany and filled with
revenge, resolved to prosecute the
campaign without the aid of white
men, and, to their everlasting honor,
not to make war on women and chil-
dren, but to drive off or kill only
armed men. This was their plan,
agreed to and solemnly ratified by
ritual and ceremonies in the Indian
council, or Senate of old Sachems.
These were to them as impressive
and binding as what is done by the
white man in a cathedral, or court of
justice; that is, the great wampum
belt which had hitherto signified
their allegiance to the Continental
Congress and which the British called
the Rebel Belt was destroyed. Hence-
forth, they were to serve only their
great father, King George. The giv-
ing up of this wampum belt out of
their archieves was a declaration of
war. It was as binding on the tribes
representated as if engrossed on
parchment, sealed with wax and
stamped with a national seal. At
this council no white man, nor any
agent in the British government was
present, except Joseph Brant, who
held his commission from King
George III.
This is recorded in the papers of
Colonel Claus, Brant's comrade, Vol.
2—1778-1780. Series M. 105, in the
Canadian Archives in Ottawa.
I make bold to say, paradoxical
though it may seem, that had this
program been carried out by savages
only, one half of the atrocities of
Wyoming and Cherry Valley might
never have taken place. It was the
infusion of the hatred held by civil
war, that is the Tory element, into
the witches' cauldron that made the
episodes of Wyoming and Cherry
Valley not only the blackest spot in
British history, but did more to rouse
American wrath to white heat. It
also created the popular sentiment in
Great Britain, which finally corm-
pelled King George and his corrupt
ring of grafters and selfish politi-
cians to end the war. In a word, the
Wyoming episode had a vast and de-
cisive influence upon universal his-
tory. Nevertheless the home-bred
Tories were more savage than the
Senecas.
When Walter Butler in Canada, or
at Niagara, heard of the Indian Coun-
cil and the proposed expeditions, he
assumed supreme command. Leav-
ing Brant to operate in eastern New
York he himself headed the expedi-
tion into Pennsylvania, taking with
him his British soldiers, few in num-
ber and the murderous Tories who,
we ' repeat, were more savage than
the savages themselves. Butler was
only too glad to let Brant alone, have
him at a distance, and allow him to
be perfectly free to act on the soil
of New York, and even counted him-
self fortunate that he could; for, if
ever two men hated each other most
cordially, it was Walter Butler and
Joseph Brant.
In the publications of the Buffalo
Historical Society (Vol. 4, 1896) is
printed an address by William Clem-
ent Bryant, entitled, "Captain Brant
and the Old King — the Tragedy of
Wyoming." In this, Mr. Brant, from
the Canadian Archives and other
data, shows that Brant was not at
Wyoming, but that the leader of the
expedition into Pennsylvania was
Sayanaubaghta, the "Old King," or
"Old Smoke," as W. L. Stone (Life
of Bryant, v. 192) spells the name. In
Colonel Claus' contemporary account,
which we quote further on, the spell-
ing is Sakayer-waragh-ton. In both
cases the personal name and title are
d together. Waragh (with ta, or
ton) means chief, with terminal vari-
ations, according to grade, time or
place. So we can remember the lead-
cr of the British and Seneca expedi-
tion against Wyoming in early July,
1778, as "The Seneca Chief, Sa--a-
yen." Let "Old Smoke" take.
Pennsylvanians are apt to know the
details of Wyoming, and even to add
imaginary episodes, but they do not
seem to realize what Brant did for
his royal master in the Upper Mo-
hawk valley and in the land about
the head waters of the Susquehanna
River and around Ostego Lake. In
almost every case the local Ameri-
can militia were routed, while Coble-
skill, Springfield, Andrustown and
various hamlets and outlying farms
were given to the flames.
