r.tiLL. 301 



WYOMING 



979 



vania. In 1756 Wyoming was occupied 

 by a mixed population of Delawares, 

 Shawnee, Iroquois, and Mahican, with a 

 few Chickasaw, the Delawares being in 

 the majority. In the early summer of 

 that year Tedyuskung moved to Tioga 

 with hia followers. After the council of 

 1757 the authorities of Pennsylvania of- 

 fered to enact a law which would grant 

 the Wyoming lands to Tedyuskung and 

 the Delawares forever, but the project 

 was delayed for various reasons, chiefly 

 because the lands had never been bought 

 from the Iroquois. Tedyuskung insisted 

 that a fort and houses be built at Wyo- 

 ming for the Delawares, and Weiser was 

 asked to look after this work, but de- 

 clined to do so on account of his health 

 and because he feared the Iroquois would 

 blame him for doing the work. The 

 council then appointed one of their own 

 number to oversee the work; a force 

 of 50 or 60 carpenters and masons was 

 sent to Wyoming, w^here 10 wooden houses 

 with stone foundations were erected. 

 In the spring of 1758 Tedyuskung 

 went to Philadelphia from Wyoming, to 

 which place he had removed, and asked 

 that schoolmasters, counsellors, and two 

 ministers be sent to his village, saying, 

 "You must consider that I have a soul 

 as well as another" (Col. Rec. Pa., viii, 

 47, 1852). At the treaty at Easton, 1758, 

 he again presented the matter of the 

 fraudulent "Walking Purchase," and 

 charged the Mohawk with selling the 

 lands at Wyoming, which had been 

 promised to the Delawares as a .perma- 

 nent home. The old chief had at last 

 to pay with his life the penalty for what 

 he said at this council. In June, 1758, 

 Charles Thomson and Frederick Post 

 started on their journey to Wyoming, 

 but when they reached a point aljout 15 

 m. from their destination they were 

 warned by Tedyuskung, who met them, 

 to advance no farther as the woods about 

 Wyoming were filled with hostile Indians 

 (Jour. Thomson and Post in Arch. Pa., 

 Ill, 412-422, 1853). In the spring of 

 1763 a number of families from Connecti- 

 cut settled at Wyoming (Arch. Pa., iv, 

 105, 1853). This led to an attack by the 

 Indians in which 20 of the settlers were 

 killed (ibid., 127). No more attempts 

 were made to settle there until 1 769, when 

 another company of Connecticut immi- 

 grants reached the place, and at once 

 commenced the erection of a fort, called 

 Ft Durkee, situated between Ross and 

 South sts., Wilkes-Barre (Frontier Forts 

 of Pa., I, 425, 1896). Other forts were 

 built in this region about this same time: 

 Ft Wyoming (1771), erected by the 

 Pennsylvania authorities for the reduc- 

 tion of Ft Durkee, was situated at the 

 junction of Northampton and River sts., 



Wilkes-Barre; Mill Creek Fort (1772) 

 on the N. side of the creek of the same 

 name; Forty Fort, in the borough of the 

 same name, built hi 1770 by the 40 

 pioneers of the Connecticut Co. who 

 went to the region in 1769. During the 

 hostilities, which became more threaten- 

 ing in 1778, Forty Fort became the place 

 of refuge to which many of the settlers 

 went. In June of that year, when it was 

 known that the large force of the enemy 

 were approaching VVyoming, under Maj. 

 John Butler, the inhabitants sought ref- 

 uge in the various forts in the region, but 

 ( >n account of its strength and size the 

 majority gathered in Forty Fort. But- 

 ler's force of about 1,100 men, consisting 

 of about 200 British, the same number 

 of Tories, and about 700 Indians, chiefly 

 Seneca and Cayuga, descended the Sus- 

 (juehanna and landed a few miles above 

 Wyoming, whence they marched on the 

 night of July 1 and encamped on the 

 mountain at the head of the valley. The 

 next day demand was made for the sur- 

 render of the fort, which was refused. 

 The force gathered in the fort numbered 

 fewer than 400 (chiefly old men and 

 boys, unfitted by reason of their age to 

 be at the front with the American army), 

 commanded by Col. Zebulon Butler. 

 The members of the garrison, no doubt 

 mistaken in their estimates of the num- 

 ber of the enemy, marched out on July 

 3 to attack them. Then followed the 

 battle, the defeat, the flight, and the 

 awful massacre (Frontier Forts of Pa. , i, 

 438 et seq., 1896; Parkman, Conspiracy 

 of Pontiac, ii, 109, 1901 (first massacre 

 1763); Arch. Pa., vi, 626, 629, 631 et seq., 

 1853; Egle, Hist. Pa., 898-906, 1883). 

 During the fall and winter of 1778 the 

 entire frontier from Wyoming to Ft Pitt 

 was subject to the raids of the Seneca and 

 Cayuga. Washington decided to send 

 an expedition, under Maj.-Uen. John 

 Sullivan, into the Seneca and Cayuga 

 country to destroy the villages and drive 

 the Indians back to the British lines. 

 Sullivan's army reached Wyoming on 

 June 14, w^here it remained until July 31, 

 awaiting supplies. At that time the 

 village was filled with the wadows and 

 orphans of those who had been slain in 

 the massacre of the year previous. 



In addition to the works cited, consult 

 Miner, Hist. Wyoming, 1845; Military 

 Exped. Gen. Sullivan, 1887; Wyoming 

 Commem. Asso., Wyoming: A Record of 

 the One Hundredth Year Commem. Ob- 

 serv., 1882; Wyoming Commem. Asso., 

 116th Anniv. of Battle and Massacre, 1895; 

 the various publications of this associa- 

 tion for each year. (g. p. d.) 

 Mahaniahy.— Thomas (1742) in Col. Rec. Pa., iv, 

 .^72, 1851. Maughwawame. — Day, Penn., 431, 1843, 

 M'cheuomi. — Heckewelder in Trans. Am. Philos. 

 Soc, n. s., IV, 361, 1834. M'cheuw a mi.— Ibid. 



