lived a neighbor to his father-had ever been kind to him—and his heart failed at the thought of taking his life. He then proposed to the Captain to fire his musket by way of alarm, that others might come and take him. But this was objected to by Mann with equal earnestness. It now thundered and lightened fearfully, while the rain descended in torrents. Watching his opportunity, therefore, and availing himself of the conflict of the elements, and that, also, which was working in the bosom of his young neighbor so suddenly placed in hostile array against him, Mann contrived to spring from his hiding-place, and by sliding down upon one of the barrack-posts, effected his escape into a corn-field and thence into the woods. The stripling soldier fired, as in duty bound, but doubtless rejoiced that the shot was without effect.

On the next day, information having been received that a body of Indians were lurking in the neighborhood of Middleburg, a few miles farther up the valley, Captain Woodbake proceeded thither with his squadron of horse. The only Indian seen was the before-mentioned sachem, Peter Nickus, who was discovered in a thicket of hazel bushes, and immediately brought to the ground by a shot that broke his thigh. Several pistols were simultaneously snapped at him, but without effect; the troops then dismounted, and running upon the wounded Indian, inhumanly hacked him to pieces with their swords. Peter Nickus was therefore the first victim of the Revolution in the Valley of the Schoharie-kill, nor does it appear that he had himself been guilty of any act of positive hostility.

All search for Captain Mann was for the time fruitless. He succeeded in escaping to the mountains, where he remained fifteen days; but at length was induced to surrender through the intervention of friends, on condition that he should receive no personal injury. He was thereupon taken to Albany, and kept in confinement to the end of the war.*

*The property of Captain Mann was not confiscated, and he was suffered to return and repossess himself of his estate, where he lived and died a faithful citizen of the republic. All the families named in this narrative were of great respectability, and their descendants are still in that section of country. The author has derived the facts of the four last preceding pages from a written narrative by the son of Nicholas Sternberg. It was thrown out of its proper chronological order, because not received until after this chapter was in the hands of the printer.

CHAPTER XV.

The story of Wyoming-Glance at its history--Bloody battle between the Shawanese and Delawares--Count Zinzendorf--Conflicting Indian claims and titlesRival land companies of Connecticut and Pennsylvania--Murder of Tadeusund -The first Connecticut Colony destroyed by the Indians--Controversy respecting their titles-Rival Colonies planted in Wyoming-The civil wars of Wyoming Bold adventure of Captain Ogden-Fierce passions of the people--The Connecticut settlers prevail--Growth of the settlements--Annexed to Connecticut--Breaking out of the Revolution--The inhabitants, stimulated by previous hatred, take sides -Arrest of suspected persons in January-Sent to Hartford-Evil consequences -The enemy appear upon the outskirts of the settlements in the Spring-Invasion by Colonel John Butler and the Indians-Colonel Zebulon Butler prepares to oppose them-Two of the forts taken-Colonel Z. Butler marches to encounter the enemy-Battle of Wyoming-The Americans defeated-The flight and massacre-Fort Wyoming besieged-Timidity of the garrison-Zebulon Butler's authority not sustained-He escapes from the fort-Colonel Denniston forced to capitulate-Destruction of the Valley-Barbarities of the Tories-Brant not in the expedition--Catharine Montour--Flight of the fugitives-Expedition of Colonel Hartley up the Susquehanna-Colonel Zebulon Butler repossesses himself of Wyoming, and rebuilds the fort--Indian skirmishes-Close of the History of Wyoming.

THE melancholy story of Wyoming stands next in chronological order. It does not, indeed, appertain directly to the history of the Mohawk Valley; but it is nevertheless connected intimately with that history, while it has ever been regarded as one of the most prominent events in the border history of the Revolutionary contest. Its importance, moreover, as a section of the Indian portion of that contest, is such as to warrant the episode, if such it must be called. Many were the battles during that struggle, of far greater importance than the affair of Wyoming, both in regard to their magnitude and their results; and many were the scenes characterised by equal if not greater atrocity. But from a variety of circumstances, as well antecedent as subsequent to the battle, it has happened that no event connected with the aboriginal wars of our country stands out in bolder relief than that. Sixty years have elapsed since the tragedy of Wyoming was enacted; the actors themselves are no more; and yet the very mention of the event sends a chill current to every youthful heart, while the theatre of the action itself has been rendered classic as well as consecrated, by the undying numbers of one of the most gifted bards of the age. So long as English poetry exists, will the imaginary tale of GERTRUDE of WYOMING be read, admired, and wept; and

thousands, in every generation to come, will receive the beautiful fiction for truth, while the details of fact by the faithful historian, rejecting the exaggerations of Ramsay and Gordon, and their associate writers of the revolutionary era, together with compilers more modern, who have taken no pains to inquire for the truth, may be regarded as too common-place and unimportant for attention.