I lived nine years in Schenectady,
N. Y., in which, as early as 1661, a
Reformed Dutch Church existed, of
which I was the ninth pastor. While
there I knew well Professor Jonathan
Pierson, the historian, who had spent
his life in gathering and sifting the
local traditions. He showed me how
worthless hand-to-mouth sayings
were, compared to the testimony of
contemporaneous documents. Not far
to the westward was Sir William
Johnson's home, and from Schenec-
tady started the right wing of Sulli-
van's army of 1779. During the Rev-
olution, Schenectady was well forti-
fied and here was a concentration
camp of refugees from the devasta-
tions of Brant and his savages south-
ward, and also from his later raids
westward and further up the Mohawk
valley. Stripped of goods and cloth-
ing, except what was on their backs,
these old men, women and children
were in want of food and the neces-
saries of life. They were often and
continuously helped by the people of
the Reformed Dutch Church, led by
their grand old Domine, Rev. Barent
Vrooman. I found that Brant, from
January to July, had all he could do
in his activities carried on over a
large area, which was from one hun-
dred and twenty-five to two hundred
miles distant from Wyoming.
Since living at Ithaca, N. Y., be-
ginning in 1894, I studied thoroughly
not only the history of Sullivan's ex-
pedition of 1779, but also the myth-
ology, i. e., the fungus of history,
which is of uninevitable growth when
fancy takes the place of record.
All that I have thus far stated, be-
sides what I found out by studies
over the area of Brant's campaign,
can be verified in contemporaneous
records, for the documents are in
Colonel Johnson's correspondence and
in the work in existing manuscript of
1778 by Colonel Claus, a copy of
which is in the Canadian Dominion
Library at Ottawa.
Let us first summon the eye-wit-
nesses — if there be any — who aver
that Brant was at Wyoming in 1778.
There are none.
Examine then the assertions and
arguments and the proofs, if any, for
"proof is better than argument".
The one sole writer who discusses
the matter seriously, by quoting from
original official documents, and tell-
ing what he strenuously affirms and
believes was in those documents;
namely, that Brant was at Wyoming
in July, 1778, is the Honorable Steu-
ben Jenkins. He states that the Mo-
hawk chieftain had personally a part
in the business of securing, counting
and receiving payment for the scalps
of the slain, according to the promises
and stipulations of the British gov-
ernment to pay $10, or £2 for each
scalp.
This gentleman was orator at
the Wyoming Centennial celebration
of 1878. He printed his address in a
pamphlet, which I have studied care-
fully. He had also a correspondence
with George Bancroft, the historian,
whose verdict was that Brant was not
at Wyoming. Mr. Jenkins sent a copy
of his address with a letter, dated at
Newport, R. I., October 9, 1878, which,
also, I have read, in which he claimed
to have made use of the same data
digested by Bancroft. From the same
record of facts, Mr. Jenkins drew a
different conclusion; namely, that
Brant was here. Now, when doctors
disagree, who shall even "hand down
an opinion", much less decide?
Yet I have the temerity to assert,
and I think I can demonstrate, that
what Jenkins relies upon to prove his
assertion contains no evidence what-
ever, either for or against this par-
ticular point — was Brant at Wyo-
ming? From first to last, Jenkins
rests his case on a report made by Sir
8
Guy Carleton which, however, no-
where specifies the dates, or tells
when and where Brant was on July 3,
1778, but only that Brant served King
George in desolating the frontiers of
New York and in driving away all
who were loyal to the Continental
Congress — which evidence no one de-
nies.
In the first place, Jenkins, besides
missing the facts, seems to mix his
geography and chronology pretty
badly, while he is very hazy in most
of his statements, besides making
numerous unsupported averments.
