318 Notice of the Anthracite Region in the 



Some of the hoary veterans of that day still survive, and the val- 

 ley is full of the descendants of those whose blood has purchased 

 the privileges of this now happy country, whose riches, both above 

 and below the surface, and whose fine scenery and heroic and pathet- 

 ic history, present a rare combination of attractions. 



at the foot of the hills. (See the Map.) The patriot army of 368 men, after a severe 

 struggle, was overthrown by thrice their number of the enemy, and slaughtered, prin- 

 cipally ia the flight and after surrendering themselves prisoners of war. The plain, 

 the river, and the island of Monoekonock, were the principal scenes of this horrible 

 massacre.* Sixteen men, placed in a ring around a rock, which is still shewn be- 

 hind the house of Mr. Gay near the river, were held by stout Indians, while they 

 were, one by one, slaughtered, by the knife or tomahawk of a squaw. Only one indi- 

 vidual, a strong man, by the name of Hammond, by a desperate effort, escaped, and 

 is but recently deceased. In a similar ring, nine persons were murdered in the same 

 way, a little farther north. Many were shot in the river and hunted out and slain in 

 their hiding places (sometimes by their near but adverse relatives) on the now beauti- 

 ful island of Monoekonock. But sixty of the men who went into the battle surviv- 

 ed, and Forty Fort was filled with widows and orphans,! whose tears and cries were 

 suppressed after the surrender, for fear of provoking the Indians to kill them, for it 

 was one of their pastimes to brandish the tomahawk over their heads. There are 

 still remaining several survivors of the battle, Messrs. Bennet, Inman, Black- 

 man, and others from whom many interesting particulars may be obtained. Mrs. 

 Myers, now residing near Forty Fort, was in it at the time of the battle and sur- 

 render, and is very intelligent and interesting in her communications. Gen. Ross 

 was charged with burying the dead ; it was more than a month after the event, and 

 he assured me that owing to the intense heat of the weather, and probably the 

 dryness of the air, the bodies were shriveled, dried and inoffensive, but with a single 

 exception, their features could not be recognized. They were buried in a common 

 grave, on land now owned by Mr, Gay. The absence of two companies of the 

 flower of the young men of the valley then serving in the Continental army, and 

 the urgency of some of the subordinate officers on the ground, who insisted on giv- 

 ing the enemy battle that day, before their absent friends, then on their homeward 

 march, could arrive, were the causes of this terrible disaster, which brought in its 

 train, more calamity than the most sanguinary European battles; for the murdered set- 

 tlers were connected with the survivors, by the nearest and dearest domestic relations. 

 Much interesting private history of these times may still be gleaned in the valley ; but 

 the original witnesses will soon be gone, and their narratives ought to be secured be- 

 fore it is too late. It is much to be regretted that the memoirs of Judge Hol- 

 lenback have not been written ; he was one of the most intelligent and heroic men 

 of the valley; was personally engaged in many perilous adventures; after the fatal 

 battle escaped from the shot of the Indians by swimming and diving in the river, 

 and lived, till within a j'^ear or two, greatly and justly respected. It is only by 

 learning from history and biography, at what price the liberty and security of this 

 country have been purchased, that the rising generation can be made, in any good 

 degree, to appreciate the magnitude of the sacrifice or the value of the acquisi- 

 tion. If a scene of heroic and tender association is desired for Poetry and Legen- 

 dary story, the valley of Wyoming will give it without the aid of fiction ; and 

 Campbell, Scott, and Cooper need only to delineate authentic I'ealities. 



* Perpetrated by the Indians and tories. 



+ The war made 150 widows, and 600 orphans in the valley. 



