Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1881-03-31


ties into the Susquehanna at a narrow defil
IN the mountains north of Wilkesbarre, ant
extends to the Nanticoke Gap at the soutl
where the river again passes through anothe
deflle in the mountains, a distance of twenty
miles, with width of bottoms averaging
about three miles. At the lower end of thi
valley, about nine miles from Wilkesbarre, il
the ground over which ragged the "Grasshop
per War; in 1854, which was probably the
most bloody for the numbers engaged Of any
war ever waged. Says Stones history O.
Wyoming: ut happened thus: On certain
day, when the Delawares and Shawanese oc
cupied opposite sides Of the Susquehanna
the warriors of both clans being engaged in
the chase upon the mountains a party of the
Shawanese women and children crossed to
the Delaware side to gather wild fruit. In
this occupation they were joined by some Of
the Delaware squaws, with their children. In
the course of the day dispute arose among
the children about the possession of large
grasshopper, probably with parti-colored
wings. A quarrel ensued, in which the
mothers took part with their children re-
spectively. The Delaware women being the
most numerous, the Shawanese were driven
home. several being killed on both sides. On
the return of their husbands from hunting,
the Shawanese instantly espoused the cause
of their wives, and arning themselves crossed
the river to give the Delawares battle. The
latter were not unprepared and conflict en-
sued, which was long and obstinately con-
tested, and which, after great slaughter on
wanese and their expulsion from the Valley
This is the famous valley of Wyoming,
called by the Lenni-Lenapes, or Delawares,
its original proprietors, Maugh-wau-wa-me,
the Large Meadows" which name, through
various corruptions and pronunciations, be-
came "Wyomick," "Wajomick," @Wyomink," !"
and lastly "Wyoming," the battle ground of
the whites among themselves, as the Connec-
ticut settlers against the Pennites, or Penn
sylvanians, contending with all the savage
fury of border warfare for the lands contain
ed in this small district from 1854 to the
great invasion of the British and Indians in
177S, when the settlers made common cause
against the common enemy, and from that
time, as before, among themselves until 1779,
when the Pennsylvania Legislature prohib
tied further intrusions by a bill of severe
pains and penalties against adventurous
spirits planting themselves upon disputed
territory" ultimately the claims were all
quieted and the Pennsylvania titles fairly
established. Thus, for more than fifty years
all that is fierce and brutal, selfish and unre-
lenting, bitter and vindictive in the passions
of men embroled in civil strife as belligerent
parties of the same race and nation, have
been displayed there And quoting from
the same says William l.. Stone, author of
"The Poetry and History Of Wyoming" "All
that is lofty in patriotism, all that is gener-
Gus, noble and self-devoted in the cause of
country and liberty" during the time of the
RevolutiOn) has been proudly called into ac
ton there. "All that is true, confding, self
denying, constant, heroic, virtuOus and en-
during in woman has been sweetly illustrated
there" And although embalmed in the in
dellible records of time and immortalized in
song, there is much of the actual history of
this once secluded valley that is unknown to
the general reader. However deeply i'm
pressed upon the minds of every reader of
history is the fact of the Wyoming
still as equally general is the be-
lief that the massacre is the bloody follow
ing of an atrocious Indian invasion OF raid
upon the whites, such as have stained with
blood the fair fields of the green and grow
iLg West. This however, was not the case.
1t was regular stand-up fight between the
white settlers and Continental soldiers on one
side and the British and allied Indians on the |
other Through the courtesy of Richard
Walsh, Esq, of Wilkesbarre, l was few
lays ago conveyed to the battle ground of
he massacre, on the west side of the Sus-
,uehanna, about four miles from the city, |
where stands the monument erected upon
he very site of the massacre, and near by |
where half imbedded is the bloody rock
which the horrible orgies of Queen Esther
md about two hundred savages have made
amous as the place where upon the evening
If the battle sixteen of the prisoners captured
IN the field and in flight under promise of
quarter we're collected in circle under the
and inspiration of this fury in the
orm of woman and taken by the hair one
~ one and forced back upon its eastern face,
when the bloody queen, with death maui,
lashed out their brains.' Historical ad-
lress delivered at the hundredth anniversary,
July Sd, 1873, of the Massacre of Wyoming,
~ Stenben Jenkins, Esq After viewing
he location of the battlefield and its prox-
nifty to the river and Pokonoke Island, and
the ground over which marched
he settlers and soldiers from Forty Fort to
he attack of the enemy, / returned to cly
lotel to consult authorities for what / am
bout to say of the parties engaged in the
Wyoming massacre. Stones history says:
Thus weakened by the absence of its most
Z. Ill, Ispy ~ tho on1scfr,,auf 0f