best part of their militia to serve in Washington’s army, so with a company of his own rangers, a regiment of Johnson’s Greens, and a band of Indians, in all about 1200 men, he took the warpath from Niagara; they journeyed down the Susquehanna in bark canoes, landed above the settlement, and began their work of murder and plunder, harrowing incidents are made known by Campbell in his “Gertrude of Wyoming.” The women and children were placed in the fort. At the junction of Fort and River Streets, in the borough of Forty Fort; a conglomerate boulder with bronze tablet, marks the site of “Forty Fort,” erected by the Connecticut settlers in 1772. From this fort, on July 3, 1778, the Wyoming Militia, numbering about 300, mostly old men and boys, marched forth to oppose the invading British troops and Indians, fight the Battle of Wyoming, and meet with complete defeat and atrocious massacre, in which the British officers were unable to set any bounds in the butchery of their savage allies; next day the fort was taken; the Indians burned all the houses; the inhabitants fled to the woods, and the valley was abandoned; a hundred women and children perished of fatigue and starvation. On Wyoming Avenue in the borough of Wyoming is the “Wyoming Monument,” marking the burial place of many of the patriots who were slain in the battle and massacre; dedicated July, 1846.
On Susquehanna Avenue near Seventh Street is “Queen Esther’s Rock,” a half-breed queen of the Senecas, on which she tomahawked fourteen prisoners; marked by a tablet, placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, bearing this inscription, “Upon this rock the Indian queen Esther slaughtered the brave patriots taken in the battle of July 3, 1778.” On the bank of the river, near the Pittston Ferry bridge, in the borough of West Pittston, is a small monument marking site of Jenkins’ Fort, destroyed by the British and Indians July, 1778. The Battle of Wyoming, with the subsequent massacre, was one of the important events of the Revolutionary War, as it led to the sending of the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 into the country of the Six Nations, whereby the power of their confederacy was forever broken. White Haven Township was the place of Sullivan’s army encampment, in 1779.
The oldest church in the county is in Forty Fort, not far from the site of the old fort, interior of the building remains as it was when erected in 1808; in the burial ground are many old graves, with headstones bearing quaint inscriptions. Other historic places marked by tablet or monument are, site of a bridge built by the engineers of General John Sullivan’s army in the spring of 1779, on the banks of Ten Mile Run, northwest of Bear Creek Village, marked by boulder with tablet. Place where two commissioned officers, and three others of General Sullivan’s army were ambushed and slain by Indians, April, 1779; marked by boulder with tablet. In the Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, is a monument marking site of Fort Wilkes-Barre, erected in 1776-77 by the inhabitants of the town; destroyed by the British and Indians July, 1778. On the river common, at the foot of Northampton Street, a boulder, with tablet, marks the site of Fort Wyoming, erected, 1771, demolished in 1774 or 1775. And at the foot of South Street a boulder, with tablet, is erected near the site of Fort Durkee, built in 1769 by first settlers from Connecticut, named for their leader, Major John Durkee, who founded and named Wilkes-Barre in honor of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre; this fort fell into decay prior to 1776, it was located near site of a village occupied from 1758-63 by a band of Delaware Indians under “King” Tedyuscung.
Wilkes-Barre, county seat, was settled, 1772, population, 73,833. Places of modern interest, containing historical collections, portraits, and paintings, open free to the public, are the Courthouse, modified adaptation of classic, the façade, with Ionic porch, is very dignified, surmounted by a Gustavino dome; architects, Osterling, McCormick & French; said to be one of the handsomest and most elaborately decorated courthouses in this country; contains mural paintings by E. H. Blashfield, Kenyon Cox, Will H. Low, William T. Smedley, C. D. Hinton, and others. Irem Temple, Moorish design, with tall slender minarets at each corner. Osterhout Free Library, Gothic. Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. The Second National Bank, with interesting Ionic porch at entrance, steel frame, faced with brick and concrete, architects, McCormick & French. First Presbyterian Church and St. Stephen’s Protestant Episcopal Church contain handsome memorial tablets and stained glass windows; a fine bronze relief, by J. Massey Rhind, is in St. Stephen’s. In the Coal Exchange Building is the Atherton Atelier, T. H. Atherton, Jr., Superintendent, Architecture, in coöperation with Society of Beaux Arts. Particular care has been given to improving the public parks located in different parts of the city. Public square in center, and the river commons, stretching along the bank of the Susquehanna for a considerable distance, are attractive and noteworthy. Opposite the city, across the river, is Riverside Park, chiefly a natural grove of old trees.
The principal educational institution is Wyoming Seminary, co-ed, at Kingston, founded in 1844, conducted under auspices of the Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, ranks high as a college preparatory school and has an academic art course. There are many places of scenic beauty; notably the Conyngham dairy and stock farms at Hillside, just outside Wyoming Valley, on the road from Kingston to Harvey’s Lake, which is 1226 feet above sea level; one of the largest stock farms in the state, covering 651 acres. Sugarloaf Valley, not far from Hazleton. The Hazleton Country Club. Glen Summit Springs and the neighboring country, Bear Creek Village, and Wyoming Valley, viewed either from Campbell’s Ledge, Mount Lookout, or Prospect Rock.
The principal roads are maintained in good order, and there are no toll roads in the county. For many years the chief industry has been the mining of anthracite coal, discovered here in 1762; for a considerable period it stood first among the counties in annual output; first development of this coal for shipping to market from the Wyoming region was in 1776, when two Durham boats purchased cargoes from a mine operated by R. Greer, near Wyoming. There are many large manufactories. Within a ten mile circle, having Wilkes-Barre public square as its center, there were, according to the United States census of 1910, thirty-three smaller municipalities, cities, boroughs, and hamlets, having a total population, including Wilkes-Barre, of 266,951. The other principal towns of this county are Hazleton, population 32,277; Nanticoke, 22,614; Plymouth, 16,500; Pittston, 18,497; West Pittston, 6968; Kingston, 8952. Peter Frederick Rothermel, prominent historical painter, was born in Nescopeck, this county, in 1817.
Huntingdon County