About two-thirds of those who went out fell. Naked, panting and bloody, a few who had escaped, rushed into Wilkes-Barre Fort where they told the dreadful news that all was lost. Mr. Hollenback, who swam the river amid the shots of the enemy, was the first to spread the appalling news. They fled to the mountains and down the river. Their sufferings were terrible, and they were almost famished for want of bread. In one party of nearly a hundred there was but a single man.
In Forty Fort they heard the firing distinctly, and their spirits were high, until they learned the dreadful news. The first fugitives reached the fort in the evening, and then a few others arrived during the night. Colonel Dennison also came in, and rallied the little band for defense. He succeeded the next day in entering into a capitulation for the settlement with Colonel John Butler, by which doubtless many lives were saved.
The enemy marched in, six abreast, the British and Tories at the northern gate, the Indians at the southern. On paper the terms of capitulation were fair, but the Indians immediately began to rob and burn, plunder and destroy. Even when appealed to, Tory Butler did not put a stop to it. But the Indians did not take life within the fort, only confined themselves to wanton plunder and insult.
When night fell the blaze of twenty dwellings lighted up the valley. In almost every house and field the murderous work was performed.
When the moon rose, the terrified survivors of the massacre fled to the Poconos and beyond to Stroudsburg. In the morasses of the dreadful wilderness many women and children perished, these places are still called “Shades of Death.”
In a few days Colonel Butler led the chief part of his army away, but the Indians continued in the valley burning and plundering, until nearly every building was consumed and it was clearly shown that the articles of capitulation afforded no security.
Soon after the battle Captain Spalding, with a company from Stroudsburg, took possession of the desolate valley, and rebuilt the fort at Wilkes-Barre. Colonel Thomas Hartley marched from Fort Muncy, on the West Branch, along the Sheshequin trail up into what is now Bradford County, and burned the Indian villages at Wyalusing, Sheshequin and Tioga, and cut off a part of the enemy who were taking a boat-load of plunder from Wyoming.
Declaration of Independence Adopted
by Congress July 4, 1776
