Renewed efforts to Christianize Wyoming Indians - Pleasing success - Wyalusing - Murder of King Tedeuscung - First Connecticut Settlement - Their massacre and expulsion - Expedition under Col. Boyd to Wyoming - John and Emanuel Hoover - Removal of Christian Indians to the Ohio - Exposition of an important matter.

Three years thus passed, the settlement flourishing; a rose in a desert, and giving the highest promise of future usefulness, when the sudden outbreak of the Indian war reached their ears, and created the utmost alarm. It had been a delusive hour of sunshine in the midst of a gathering storm. Strange as it may appear, though near the Iroquois, and in daily intercourse with them, the missionaries had not the least intimation of their purposes against the white settlements. When hostilities commenced, Mr. Zeisberger, and the other preachers, were left unmolested. But imminent danger threatening the Christian Indians, near Bethlehem, occasioned the recall of the pious missionary, and he attended them from that place to Philadelphia, whither they were sent for safety from the fury of the exasperated frontier inhabitants, who had been led to believe, notwithstanding their religious professions, that the Moravian Indians were guilty of the cruel murders perpetrated upon their friends.

In the mean time, Wyoming was the theatre of highly interesting events. In a previous letter, I have stated the belief that king Tedeuscung was doomed, sooner or later, to destruction. Indian revenge may sleep, but never dies; the hour may be postponed for

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months or years, but at last will come as sure as fate. Tedeuscung, besides the independent airs assumed at Easton, had slain with his own hand the chief who commanded the Iroquois party in their devastation of Gnadenhatten. War upon the whites being renewed, it is not improbable that the king may have declined to lead his tribe to battle. Certain, however, it is, that for some time several of the Six Nations had been visiting at Wyoming, without any ostensible object, mingling, socially, with the Delawares, and appearing on friendly terms with the old chief. Whiskey had been obtained, which, when in his power, the Indian propensity was too strong to be resisted, and he drank until inebriation overpowered his senses, and he lay sleeping in his wigwam, scarcely conscious of life, and wholly unsuspicious of danger. In the dead of night, on the 19th of April, 1763, the hut of Tedeuscung, and twenty of the surrounding dwellings burst, almost the same moment, into flames, and thus the great Delaware king miserably perished.

Indian cunning ascribed the murder to the New England people, who were just commencing settlements in the valley. It is sufficient to say, in the absence of the slightest evidence, that such a measure on their part would have been a compound of wickedness and folly, so stupid and base, that it cannot be supposed true, for a moment. Surrounded by Savages, far removed from the whites, their policy was too obvious to be mistaken, namely, to conciliate the Indians, by every fair means. The charge was made in deeper malevolence than mere wanton mischief, for the destruction of the Connecticut settlers had also been resolved upon by the Six Nations.

The preceding year, that is, in 1762, a considerable number of emigrants had arrived in the valley from Connecticut. After sowing grain, they returned to their families, with whom, early the following Spring, they came back, and prepared to establish themselves permanently, bringing their stock, household furniture, indeed, it is most probable, all they possessed on earth. Strange to say, although my inquiries have been faithfully pursued, wherever the least prospect existed of obtaining information, they have proved fruitless, and I am unable to state from what towns in Connecticut they came, or who were their principal leaders. Their town was built nearer the river than the Indian village of Maughwawame, on the flats below Wilkes-Barre. The season had been favorable; their various crops on those fertile plains had proved abundant, and they were looking forward, with hope, to scenes of prosperity and happiness; but suddenly, without the least warning, on the 15th of October, a large party of savages raised the war whoop, and attacked them with fury. Unprepared for resistance, about twenty men fell, and were scalped; the residue, men, women and children fled, in wild disorder, to the mountains.

Language cannot describe the sufferings of the fugitives, as they traversed the wilderness, destitute of food or clothing, on their way to their former homes. Mr. Chapman states, that Col. James Boyd, ordered by Gov. Hamilton, repaired to Wyoming, found the valley abandoned by the Indians, who had scalped those whom the had killed, and carried away their captives and plunder. The bodies of the slain lay strewed upon the field, and Col. Boyd having caused them to be decently interred, withdrew with his detachment down the river. I am not able to reconcile this with certain

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information derived from the Rev. Mr. Elders’s correspondence with Gov. Hamilton. Extract of a letter from John Elder to the Governor, dated Paxton, 30th

September,1763.

