About the same time another Connecticut association, called the “Delaware Company,” had begun a settlement on the Delaware River. Proclamations were issued and writs of ejectment were placed in the hands of the Sheriff of Northampton County.
Early in the month of May, 1763, the settlers returned, accompanied by many others. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Northampton County, to which the Wyoming Valley then belonged, settlements were made at Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Plymouth and Hanover.
Several hundred acres were improved with corn and other grain, and a large quantity of hay cut and gathered, and everything was moving forward in a prosperous and happy manner when, without the least warning, on October 15, the settlers were attacked while dispersed and engaged in their work, and about twenty of them slain.
Men, women and children fled to the mountains, from which they saw their homes plundered and burned and their cattle taken away. They abandoned their settlement and made their way back to Connecticut or to Orange County, New York. This is known in the history of Pennsylvania as the first massacre of Wyoming. It was the work of the Delaware Indians, led by Captain Bull, son of King Tedyuskung.
Some believe the Iroquois convinced the Delaware that the white settlers had murdered Tedyuskung and that this massacre was committed in retribution.
For six years after this assault no settlement was attempted. The Indians, anticipating revenge for the massacre, left the valley.
Meanwhile the Penn family made every effort to prove that the title given to the Susquehanna Company was not complete and that their charter was valid. Finally some chiefs, assisted by Sir William Johnson, openly disclaimed the sale to the Susquehanna Company. Then the Six Nations assembled in council at Fort Stanwix and on November 5, 1768, gave a deed of the disputed lands to the Penns.
Meanwhile Pennsylvanians took possession of the Wyoming Valley and built a fortified trading house there. They laid out two manors, one on each side of the river, and extending over the farms abandoned by the New Englanders.
In February, 1769, the Susquehanna Company sent forty men into the valley, to be followed shortly by 200 more. They were given land and 200 pounds Connecticut currency to provide themselves with farming tools and weapons, on condition that they would stay in the valley and defend it against Pennsylvania. They built a blockhouse called, from their numbers, Forty Fort. Their leader was Colonel Zebulon Butler, a hero of the French and Indian War, a brave partisan commander.
A civil war prevailed for some years known as the “Pennamite and Yankee War.” Forts were constructed and many sieges and skirmishes followed. Both parties led men to prison, drove women and children away and committed other outrages.