His whole argument rests on this
point as to where the 294 scalps gath-
ered up and to be paid for by King
George's agents were obtained. Of
these, 22 are specified as coming from
Cobleskill, 45 from the West Branch
of the Susquehanna, and 227 from
Wyoming. On his own imagination,
he hangs his heavy cable by
holding it by a thread. Jenkins
argues and insists that these unlo-
cated scalps were gathered on the
field of the ambuscade and so-called
massacre near Wyoming. Yet that
does not even touch the question as
to whether Brant was present at
Wyoming. There is absolutely noth-
ing in Sir Guy Carleton's report to
show where Brant was on July 3,
1778. Jenkins' whole argument rests
upon the question which he, after
mentioning two other places, asks
concerning the 200 or more scalps.
He queries, "If not gathered at Wyo-
ming, pray tell me where?"
I cannot, in Mr. Jenkins' reason-
ing, recognize a particle of evidence
that Brant was at Wyoming, but I
do discern clear proof that he was
busy elsewhere, though dates are not
given.
The solution of the problem, the
key to Mr. Jenkins' baseless argu-
ment, seems to lie in this fact, that he
evidently had not studied the activi-
ties of Brant during the months of
April, May, June and July. This we
know well from the documentary evi-
dence brought forth by Halsey, Stone,
Swinnerton, Sims and various Canad-
ian authors who gathered their state-
ments from living witnesses and com-
rades, who were with Brant and. fin-
ally, from Brant himself. These all,
in one voice, declare not only that
Brant was not at Wyoming, but that
he was sufficiently active for the
king in a region many leagues away
from the scene at Wyoming. The
question as to where the scalps, in
the famous bundle, were obtained, is
sufficiently answered when we think
of the possible score of villages and
hamlets attacked or burned in the
wide region over which the torch, the
tomahawk and the scalping knife of
the Mohawk Indians extended, but
which Carleton does not name. Brant
never got nearer Wyoming than Ti-
oga Point, and this some weeks later,
when loyalty to his king prompted
him to serve with Butler in the at-
tack on Cherry Valley in November.
So far, then, from Mr. Jenkins fur-
nishing any proof of Brant's presence
at Wyoming, we count him as an un-
conscious witness, in spite of him-
self, that Brant was elsewhere.
The same defect is noted in Miner's
History of Wyoming. Apparently he
does not knows of Brant's simultane-
ous activities in eastern New York.
He declares that Brant was present;
yet all the proof he gives us is this,
"If not, where was he?" and "assured-
ly Brant would not fail to be present"
— which is pure guesswork and
worthless.
Let us now., without partisanship
— if this be possible — and before we
call for positive proof and demon-
stration, summon further negative
testimonies to throw light upon the
question one way or another.
Among the very first in value — and
let the prophet have honor in his
own country, if he deserves it, as in
this case he certainly does — is your
own neighbor and critical scholar,
Oscar J. Harvey, who has written the
best "History of Wilkes -Barre and
Wyoming Valley." Besides exhaust-
ing all printed and manuscript sources
then available, he secured, through
the aid of our ambassador, Whitelaw
Reid, valuable material— photographs
and records from the British archives.
He gives positive proof that Brant
was not in Wyoming. But first, let
me set forth the negative proofs
which are these:
In not one of the affidavits or
statements made by survivors who
were in or near the battle (particu-
larly those of Captain John Frank-
lin) is any reference made to Brant.
If these contemporaneous witnesses
had seen or known of Brant's pres-
ence, surely they would have de-
clared it.
Presumptive evidence is not want-
ing in the facts that Brant, being first
a Mohawk; and, second, educated as
one of the white men — on whom the
Iroquois in their conceit looked upon
as inferiors; and, third, because his
war record was slight. Hence, by the
Senecas — the savages most numerous
at Wyoming — Brant was very lightly
esteemed. Nor is it at all likely that
these Senecas would have followed
Brant had he tried to lead them. The
idea of his being the inspiration and
engineer of the attack on Wyoming
seems, in the light of any thorough
study of the Iroquois Confederacy and
the background of Indian ideas at the
time, to be little less than absurd.
I knew personally Mr. J. R. Sims,
who wrote that wonderful book of
documents, testimonies, tradition and
gossip, called "The Frontiersmen of
New York." He was a listener, but
also a cross-questioner, and he made
comparison of his various authorities.
