Woolman, on his arrival two days later, was received kindly, but was informed that, according to the decisions of their council, Zeisberger must be regarded as their accepted teacher. After remaining five days to assist in inaugurating the good work, he departed, with many prayers for the abundant success of the mission. The opportune arrival of Zeisberger was the occasion of founding one of the most important and successful missions ever established among the North American Indians.
Zeisberger was appointed resident missionary at Wyalusing soon as it was learned that he had been so well received. He prosecuted his labors there and at Tawandaemenk, a village at the mouth of Towanda Creek, with great success.
Scarcely had a month elapsed from the time Zeisberger’s first visit to Wyalusing, before the Pontiac War broke out, and the messengers of that celebrated chieftain were sent to every village on the Susquehanna, to urge the Indians to again take up the hatchet which they had so recently buried. These emissaries arrived at Wyalusing and Zeisberger was soon commanded to leave the town. All was now excitement and commotion. The intrepid missionary was compelled to suspend the work so auspiciously begun, but not before he had baptised Papunhank, who received the name of John, and another Indian who was called Peter.
The Moravian Christian Indians, for their greater security during the Pontiac War, in which they refused to take any part, were removed first to a settlement near Bethlehem, and then to Province Island, in the Delaware River, a little below Philadelphia, where they were sheltered in Government barracks. Thither Papunhank and twenty of his followers hastened. Here they lived for seventeen months, and at the first dawn of peace, emerged from their prison-like home and again sought homes in the forest. Papunhank invited the whole company to settle in his town on the Susquehanna. They accepted and marched to that place, led by their beloved teachers, Reverend Zeisberger and Reverend John Jacob Schmick.
This company, consisting of eighty adults and ninety children, set out from Bethlehem and after a tedious march of thirty-six days, arrived at Wyalusing May 9, 1765. They immediately set about building their town, and during the season thirty bark-covered huts, four log cabins, a mission house and church were erected.
The town was built on the east side of the river, about two miles south of the present borough of Wyalusing, and near the Sugar Run Station on the P. and N. Y. Railroad. The church was built of logs and had a belfry in which hung a bell. The town was surrounded by a post and rail fence. The streets were regularly cleaned by the Indian women. Adjoining the town were 250 acres of plantations. They also maintained sugar camps on Sugar Run.
The mission in 1766 received the name of Friedenshutten, meaning “Huts of Peace.” A schoolhouse was built next to the church, where adults and children were taught to read in both Delaware and German. Traders were not allowed to bring spirituous liquors into the town.
In 1767 the mission entertained Tuscarora and Nanticoke Indians on their migration northward.
Another mission was started at Sheshequanink, the present Ulster, soon after the close of the Pontiac War, but did not prosper as much as the older one. At the treaty of Fort Stanwix, November 5, 1768, the Six Nations sold this land away from the Delaware, and the Moravians were unable to induce Governor Penn to give them the land.
In September, 1766, Zeisberger left Friedenhutten[Friedenhutten], and went to the Delaware Indians on the Ohio River, where he established a mission. He soon induced the Indians at Wyalusing to follow him, and on June 11, 1772, the Indians at Wyalusing assembled in the church for the last time and then they marched in two companies for the Big Beaver, in now Lawrence County. They were led by the Reverend John Ettwein on this journey.