Norwich bulletin., 1920-07-03
THE PIONEERS OF THE HARDING

In letter to the New York TriDunes C. H., of New York writes as follows about the pioneers of the Ha-dins family in which this county interested:
 July 3 next will be the anniversary of the battle and massacre of Wvonliiijsi On that date, 142 years ago, Colonel John
 Buffers Rangers, with his Tories and Senecas, defeated and slaughtered the garrison of Forty Fort and drove the set
 tiers from the Susquhanna Valley. This fort had Been built by the Connecticut
 pioneers near where Kingston and
 Wilkes-Barre Pa, now stand
 Three days before on June 30. 1778, a
 small party of settlers. men and boys,
 had left Fort Jenkins, which stood a few miles up the river from Forty Fort,
 and had gone to the cornfield of Stephen
 Harding. Jr., to hoe his corn. The party
 was composed of Benjamin Harding,
 Stukely Harding, Stephen Harding, Jr.,
 and nine others. Benjamin and Stukely
 Harding carried their guns with them.
 Two German Tories saw them at work
 and carried the news to an advance
 guard of Buffers Indians, then approach
 ing the settlement from Tiahoga After
 the Hardings had quit their work for the day they started homeward their path lying through a deep, narrow ravine. TleVe they were aff1DuSneQ Dy the ln- dians and Tories. who fired upon them
 and wounded Benjamin and StukeIy
 Harding. They promptly returned the fire and then bloody fight ensued.
 Hacked and Sca1ped-The Indians. with their spears and tomahawks. rushed up- on the Hardings while the latter clubbed
 their guns and fought fiercely and brave ly resisting until pierced through with
 spears, they fell. and then were hacked a fN vasr ,J scalped. John Gardner a cousin of the HardiDgs. was carried away a prisoner , and died in captivity. Stephen Harding Jr., and boy managed to reach the l thick woods and escaped
 Remember the fate of the Hardings'' was the inspiring battle cry of the 300 patriots who left Forty Fort three days later, to fight against twice or thrice their number of British and Senecas and with that cry their lips. nearly every one of the 800 met a like fate There were more than dozen of the Hardings who were there in the Wyo- ming Valley and early and active par ticipants in the struggles of the fron- tier Among them were Abraham Hard ing. his son, Amos, Lemuel Harding Captain Stephen Harding Gin command of Fort Jenkins), his sons. Stephen. Thomas. Benjamin, Stukely Israel, Mi eddH'J cllSHd JOnn ana William. Prefer Death to Slavery''-''There | was not a family in the country" writes Miner, the historian of the Wyomine Valley, more devoted to freedom than the Harlings. Those who fell at Exeter were taken to a burying ground near Jenkins Ferry and inferred Over their graves the slab reads, Sweet be the sleep of those who prefer death to slav- cry"
 Abraham Harding of this family. whc settled at Wyoming with his uncle Stephen Harding, Sr.. was the ancestor of Senator and future President, War ren c. Harding
 One Of the first Hardings to arrive in America was Abraham Harding, oi I Bra ,atree, Mass, who came from Eng. land, possibly with Captain Georges in 1923. He married Elizabeth Adams in 1639, who came from England in