He declared that "there is good nega-
tive proof that Brant was not there at
Wyoming."
He further quotes from one of the
papers of Captain Machin, later an
engineer in Sullivan's expedition.
This paper was found in the pocket
of an Indian chief and shows the
stipulations at the surrender of the
fort at Westmoreland on July 5,
1778. It is signed by John Butler
and a subordinate Seneca chief. On
this, Sims thus comments: "The in-
ference is that had Brant been there,
his name would have occupied the
place of the Seneca chief."
Another bit of negative evidence is
from Mr. Philip R. Frey, of Tyrone
County, who declared that there were
no leading chiefs of note at Wyo-
ming.
Now, in seeking authentic data,
trustworthy positive statements, and
actual record, to aid in forming my
opinions, I have had recourse also to
the British and Canadian archives
and literature; to the twenty or more
letters of Joseph Brant to the authori-
ties of Dartmouth College, where his
son was educated; to the critical
writers who have sifted the available
evidence, and to correspondence with
a number of persons best competent
to give an opinion, such as is worthy
of being here expressed.
It is not expected, or required, that
a man shall testify against himself in
court, but it is permitted always, in
capital cases, that the condemned
shall have the right to speak in de-
fense of himself, before execution of
the sentence. In this instance Brant
repeatedly and vehemently made full
denial of the statement in Campbell's
poem, also the notion that he tortured
prisoners, or made war on women and
children, or that he did not attempt to
restrain his Indians. In a word,
Brant maintained, and justly, too, that
he made war in the same manner
and in the same degree as his fellow
servants of King George — the British
officers. I believe that he spoke the
truth and many competent eye-wit-
nesses and comrades bear out this
vindication of himself. Why should
he hesitate to say he was at Wyo-
ming if he had been there? He never
denied for a moment his connection
with Cherry Valley. Why should we
imagine that he would speak anything
but the truth concerning Wyoming?
He always declared positively that
he had no connection with the Wyo-
ming battle, and he showed where he
was and what he was doing at the
time specified.
The next witness is the poet. Camp-
bell. When the son and daughter of
Brant crossed the ocean and present-
ed to the poet authentic documents
and positive proofs that his father
was not at Wyoming, Campbell was
not at first inclined to retract. But
after studying the matter he publicly
acknowledged that he had taken all
his information from the current
popular British books and that he had
no critical acquaintance with the real
facts. So in 1822, in "The New
Monthly Magazine" (Volume IV, page
97) of which he was editor, he pub-
lished his retraction and his new be-
lief, saying that, as far as the refer-
ence in his poem to Brant was con-
cerned, it was "a pure and declared
character of fiction." He added, "In
point of fact, Brant was not even
present at the scene of desolation."
But an old saying tells us that
"Falsehood travels on seven-league
boots, while Truth is putting on her
sandals." Very few, if any, Ameri-
cans — for Campbell's magazine did
not have a large circulation outside
of England — noticed this correction.
Even Mr. Stone did not, and even
charged Campbell with refusal to re-
tract. So once more, just after the
Poughkeepsie letter, the flood gates
of misinformation were opened, so
now a new volume of rhetoric equal
to the Culebra cut, and a torrent of
falsehood in print, reminding us of
the Panama Canal, rushed over the
land.
Nevertheless, note this fact: That
Hildreth, one of the most judicial and
accurate of all our early historians,
does not say that Brant was at Wyo-
ming. He had no evidence to that
effect and Hildreth never followed
rumor or traditon when unsupported
by record.
On our side of the water and with-
in our gates, the late William L.
Stone who, I am proud to say, was
one of my correspondents, was the
first to state positively the real facts
and to rout the whole platoon of
closet historians. Their rubber-stamp
statements, copied one from the
other, were multiplied by steam-
printing presses. As one lays their
books out on a table before him and
sees in them the same unchallenged
statements, he thinks of carbon copy
paper and manifolding machines, not
of the individual's pen.