“As a number of volunteers from this county, on the return of Col. Armstrong, design to scout a little way into the enemy’s country, our troops would gladly join the volunteers, if it’s agreeable to your Honour; and as that favour, they imagine has been granted the troops on the other side of the Susquehanna, they flatter themselves it will not be refused these two companies. Their principal view is to destroy the immense quantities of corn left by the New England men at Wyoming, which, if not consumed, will be a considerable magazine to the enemy, and enable them, with more ease, to distress the inhabitants, etc.”

How the corn of the New England settlers could be spoken of September ‘63, as “left,” those people being then in undisturbed possession, I cannot conceive, unless it was a delicate mode of covering their purpose, by cutting off their means of subsistence, to expel them.

Lieut. Gov. Hamilton, under date, Philadelphia, October 5th, ‘63, answers: -

“With regard to what you mention, touching an expedition into the Indian’s country, I would have no objection to their scouting as far as Wyoming, and destroying the corn, if any left there,” etc. but positively prohibits the troops destroying the Indian Wyalusing settlement. which was contemplated.

Another letter from Gov. Hamilton, is dated, Oct. 10th, 1763: -

“Having wrote to you a few days ago, I should not have any thing to add at this time, but for a letter the Commissioners and I have received from Mr. Robert Callender, acquainting us that Major Clayton has applied to him to furnish provisions for two hundred men, for twenty days, by which it is conceived that he hath an intention of going on some expedition against the Indians, without having communicated the same to me, and received my approbation. A step I can by no means approve in an officer bearing the king’s commission.” etc.

On the 17th October, Commander Elder, writes: -

“Your favour of the 10th, I received last night, and am sorry to find that our proceedings are any way disagreeable to the Legislature. Our two companies, fired with resentment, on hearing the barbarities committed by the savages, and willing to serve their country to the utmost of their power, signified to me their strong desire to join in any expedition that might be undertaken against the common enemy. And encouraged by your acquainting me that, you had no objection against our destroying the corn left at Wyoming, I ordered them to

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proceed on that service; strictly prohibiting them, in obedience to your Honour’s command, to make any attack on Wyalusing. The party, though small, set out from Hunter’s, last Tuesday, in high spirits; so that it impossible to suspend the expedition now, as the troops are, by this time, advanced, I doubt not, as far as Wyoming. What success they may have, I know not; but if they destroy the corn and improvements made there, by the New England men, to the great displeasure of the Indians, and in contempt of your Honour’s authority, and can happily intercept the murdering party on their return from Northampton, I presume it will be of considerable service.”

Commander Elder writes again to the Governor, under date, Paxton, 25 October 1763,

“I acquainted your Honour, the 17th instant, that it was impossible to suspend the Wyoming expedition; the party is now returned, and I shall not trouble you Honour with any account of their proceedings, as Major Clayton informs me he transmitted to you, from Fort Augusta, a particular account of all their transactions, from their setting out from Hunter’s, till they returned to Augusta. The mangled carcasses of those unhappy creatures, who had settled there, presented to out troops a most melancholy scene, which had been acted not above two days before their arrival; and by the way the savages came to Wyoming it appears they were the same party that committed the ravages in Northampton county,” etc.

Thus it would seem the expedition of Col. Clayton to Wyoming, was principally intended to destroy the grain “left” by the New England people, and also, their improvements. The Indians, two days before, had effectually prevented any resistance. The corn and buildings left, were now given up to destruction.*

* From the Pennsylvania Gazette, Nov. 1763.

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Did not Col. Clayton bury the dead? It is impossible to believe otherwise of a gallant soldier! Was Col. Boyd with him? There could not have been two Colonels, with two hundred men!

Capt. Lazarus Stewart was, probably, in command of one of the companies. It is not a little curious to anticipate. Col. Clayton and Capt. Stewart once more met at Wyoming, nearly ten years afterwards; the former, again, on an expedition to destroy the Yankee settlement - while Stewart was defending them.  Col. Stone supposes this deed to have been perpetrated by the Delawares, in revenge for the death of Tedeuscung, while our convictions are clear, that it was the work of the same hands that killed the king. Two men, named John and Emanuel Hoover, were at work upon a chimney, being built in a house on the flats, when they were made prisoners by the Indians, who had already another captive with them. The Indians immediately took the path northward, and ascending the hill, near where the Plains School House stands, in Wilkes-Barre, they met a man coming down, thoughtless of danger, carrying a small bundle in his hand. Instantly surrounding him, they drew their spears, and before he had time to beg for life, or cry, “God have mercy on my soul,” thrust him through, and he fell, covered with wounds; after scalping him they marched on. They took their prisoners to now where Geneva now stands, in the settlements of the Six Nations; from whence John Hoover and the other prisoner, whose name we do not know, attempted to make their escape;*