Wyoming is the name of a beautiful section of the vale of the Susquehanna, situated in the north-eastern part of the State of Pennsylvania. It is twenty-five miles in length, by about three in breadth, lying deep between two parallel ranges of mountains, crested with oak and pine. The scenery around is wild and picturesque, while the valley itself might be chosen for another paradise.*

The possession of this valley has not been an object of the white man's ambition or cupidity alone. It has been the subject of controversy, and the fierce battle-ground of various Indian tribes, within the white man's time, but before his possession; and from the remains of fortifications discovered there, so ancient that the largest oaks and pines have struck root upon the ramparts and in the entrenchments, it must once have been the seat of power, and perhaps of a splendid court, thronged by chivalry, and taste, and beauty-of a race of men far different from the Indians, known to us since the discovery of Columbus. It was here that the benevolent Count Zinzendorf pitched his tent, on commencing his Christian labors among the Shawanese, and where he was saved from assassination by the providential intervention of a poisonous reptile. Originally it lay within the territory of the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians; but it was claimed by the Six Nations by right of conquest. In 1742 a grand council of the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations and Delawares was held in Philadelphia, in consequence of difficulties touching the title to certain lands lying within the forks of the Delaware, which the proprietaries of

Wyoming is a corruption of the name given to the place by the Delaware Indians, who called it Maughwauwame. The word is a compound; Maughwau meaning large or extensive, and wame plains or meadows; so that the name may be translated "The Large Plains." In the language of the Six Nations, Wyoming was called Sgahontowano, or “The Large Flatts." 'Gahonto meaning, in their language, a large piece of ground without trees.—Chapman's History of Wyoming.

Pennsylvania alleged that William Penn had purchased of the Delawares, but which the Delawares yet retained in possession, while at the same time the Six Nations claimed the ownership. The Governor of Pennsylvania having explained the state of the case to the council, reminded the chiefs of the Six Nations that, inasmuch as they had always required the government of Pennsylvania to remove such whites as intruded upon their lands, so now the government expected the Six Nations to remove the Indians from the lands which it had purchased.* Old Cannassateego was the master spirit of the Iroquois delegation on this occasion; and, after due consideration, he pronounced the decision of his associate chiefs. He rebuked the Delawares in the sharpest terms for their dishonesty and duplicity, in first selling land which did not belong to them, and even then retaining possession of it themselves. He taunted them for their degraded condition, as having been conquered and made women of by his people, and after an indignant philippic, ordered them to leave the disputed territory, and remove to Wyoming or Shamokin.

The commands of the Six Nations were neither to be question nor disregarded, by the surrounding Indian nations, at that stage of their history, and the clan of the Delawares occupying the land in dispute, forthwith removed to Wyoming, then in the partial occupancy of a clan of the Shawanese. But the latter were friendly to the Six Nations at that time, and were suffered to retain possession of the west side of the river, while the Delawares planted themselves down upon the east, and built their town of Maughwauwame-the original of Wyoming.

But the close proximity of the two clans or parts of nations, was no addition to their happiness. Mutual jealousies were entertained; and no long period of time elapsed before their animosities were sharpened into actual hostilities upon the smallest provocation. At length there was cause for more substantial war. On the breaking out of hostilities between the French and American Colonies, in what is now called the old French war, the Shawanese espoused the side of the French, while the Six Nations and Delawares adhered to the English. Still the two Indian communities in Wyoming did not actually take up arms in that contest, until the occurrence of an inci

* Chapman's History of Wyoming.

dent which, it is believed, may be set down for the smallest cause of war as yet recorded in history. It happened one day, while the Delaware warriors were upon the chase among the mountains, that their women and children were gathering fruit along the margin of the river below their town. While thus engaged, a party of the Shawanese women and children paddled their canoes across the river and joined them. In the course of the morning a Shawanese child caught a large grasshopper-the species, probably, having parti-colored wings-and a quarrel arose among the children for the possession of the insect. In this quarrel the mothers soon began to participate, and an Amazonian battle was the consequence. The Delaware squaws contended that the Shawanese had no right to trespass upon their side of the river; and after several had been killed upon both sides, the latter, who were the weaker party, were driven to the canoes, and their own homes.

Upon the return of the warriors of the respective tribes, both prepared to avenge the wrongs of their wives and children. The Shawanese were the invaders; but they were met at the river's brink by the Delawares, nothing averse to the combat, who obstinately opposed their landing from their canoes. Great numbers were killed, chiefly of the Shawanese, before they gained the shore. Succeeding in this however, a battle, furious and bloody, was fought about a mile below the Delaware town, in which several hundreds were killed on both sides. The Shawanese, whose forces had been greatly weakened at the landing, were at length overpowered, and obliged to escape as best they could, with the loss of half their number. The consequence of this defeat was the immediate evacuation of the valley, which they left, to join the greater body of their nation on the Ohio.* To the Delawares, who had been oppressed and denationalized by the Iroquois or Six Nations, the victory was of great importance-re-establishing, as it did, their character as brave warriors, although it was not until many years afterward that the sentence of being considered women was revoked by their former conquerors.

Still, at the time when Count Zinzendorf commenced the mission of the United Brethren in that valley, the jurisdiction

Chapman's History of Wyoming,