In his exhaustive life of Brant — a
credit to American literature — after
investigating the so-called authorities
and continuing his labors during
many years, Mr. Stone furnished sat-
isfactory evidence, amounting to
demonstration, that Brant was not at
Wyoming. All honor to this pioneer
of truth.
Edward Eggleston, a critical his-
torian, examined the charges against
Brant and implicitly clears him of
being present at Wyoming.
10
I might quote from many later
Brant, but I count these popular com-
pilations as of no real or ultimate
value, because they are wholly deri-
vative, their statements being- simply
copied from previous writers. They
are worthless as judicial material, or
as a guide for the truth-seeker.
Other competent men have ex-
pressed the opinion that Brant was
not present at Wyoming in 1778. The
late Rev. David Craft was one of the
most patient, voluminous, industrious
and penetrating historians concerning
the period of Wyoming, Cherry Val-
ley and Sullivan's Expedition. He
inclined to the view that the Mohawk
chief was not at Wyoming.
Rev. Dr. Horace Hayden, so long
your honored citizen, lover of truth,
books, which picture the life of
and a painstaking historian, held
strenuously to an alibi, and to the
idea that on July 3, and later, Brant
was employed elsewhere. Dr. Hay-
den's word might not, in volume, fill
a balloon, but his opinion in a sen-
tence, and much heavier than air, is
worth a ton of the books of mere com-
pilers.
Your own citizen, Oscar J. Harvey,
of Wilkes -Barre, to whom I shall re-
fer again, holds that Brant was else-
where in 1778.
If not, where was he?
The Rev. Henry U. Swinnerton of
Cherry Valley, N. Y., easily the chief
of living authorities on that theme,
after lifelong research writes to me,
under date of March 26, 1921, as fol-
lows:
"I can commend you to nothing
more definite and full as to the Mo-
hawk chief's movements during the
summer of 1778 than Halsey's 'Old
Frontiers.' He was occupied during
that year until October, or the first
of November, on the upper waters of
the Susquehanna, or the Delaware,
the Schoharie and the Mohawk rivers,
gathering supplies of food, cattle, and
recruits of Tories and warning and
intimidating Whig frontiersmen, that
they must leave or take the conse-
quences. He made no war on women
and children beyond this. He went
down the Susquehanna at the end of
the season to meet the Butler's Tories,
British and Indians, mostly Senecas,
at Tioga Point, and there, against his
will, was prevailed on to return and
assail Cherry Valley. The Butlers
had already destroyed Wyoming."
As to the first order of value of Hal-
sey's testimony referred to by Dr.
Swinnerton, I can speak by personal
acquaintance and knowledge of his
work, for he was one of my corre-
spondents and critics, after I had
written my book on Sir William
Johnson and the Six Nations. Born
at Unadilla and bred in the section
of eastern -central New York — where
many rivers have their cradles, his
father, a local historian, and' his
grandfather, a surveyor in the Co-
lonial and the Revolutionary era, and
himself a most careful writer of his-
tory — an ounce of his testimony is
worth a ton of loose tradition. He
declares emphatically and proves not
only that Brant was not at Wyoming
July 3, 1778, but he tells us where he
was on that date and what he was do-
ing. He ridicules the baseless tradi-
tion and contemptuously refers to
those who still write and print it. So,
the alibi is well established.
In truth, unless we can prove that
a man may be in two places at once,
we must give up the notion that Brant
was at Wyoming in July, 1778.
Some of the fruits of impartial
critical investigation are seen in the
latest revised encyclopaedias, all of
which have dropped the fiction of
Brant's participation in the Wyoming
battle.
Let us now see what has been done
on the other side of the border, in
Canada, to arrive at both the facts
and the truth.
