The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-09-14
NUMBER 20.
The Massacre OF Wyoming.

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in this memorable epoch of the nations
history there is no event more worthy OF
remembrance than the Wyoming mas
sacre, which occurred on the site of the
charming scene-the Acadia of the Key
stone State-that meets my gaze as /
look from my window this beautiful
morning. Almost century of time has
swept over this fair valley, with its at
tenuating verdure and its SHOWS, since
the ruthless savages, under the lead OF
the infamous Butler and the fendish
Brandt, made the tranquil Susquehanna
run red with the blood of innocent men,
women, and children, and blotted out
their happy homesteads with the blight
ing breath of the devastating torch.
The whole world has wept over the
touching tale, and over the horrors
enacted here during that awful month of
July, 1778, and as its centennial apni-
versary occurs in less than two years
hence it is but meet that some prepara-
tions should be made to commemorate
the event.
History dwells with loving tenderness
and truth on the pastoral beauty of this
charming scene prior to the invasion by
the treacherous savages, and the poet
Campbell, in his immortal Gertrude of
Wyoming" wreathes garland for its
fame that shall never fade, as follows:
Delightful Wyoming beneath thy skies
The happy shepherd swains had naught to do
But feed their iocks on green decl vites,
Or skim perchance thy lake with light canoe,
From M orn Till evenings sweeter pastime erew,
With tlmbrel, when beneath the forests brown
Thy lovely maidens would the dance renew
And aye those sunny mountains half way down
Would echo hagelet from some romantic town."
Such was the condition of the place
ere the savages, with one swoop; fell
upon and massacred its inhabitants, of
whom four hundred perished by fire,
flood, and flight through the fearful
swamp, which to this day bears the ap-
propriate name of "The Shades of
Death" That fatal blow was struck on
the 3d of July, 177S, and the thrilling
details of the bloody business that en-
children; the noble stand taken by the
yeomanry with pixies, sickles, pitchforks,
and such other implements as they
could command; the flight of the
wounded in canoes down the river; the
hardships encountered in the wilder
ness-all conspire to make up one of the
most narrowing chapters in the history
of any land, or any era ancient or mod
ern. The angel of death spread ruin
and desolation over the place, and what
few short days before was a very para
disc seemed transformed to hell more
awful than ever presented itself to the
lurid imagination of Dante.
We who live in the midst of security
and surrounded now by the monuments
raised up by the march of civilization
can never form more than faint idea
of the terrors that filled the valley from
end to end during that horrible tragedy.
Nor can we but family conjure to our
selves a. a.picture of the fugitives-gray-
haired men, feeble women, and helpless
children-who struggled to escape from
the awful scene, those they loved, sons,
husbands, and brothers, burning at the
stake, or subjected to torture more cruel,
while they pursued their journey engirt
by death.
1t is picture filled to overfowing
with bitter memories. The descendants
of some of the sufferers who survived
still reside here, and have conversed
with me since my advent to the valley of
the thrilling stories which their fathers
and mothers often told them, and drove
to the crude monument erected by the
patriotic women of Wyoming and read
the following inscription:
Near this spot was fought, on the after.
noon of Friday, the Sd day of July, 177S,
the battle of Wyoming, in which small
band of patriot Americans, chiefly the un.
disciplined, the youthful, and the aged,
spared by inefficiency from the distant
ranks of the Republic, led by Colonel Zebu.
lon Butler and Colonel Nathan Denison,
with a courage that deserved success, boldly
met and bravely fought combined British,
Tory, and Indian force of thrice their num-
ber. Numerical superiority alone gave sue.
cess to the invader, and widespread havoc,
desolation, and ruin marked his savage and
bloody footsteps through the valley.
THIS MONUMENT,
Commemorative of these events
Aud of the actors in them,
Has been erected
Over the bones of the slain
BY their descendants and others who greatly
appreciated the services and sacrifices OF
their patriot ancestors.
This monument stands over a pit in
which the bodies of the slain were buried
by their friends when they returned
alter the death-storm had spent its force.
The precise location of this pit had not
been discovered until 1882, when by
mere accident the bones were exposed TO
view.
Probably in no nation has there been
such bravery exhibited or such savagery
practiced as at the battle of Wyoming,
where, as the monument eloqucntly
attests, "the undisciplined, the youth
full, and the aged" displayed such hero.
ism. Thermopyl@ has often been cited
in prose and essay as the scene of true
heroism, but Wyoming deserves niche
fully as high in the temple of fame, and
an altar as divine at the fame of bravery.
The fierce Hun was mild when COM
pared with the savage Indian, and Attila,
"the scourge of God," was meek COM
pared with the mammoth Brandt" of
whom the poet fifty said:
"Accursed Brandt he left of all my tribe
Nor man, nor child, nor thing Of living birth
No not the dog that watched my household
hearth
Escaped that night Of blood upon our plainsr"
Wyoming Valley teens to-day with
wealth. The grim black breaker lifts its
towering head along the stately river
and is eloquent all day with the song OF
labor. Busy steamers ply to and fro on
the Susquehanna, the whistle of locomo'
tives awakes the echoes along the neigh
boring mountains, and prosperous home
steads peep out from between the trees
from Plymouth all along the level way
to Campbell's Ledge.
There is patriotism enough in the
people of Wyoming to fitly commemorate
the event of one hundred years ago. and
il is to be hoped that the Sd OF July
1878, will not pass by without recog
milton.
A PERSISTENT effort is being made tt
secure the division of California int
two States. The proposed division Is OF
the line Of Santa Cruz County, givinI
fourteen counties III the south for Tn,
new State, with thirty thousand voter
and 800, 900, 900 taxable property. Lp
Angeles is mentioned for the Capital. /
is said that several prominent citizens O
San Francisco have moved south b
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