* The following is from Mr. Stone’s Work, p.135: - “Among the individual incidents marking this singular tragedy, was the following: - Some of the fugitives were pursued for a time, by a portion of the Indians; and among them was a settler named Noah Hopkins, a wealthy man, from the county of Dutchess, in the state of New York, bordering upon Connecticut. He had disposed of a handsome patrimony in his native town, Armenia, and invested his proceeds, as a shareholder of the Susquehanna Company, and in making preparations for moving to the new colony. Finding, by the sounds, that the Indians were upon his trail, after running a long distance, he fortunately discovered the trunk of a large hollow tree, upon the ground, into which he crept. After lying there several hours, his apprehensions of danger were greatly quickened by the tread of footsteps. They approaches, and in a moment two or three savages were actually seated upon the log, in consultation. He heard the bullets rattle loosely in their pouches. They actually looked into the hollow trunk, suspecting that he might be there; but the examination must have been slight, as they discovered no trace of his presence. The object of their search, however, in after life, attributed his escape to the labours of a busy spider, which, after he had crawled into the log, had been industriously engaged in weaving a web over the entrance. Perceiving this, the Indians supposed, as a matter of course, that the fugitive could not have entered there. This is rather a fine spun theory of his escape; but it was enough for him that he was not discovered. After remaining in his place of confinement as long as nature could endure the confinement, Hopkins crept forth, wandering

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in the wilderness, without food, until he was on the point of famishing. In this situation, knowing that he could but die, he cautiously stole down the valley again, whence, five days before, he had fled. All was desolation there. The crops were destroyed, the cattle gone, and the smouldering brands and embers were all that remained of the houses. The Indians had retired, and the stillness of death prevailed. He roamed for hours, in search of something to satisfy the cravings of nature, fording or swimming the river twice, in his search. At length he discovered the carcass of a wild turkey which had been shot on the morning of the massacre, but which had been left in the flight. He quickly stripped the bird of its feathers, although it had become somewhat offensive by lying in the sun, dressed and washed it in the river, and the first meal he made there-from, was afterwards pronounced the sweetest of his life. Upon the strength of this turkey, with such roots and herbs as he could gather in his way, he traveled until, after incredible hardships, his clothes being torn from his limbs in the thickets he was obliged to encounter, and his body badly lacerated - he once more found himself among the dwellings of civilized men.”

“The facts of this little incidental narrative, were communicated to the author, by Mr. G.F. Hopkins, the printer of this present volume, and a nephew of the sufferer, who died at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at a very advanced age, about thirty years ago. He was a very respectable man.”

- the latter found his way to the white settlement at Shamokin, and afterwards published, in the state of New York, a pamphlet, containing an account of his captivity and sufferings; a copy was in the valley in 1785, but cannot be found.

Some time after his escape the body of John Hoover was found in the woods, he having, it was not doubted, died of fatigue and hunger. His brother Emanuel visited Wyoming after the revolutionary war, and related the circumstances to Cornelius Cortright, Esq., to whom I am indebted for nearly all I have been able to learn of the massacre of 1763. From these facts it is plain that the mischief was perpetrated, not by the Delawares, but by the Six Nations.

After the murder of Tedeuscung, the Christian Indians fled to Bethlehem, but upon the restoration of quiet, they returned in 1765 to the Susquehanna, and made their resting place again at Wyalusing. The people of that now highly cultivated and populous place, we cannot doubt, will be pleased to see the description of the Moravian Indian settlement. “having, after many toilsome wanderings, reached the Susquehanna, they got a few boats, some sailing up the river, and others traveling along its banks, and arrived at Machwihilusing, on the 9th of May, after a journey of five weeks. “Having fixed on a convenient spot for a settlement, they immediately began to erect a town, which, when completed, consisted of thirteen Indian huts, and upwards of forty houses built of wood, in the European manner, besides a dwelling for the missionaries. In the middle of the street, which was eighty feet broad, stood a large and neat chapel. The adjoining grounds were laid out into neat gardens; and between the town and the river, about two hundred and fifty acres were divided into regular plantations of Indian corn. The burying ground was situated at some distance back of the buildings. Each family had its

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own boat. To this place, they gave the name of Friedenshuetten (meaning “Huts of Peace.”) This new settlement soon assumed a very flourishing appearance. The inhabitants were industrious, and dwelt together in peace and unity. Many Indians visited the town, admiring the fine situation and good order maintained in the place,” etc. - Crist. Library.