There is, in the archives at Ottawa,
a manuscript history by Brant's com-
rade and friend, Colonel Daniel Claus,
entitled Anecdotes of Captain Joseph
Brant. It was never published, most
probably because it contained severe
criticisms upon the conduct of Wal-
ter Butler in not cooperating cordially
and promptly with Brant.
Note the date, 1778 — The very year
of the Wyoming affair and the Cherry
Valley campaign and, therefore, be-
fore the controversy and later re-
ports. Hence, its great value! He
shows in detail how, at the great In-
dian Council at Geneva, Brant was
assigned to the campaign in Eastern
New York, while the Senecas and
Butler went to Wyoming, Brant hav-
ing nothing to do with the affair in
this Susquehanna valley. It would be
hard to find better authority than
this.
PUBLIC ARCHIVES OF CANADA
Claus Papers. Vol. 2—1778-1780.
Series M. 105.
"From Niagara a King's Fort on
the Frontiers of the Province of New
York, we received the following An-
ecdotes of the Mohawk Chief, Cap-
tain Joseph Brant, alias Tayendane-
gea:
"The Plan of Operations for the en-
suing Campaign was then laid and
Mr. Brant determined to harass the
Frontiers of the Mohawk River at
Cherry Valley and Schoharee, while
Saya-yeng-war-agh-ton took the op-
portunity of the diversion of cutting
off the Settlement of Wayoming on
the Susquehanna River. All these
Transactions were agreed and re-
solved upon while Mr. Butler was at
11
Montreal transacting Money and Mer-
cantile Matters and no Indian Officer
of Government present except Mr.
Brant.
"Saka-yen-war-agh-ton at the same
time put his plan in Execution,
making every preparation, Disposi-
tion and Maneouvre with his Indi-
ans himself and when the Rebels of
Wayoming came to attack him, de-
sired Col. Butler to keep his people
separate from his, for fear of Con-
fusion and stood the whole Brunt of
the Action himself, for there were
but two White Men killed; and then
destroyed the whole Settlement with-
out hurting or molesting "Women or
Children.
"Endorsed: Niagara,
September, 1778.
Annecdotes of Captn. Jos Brant
By Col. Danl. Claus, Superin-
tendent of Indian Affairs.
In 1880, Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryerson,
father of the public school system of
Canada, and a true historian, wrote
a book entitled The Loyalists in the
American Revolution. He compared
and examined critically four versions
of the statement that Brant was at
Wyoming. He found no two of them
hung together and he noted that
Kildreth gave the true narrative. The
testimony of two Indians, who were
at Wyoming, was also cited to the
effect that Brant was not there.
In the volume, the War Chief of the
Six Nations: A chronicle of Joseph
Brant, by Louis Aubrey Wood, pub-
lished in 1914, in the series entitled
Chronicles of Canada, the author, af-
ter surveying all the evidence, shows
that neither the Mohawks nor their
chief, Brant, was present at Wyoming
nor ever in its neighborhood.
A book in blank verse, Thayende-
naga: An Illustrated Historico Mili-
tary Drama, by J. J. MacKenzie of the
Ontario Historical Society, was pub-
lished by William Briggs, Toronto, in
1898. It was written "to cleanse
Brant's memory and to refute the
charges so freely fabricated by
American historians."
I have also letters from two local
historians at Canajoharie, the birth-
place and headquarters of Brant, and
from various librarians, curators and
other officers in Historical Societies,
but these I need not read. We are af-
ter the facts. The reports and docu-
ments, critically sifted, yield these
results: First, that all the negative
matter in the case shows that none
of the assertions made that Brant was
at Wyoming — whether by word of
mouth or in writing, give any cir-
cumstantial evidence, nor describe
any incidents, or furnish any details.
We have, in those statements, that
Brant was present, only hearsay, im-
ported tradition, or literary mat-
ter copied from the Poughkeepsie
legend. On the other hand, the posi-
tive truth that Brant was not present
at Wyoming amounts to a demonstra-
tion.
