Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-04-06
HISTORICAL PAPERN
"Men and Women Of the Revolutions"
A SERIES or VALUABLE AND ENTERTAINING
Contributions FROM THE PEN or THE
EMINENT HISTORIAN,
BENSON j. LOSING, Ii. D.
No. ".
The Child Captive Of wyoming.

| Ine vermont fnOnAl
AT 3 o'clock on a cool September morning
in 1S4S left Easton Pa, on a stage coach
for the Wyoming Valley, sixty miles distant
Although there were only three passengers
in the coach-two women and baby-I took
seat with the driver, for there were prom
ises of a pleasant day dawn and magnificent
scenery. But when we had assembled to
Nazareth, chilling vapors that came up
from the river and valleys caused me to
seek comfort within the coach. We passed
through the Wind Gap and breakfasted at
the Roscommon Tavern. Then l resumed
my seat with the driver. At noon we
reached the gently undulating summit Of
the Pocono Mountains, and dined at John
Smiths two thousand feet above tide-level
For about twenty miles we rode over that
dreary waste where, here and there, lofty
pine, a tamarack or a less ambitious cedar
rose from a green sea of scrub-oaks. Here
the gray eagle wheeled undisturbed, the
bear made his lair, and wild deer roamed in
abundance. The wind blew cold from the
northwest, and was happy when we reach
ed the brow Of the Wilkes Barre Mountain,
little before sunset and began TO descend
into the warmer atmosphere of the charm
/ ing Wyoming Valley that spread out in en-
chanting beauty far below u.s. | can never
| forget the right royal supper at the Phoenix
/ Hotel, by the side Of the beautiful Susque-
/ hanna, that appeased voracious appetite
after a sixty-mile ride in healthful mountain
air-venison steak and cranberry sauce,
warm biscuits and honey
Early the next morning | started on a
| pilgrimage TO places and persons identified
with the stirring scenes enacted in the
/ Wyoming Valley in the summer of 1878. |
| first visited Mr. Charles Miner, the early
/ historian Of the valley, who, with his blind
/ daughter, blessed with a remarkable mem
/ ory, heard the fearful and pathetic story
from the lips Of more than forty intelligent
survivors Of the work Of desoation then
called on the venerable Mrs. Myers, near
Kingston, living witness of the woes of
/ Wyoming, who was then eighty seven years
Of age, totally blind, but exceedingly cheer
full and kindly communicative. She was
the last survivor Of the inmates of Forty
| Fort, when it was besieged and captured by
the Tory leader, Col Butler, and his Indian
allies. She possessed the little round table
on which the treaty, at the time of the
surrender, was signed. l found the vener-
able woman seated in an easy chair, peelng
apples. She received me with great digni-
ty and kind courtesy, and entertained me
for an hour with "reminiscences of her girl
hood experience amid the exciting scenes of
the Vale Of Wyoming.
Mrs. Myers, nee Bennett, was sixteen
years old at the time of the memorable in
vasion of the valley, and was in Forty Fort
when it was surrendered She remembered
every minute occurrence there with perfect
/ clearness. She remained two weeks in the
valley after the surrender The Indians
kept her face painted black, and white
fillet around her head, as a protection
against the tomahawks of strange savages,
and she was treated very kindly by them.
After the barbarians, white and red, had
left the valley, she returned with her fami-
ly and had enjoyed for seventy years the
sweets of peace and domestic happiness
Il am like a withered stalk whose flower
hath fallen said the venerable lady
but, she added, with pleasant smile
the fragrance still fingers. Have you seen
Joseph Slocum p she inquired
Il have not even heard of him." | re-
! piled.
You ought not to leave the valley with
out seeing him. she said 'for he can give
you more interesting story about the
events | have been relating to you than any
other living person-the story of the cap
tivity of his little sister, and the discovery
of her sixty years afterward. He lives not
far from the hotel"
passed several hours of that day with
Lord Butler, grandson of the leader of
the band of patriots who gallantly opposed
the Tory and indian invaders of the valley
He kindly accompanied me to the most in
teresting localities in the neighborhood-
E,rt tb. A. II. r
ground, Mocacy Island, Wintermoots Fort
etc, and spent ,hr evening pleasantly and
proiitably With the venerable Joseph Slo-
cum, whose family was among the suffer
ers in the Wyoming Valley He gave me
minute account of the capture of his little
sister Frances by the barbarians, and the
final discovery of her.
Mr.. Slocum's father was a Friend or
Quaker, and was distinguished for his kind
ness to the Indians. He remained unharm-
ed at the time of the invasion and his dwell
ing was untouched by incendiary fire. But
his son Giles was in the battle. This, doubt
less, excited the ire of the Indians, and
they resolved on vengeance Late in au-
tumn they were seen prowling about the
house. which was not far from Wilkes
Barre Fort. A neighbor had been made
prisoner, and his wife and two sons found
a welcome home in the Slocum family. One
morning the two boys were grinding a knife
near the house, when a rifle shot and
shrek brought Mrs Slocum to the door
An Indian was seal ping the eldest boy, a
lad of fourteen. The barbarian rushed in
to the house and seized a little son of Mrs.
Slocum. The frightened mother exclaimed,
See he can do thee no good he is
lame -
The Indian released the boy, and taking
her daughter Frances gently in his arms,
seized the Younger of the two BOYS outside
and hastened to the mountains. Mrs. Slo-
Gums little daughter, nine years old caught
up Joseph my informant) who was two and
a-half years old, and fled in safety to the
fort when an alarm was given, but the bar
barians were beyond successful pursuit
They also carried off a black girl, seventeen
years of age.
About six weeks after this event Mr. Slo-
cum and his father-in law we're shot and
scalped by prowling Indians while fodder
ing cattle near the house. The savages es-
capped with their horrid trophies. Mrs. Slo-
cum, bereft of father, husband and child,
and stripped of all possessions except the
house that sheltered her, could not leave the
valley for nine helpless children were yet
in her household. She trusted in the God of
Elijah and if she was not fed by the ravens
she was spdIeu from Vne NulJufes. one
mourned not for the dead, for they were at
rest but little Frances, her lost darling,
where was she The lamp of hope was
kept burning, but years rolled by and no
tidings of the little one came. When peace
returned and friendly intercourse with Can
ada was established, two of the little cap
tive's brothers started in quest of her.
They traversed the wilderness TO Fort Mag
ara, on the border, offering rewards for her
discovery, brit in vain They returned,
convinced that the child was dead But the
mothers heart was still the shrine of hope,
and she felt assured that Frances was not
in the grave. Her embodied spirit seemed
to hold communion with that of her child,
aud she often said,
81 know Frances is living. Something
tells me that she is alive aud we'll"
At length the mothers heart was cheer
ed A woman many years had now passed,
and Frances, if living must be a full-grown
woman) was found among the Indians who
answered the description of the lost one.
She only remembered being carried away
from the Susquehanna. Mrs. Slocum took
her home and cherished her with a mothers
tenderness. Yet the mysterious link of
sympathy that binds the maternal nature
TO its offspring was unfelt and the bereaved
mother was bereaved still
1T may be Frances, yet it does not seem
so. Yet the conner shall be welcome" said
Mrs Slocum The founding felt no fila
yearnings, and both being convinced that
no oconsanguinity existed, the orphan return.
ed to her Indian friends, From time tc
time the hope Of the mother would be re
B '"Wintennoot Fort" was the barricaded home
i ] uf MiutermOut, Tory, in the uDUeF uart Of the