In July 1778, a strong force of Loyalist troops and Iroquois under Colonel John Butler approached the Wyoming Valley. Colonel Zebulon Butler, home on leave from the Continental Army at the time, was chosen to lead the militia which assembled at Forty Fort. Colonel Butler favored delay, as reinforcements might be expected from Philadelphia and other local forts. However, Captain Stewart (who commanded the company of men from Hanover Township) and others argued that they should immediately attack and drive off the enemy before they could be besieged in Forty Fort. Their counsel carried the day, and the militia marched out on July 3, 1778. They encountered the Loyalist and Indian forces a few miles away. Getting into bad order as they attacked the Loyalists, an onset by the Iroquois panicked the militia as they attempted to dress their lines, and utterly routed them. Captain Stewart and his cousin, Lieutenant Lazarus Stewart, Jr. were both killed in the fight. The troops wounded and taken prisoner were tortured and killed in what became known as the Battle of Wyoming.