I consider that among the most
valuable of testimonies is that from
one of your own neighbors, long-time
resident among you, of Kingston, Mr.
Isaiah Musgrave Leach. No man liv-
ing has been so long in the Wyoming
Valley and he is now in his nineties,
and is here with us to-day.
Having written to him, inquiring how
old the tradition of Brant's presence
at Wyoming might be, he wrote to
me as follows on May 25, 1921:
"It was a settled tradition that
Brant was at Wyoming, July 3, 1778,
and that the people universally be-
lieved it. I had this information in
particular from one Rufus Bennett,
with whom I was the best of friends
until his death in 1842, when he was
at the age of 94, and who was one of
the survivors of the massacre.
On the other hand, my mother,
although born in Pennsylvania> was
raised at Beamsville, in the Province
of Ontario, Canada, just two miles
from Brant's home. She was a grand-
daughter of Captain James Wigton,
who was with Washington at Valley
Forge; but having heard of the im-
pending trouble in the vicinity of his
home in Wilkes- Barre, threw up his
commission and came home and was
one of the first to be killed. She
often said that Brant frequently vis-
ited at their home and that, as a
child, many a time she had sat on his
knee while he told her tales of Wyo-
ming Valley. In these tales, he al-
ways disclaimed all responsibility for
the massacre. Hence, she, herself,
always thought that he had nothing
to do with it.
However, I, personally, from the
many tales told me in my childhood
by various survivors, always believed
that Brant was at Wyoming and, un-
til you offered a suggestion, never
thought that the tradition grew out
of textbooks or poems."
To sum up the literary situation,
concerning the point we have dis-
cussed, we must declare that all those
who believe in the affirmative rest
their faith wholly upon the original
hear-say reports of frightened fugi-
tives, or upon the uncritical writing
of popular history, or on the purely
imaginary word-picture of Campbell,
the poet. All these notions and preju-
dices have become like the hardened
lava of a volcano, even though they
are but "the base fabric of a vision."
Nevertheless, in a certain country
to which I brought the light of the
American school system, to disperse
the darkness of insular and Asiatic
ignorance, it frequently happened
that, through the energy of earth's
12
interior forces, the rocky cap of a
long extinct volcano was blown off.
So let the invincible forces of
truth, streaming out from unim-
peachable sources, blow up the old
falsehoods. Or, better, like the blessed
clouds that march in procession, or
roll over this beautiful valley, to pre-
cipitate heaven-born showers and
cause blessed fertility, fall on us to-
day. May they wash away old preju-
dice and cleanse the name of an
innocent man — savage though he be —
while they set in fresh discernment
and even to bad eminence the bru-
talities of the Butlers and the Tories,
aarainst which, at their time, our
English brothers protested. Today,
when Americans and British are al-
lies in abolishing both autocracy and
despotism and in rebuilding civiliza-
tion, let the fresh beams of the sun
of truth shine on us. Let us rein-
force and beautify anew the friend-
ship of the two great English speak-
ing nations. What if wc do eliminate
the Brant legend? We neither add
to, nor do we take away the honors
of our ancestors, in this beautiful
Wyoming Valley. Even as the king
of day pours his golden glory on your
fields and orchards, bringing forth
food out of the earth, giving splendor
to your Dorrance roses, promoting
autumn ripeness, and giving us a
pageant of color and delicacy of per-
fume to the flowers, so let truth's
beams, emerging from behind clouds
of fable, falsehood and even religious
rancor, fertilize our minds afresh.
May our international friendships be
rooted more deeply and more firmly.
May all the traditions of the past bind
the people of the British Isles to the
people of the United States of Amer-
ica. Finally here, above these hal-
lowed graves, let there be a new birth
of justice, of reighteousness, and of
truth.
13
Heckmajv
B I N D E R Y, INC.
Bound-To-Please*
JAN 02 ,
N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
■ HI IN
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