At Sheshequin, or as it is written by the Moravians, Tschechshequaunink, there was a large settlement of Indians, many of whom became converts, and the missionary, Rothe, attended to their spiritual wants, with pious zeal. For six years , those two congregations under the guidance of the Moravians, continued to flourish in peace; but many causes now combined to render them uneasy in their respective situations. The Six Nations had sold the land on which they lived without consulting them, to the Connecticut people. Neighboring white settlers persisted in tempting the weaker brethren with spirituous liquors; and more than either, the Delawares on the Ohio were anxious they should emigrate and join their religious brethren in the West. In consultation with Zeisberger and Heckewelder, at Wyalusing in 1770, the final decision to remove was adopted, and the succeeding year, about 250 Indians from that place set out on their way to Ohio, divided into two parties. One chiefly of men, with eighty oxen, and other stock in proportion, went through the wilderness, suffering great privations and hardships. Another party, with the women and children, descended the river in canoes, spent a day at their beloved Wyoming, shed a tear over the graves of their buried friends, and then departed from their almost worshipped Susquehanna, to return no more forever. The fate of these poor creatures, at nearly the close of the Revolutionary war, I am happy it is not my painful duty to record.*

* In his general view of the subject, Col. Stone has expressed, with sufficient distinctness, indeed with emphasis, the fact of the mastery, absolute and unqualified, of the Six Nations over the Delawares, and neighboring tribes; but in his details, it appears to me, of the policy and conduct of those tribes, a volition and independence is described, incompatible with the idea of subservience and coerced obedience. Hence, like every author who has written in relation to those Indians, he leaves the mind perplexed by the statement of unquestionable facts, involving inexplicable contradiction.

Admit for a moment, the Delawares yet a great people, retaining their political organization, electing their own kings, allowed to enter into council, to untie in the negotiation of treaties; their braves courted, flattered, trusted, sent upon the war path; and yet subordinate, the high and imperious tone of indignation and contempt towards them, only used be their masters upon rare occasions, when they had presumed to far in affected independence, and needed to be checked, you will, we think, perceive their true condition. This view is illustrated by King Paxinos of the Shawanese, being sent on the responsible mission to the Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten; the return of Tedeuscung in obedience to the message sent him, his being forthwith elevated to the station of King of his Nation; and when, in scriptural language, “he waxed and kicked,”

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assuming a tone of independence, the offense taken by the Iroquois, and their terrible vengeance wrought upon him. The same remark is applicable to the speech of Canassatego at the Treaty in Philadelphia in respect to the misconduct of the Delawares, in refusing to remove from land they had sold.

The Confederation of the Rhine was composed of sovereign states, independent communities, Kings who held their court in gorgeous state, free to do their own will - except that Napoleon was their master. So too, the French Senate and Senators were independent; they met, deliberated; the Emperor frequently attending consultations, arguing different questions, and sometimes yielding his own opinion, yet the anecdote is familiar; one of the members pressed with earnestness some point against Napoleon’s wishes, until he became impatient. “Stop, stop,” said he with suppressed emotion, “do not oblige me to speak with more decision.” The Iroquois, if less learned than the French Chief, were as profound statesmen, and as perfect adepts in the art of Government as the Emperor; and he, holding Poland in his fist, with power to throw her into the lap of Russia or Austria, yet by policy bound the Polish Lancers so closely to his standard and person, that they would rush into the stream at his bidding, and the last expiring cry, when swallowed by the flood, was “Vive la Napoleon.” So too, I take it, the subject nations of the Iroquois were held in bondage by the ties of policy, as well as by the rod of power; until that Confederacy, wounded, yet not slain; broken, though not crushed, with instinctive perception of the true condition of affairs, they began more and more, and with bolder tone, to rear the crest, and speak the language of freemen.

Again, Col. Stone, while he speaks of the Six Nations, the Aquanuschionis, meaning the “United People,” leaves the impression that they were disunited in council, divided in action, some of the Confederacy taking part with the French, and others with the English. Such view of the matter, the reader is aware is at variance with the opinions we have constantly expressed in this work, and certainly entertain. Such separation and division, I think, was rather apparent than real. The Iroquois were neither deluded by the French nor the English, to adopt any system of policy they did not deem for their own peculiar interest. They were Iroquois, prod of their long continued national existence and supremacy; fond, to enthusiasm of their country; ambitious of power; desirous of renown; avaricious of dominion. They watched the daily augmenting strength of both England and France, with bitter jealousy and inextinguishable hate. No moment had existed since their purposes and power had been developed, so that fears for their own independence had been awakened, but the Indians would have been rejoiced if the whole white race had but one neck, and that submitted to their exterminating hatchet. Like every other people they were compelled to yield to circumstances. The French were favored in former years because they erected trading houses, bought furs, and made little encroachment on their lands, while the British colonies awakened greater jealousy by the dreaded invasion of the woodsman’s axe, and the hated encroachment of the farmer’s plough; yet they

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wavered with the vicissitudes of war, and their policy varied with the shifting success of the rival parties, meaning on the issue, if possible, to be on good terms with the strongest.

