Sugarloaf Massacre The Sugarloaf Massacre was a skirmish that occurred on September 11 , 1780 . In the event , a number of Native Americans and loyalists attacked militia based in Northumberland County and Northampton County . The militia were led by a Captain Klader . The Sugarloaf Massacre was the first major historical event in Luzerne County . The Indians and Loyalists were led by the Seneca chief Roland Montour . The bodies of the dead Revolutionary War soldiers were collected on September 20 , 1780 . Despite the fact that it is commonly believed that the Sugarloaf Massacre occurred on Sugarloaf Mountain , it actually occurred not far from Little Nescopeck Creek between Buck and Nescopeck Mountains . Background . Previous violence between the Iroquois people and white settlers was one of the contributing factors to the events of the Sugarloaf Massacre . Such violence dated back as far as the 17th century . In the year 1780 , there were a large number of attacks by Indians in the vicinity of the area where the Sugarloaf Massacre took place , including an attempted attack on Moses Van Campen . On June 15 , 1780 , a group of American militia in Northampton were commissioned to serve for seven months . These soldiers were led by Captain Johannes Van Etten . The area in the vicinity of the Sugarloaf Massacre , especially the communities of Bloomsburg and Catawissa was home to large numbers of loyalists , who aided the British army during the Revolutionary War . Near the end of the summer of 1780 , however , several local people decided to do something about the loyalists in the area . Thus , after receiving orders from the Columbia County council of safety and President Reed in Philadelphia , Colonel Hunter , who was based in Fort Augusta ; and Captain Klader , who was based in Northumberland County , made plans to take action against the loyalists . These plans also involved the formation of a detachment of 41 of Van Etten ' s men . This detachment was placed under the command of Captain Klader . Klader was commanded to head with his group of soldiers from Fort Penn in Northampton County into Sugarloaf Valley to search for Loyalist sympathizers and spies . Klader ' s men left Fort Penn in the beginning of September 1780 . On the way , the men stopped at Fort Allen for a short time . On September 8 , the men left Fort Allen . Upon leaving the fort , Klader ' s men crossed the Lehigh River and traveled to the community of Jim Thorpe and then to Nesquehoning Creek , where they camped . The next day , Klader ' s men traveled over Broad Mountain and through a stretch of wilderness known as the " Haselschwamp " . The men passed through the swamp on September 10 . On September 6 , 1780 , a group of approximately 250 to 300 Native Americans and British soldiers arrived at Fort Rice , near Chillisquaque Creek in Lewis Township , Northumberland County . The group of British soldiers and Native Americans proceeded to attack the fort and the surrounding residences , but Colonel Hunter sent some troops from Fort Jenkins to their aid . Approximately 200 men arrived at Fort Rice , and the British soldiers and Native Americans dispersed . Upon retreating , these people went over Knob Mountain and a group of 30 to 40 of them went down the stream known as Cabin Run to Fort Jenkins , which they burned down , along with numerous buildings in the fort ' s vicinity . After burning down Fort Jenkins , the British soldiers and Native Americans crossed the Susquehanna River and went to Sugarloaf Valley in southwestern Luzerne County . The attack . On September 11 , 1780 , Montour commanded his troops to wait in a pine grove for Klader ' s arriving platoon , having learned of its existence from local Loyalists . Approximately at this time , Klader and his men were traveling down Nescopeck Creek and over Buck Mountain to where the Indians and Loyalists were waiting . At noon on September 11 , 1780 , while Captain Klader ' s men were resting and not watchful , despite the fact that Klader knew he and his men were in hostile territory . They were also scattered across the surrounding countryside and were not carrying their weapons . In these circumstances , the Loyalists and Native Americans in the area started firing musket s at them . The Native Americans then arrived in the midst of Klader ' s men , also armed with tomahawks . After Klader himself was killed , Lieutenant John Myer attempted to make a last stand against the Indians , but was unsuccessful . A total of 15 of Klader ' s men were killed my the Indians . The total number of deaths of Indians and Loyalists is unknown , but Roland Montour , the leader of the Indians , definitely died after the skirmish , from wounds inflicted . However , a number of the soldiers escaped and three were taken prisoner . The men who were taken prisoner were a private , Lieutenant John Myer , and Ensign Scoby . Myer managed to escape , but the other two men were taken to Niagra . Some of those who escaped before being captured were also pursued . A number of the American soldiers who escaped did so via the Nescopeck Path , a nearby Indian trail . One also managed to escape by crossing the Susquehanna River and another escaped back over Buck Mountain . After the end of the skirmish , the dead soldiers were scalped . Upon escaping from the Indians , John Myer traveled to Fort Wyoming , which he reached on September 14 . It was at this point that everyone else in the area received word of the skirmish . Aftermath . After the skirmish , Montour and his war party searched the surrounding area for several hours . The next day , they , along with their prisoners , went down Nescopeck Creek and towards the Susquehanna River before turning towards Berwick and Catawissa . On September 15 , a group left Fort Allen with the intent of burying the dead soldiers . Some time after that , on September 20 , a Colonel Stephan Balliet and Joseph Reed arrived in the are with a company of men and buried the fifteen people who died in the event , although they were in a state of considerable decomposition by that point . Many of the residents of the area in the vicinity of the Sugarloaf Massacre were angered by the event . It was for this reason that Colonel Hunter travelled to eradicate a nearby Loyalist settlement . He travelled past Mahoning Creek and Roaring Creek to the settlement . Additionally , Moses Van Campen and his friend , a man known as Captain Solomon , disguised themselves as Native Americans and travelled to the settlement . They then encountered a Loyalist hunter named Wilkinson and proceeded to gather information about the Loyalist settlement from him . Wilkinson led them to the other Loyalists , and Van Campen and Solomon tricked them into coming with them . The Loyalists , including Wilkinson , were thus captured by Captain Robinson . The captured loyalists were brought back to Northumberland , where Colonel Hunter agreed to release them on the condition that they would leave the area . After the Sugarloaf Massacre , the three soldiers who escaped spread the news of the event as far away as the Delaware River . The survivors of the Sugarloaf Massacre lived until the middle of the 19th century . In 1933 , the Pennsylvania Historical Commission together with the Wyoming Historical and Genealogical Society and the Sugarloaf Commemorative Committee built a memorial near to the location of the Sugarloaf Massacre . In 1947 , a State Historical Marker devoted to the skirmish was installed on Pennsylvania Route 93 , near Conyngham . Media response . Accounts of the Sugarloaf Massacre were included in texts about regional and local history as early as the 1840s . In September 1866 , an article about the Sugarloaf Massacre was written by John C . Stokes and published in the " Hazleton Sentinel " . In the 1930s , William Tilden Stauffer , a member of the Sugarloaf Commemorative Committee wrote a number of articles on the skirmish . A play about the Sugarloaf Massacre was performed in 1976 , as part of the United States ' s bicentennial celebrations . However , as of 2009 , the event is in obscurity .