“But at least for a part of the war the Mohawks and Onondagos, sided with the British, being under the influence of William Johnson.”

Say rather, Sir William Johnson was the subservient agent of their policy. With rising star of British ascendancy the apparent influence of Sir William increased. Had the French continued victorious; had not Fort William, Louisburgh, Oswego, Du Quesne, fallen, rely on it, the influence of Sir William Johnson would have been lighter with them than the down of a thistle. But Sir William took to his bed a Mohawk maiden, the sister of a great chief, Say rather the sister of a Mohawk chief was permitted, or directed to become the partner of Sir William Johnson. However profound his policy, it was at least equally wise and effective on the part of the Indians. If Napoleon wedded the daughter of Hapsburg, remember, a daughter of Hapsburg, it was hoped, would prove a powerful ally; and minister in the court of the Emperor, to defend and sustain her father’s failing fortunes, and even perhaps to reveal to him the secrets of her husband.

The union of these two tribes with English interests, I regard as a deep stroke of policy; painful, perhaps humiliating, but the Iroquois were now between two fires, hard pressed and obliged to resort to every wile to preserve their tottering existence. The Mohawks were nearest the English, being within striking distance of the settlements on the Hudson. How manifest the policy that these should seem to side with the English, do just enough to preserve themselves from attack, and serve as a shield and barrier to their confederate nations, who thereby could put forth their whole force on other points in favor of the French. What was it, but a new edition of the old policy practiced in England for hundreds of years, in civil wars, for families to divide, so that whichever party might prevail the estates should be preserved from confiscation. Every step of apparent division, as well as united actions, I am persuaded was the result of cool deliberation, full consultation, mature councils, and unanimous consent. United, certainly they were before the war - we still find them united, acting in perfect harmony in 1758, at the treaty held in Easton, which would have been inconceivable if they had been really at variance with each other a few months before. In our Revolution the same game of apparent neutrality or disunion of the nation was attempted to be played.

A brief note was all I intended, but lo! the exposition has swollen to half the limits of a letter.

Extract of a letter from Paxton, in Lancaster County, dated Oct. 23d. - “Our party, under Capt. Clayton, has returned from Wyoming, where they met with no Indians, but found the New Englanders, who had been killed,, and scalped a day or two before they got there. They buried the dead, nine men and a woman, who had been most cruelly butchered; the woman was roasted, and had two hinges in her hands, supposed to be put in red hot, and several of the men had awls thrust into their eyes; and spears, arrows, pitchforks, etc., sticking in their bodies. They burnt what houses the Indians had left, and destroyed a quantity of Indian corn. The enemy’s tracks were up the river, towards Wighaloasing.”

[I am indebted for this Extract, to my friend Mr. Jordan. The cruel torture might have been inferred; but before, was unknown to me.]

The peace concluded at Easton, allows us but a moment’s respite from the record of war and crime. Turning to more congenial themes, we seize the moment and trace with pleasure, the progress of the Moravians in propagating the Gospel among the Indians. A large number of the Delaware nation were established in the valley. Waughwawame, their principal town, being situated not far below the site now occupied by Wilkes-Barre. Though suffering many privations, the zeal of the missionaries did not cool; neither did their faith waiver, nor their efforts relax: their souls seemed to glow with a divine ardour; success crowned their labours; several hundred Indians received the rite of baptism. Nor was it a mere formal profession on their part, for their lives were wholly changed, and the moral precepts of the Gospel regulated their conduct, while their hearts yielded assent to its doctrines. At Wyalusing, or as it is written by the German missionaries, Machwihilusing, a number of Christian Indians had united together, without a teacher, for purposes of worship, and thither the Rev. David Zeisberger repaired, and became their pastor. Under his wise direction, the settlement soon established a very pleasing aspect. Order, industry and neatness were established; lands were cleared and fenced. Grain, cattle, horses, poultry, every sort of useful stock were introduced, and schools were opened for the education of Indian children. A bell, the first, probably, ever heard in Pennsylvania, north of the Kittatinny mountains, sounded from the chapel, calling the Indians to worship. Methinks, as its tones, loud and clear, vibrated on the undulating air, and were borne by the breeze beyond the hills, to the strange Indian, roaming the forest or approaching the place, the sound must have come like a spirit’s voice, a death knell to his race, awakening special wonder.

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