[FN-2] Chapman's Hist. of Wyoming.
[FN-3] Doctor Thatcher, in his Military Journal, records still greater barbarities as having been perpetrated on this bloody occasion. He says—"One of the prisoners a Captain Badlock, was committed to torture, by having his body stuck full of splinters of pine knots, and a fire of dry wood made around him, when his two companions, Captains Ransom and Durkee, where thrown into the same fire, and held down with pitchforks till consumed. One Partial Terry, the son of a man of respectable character, having joined the Indian party, several times sent his father word that he hoped to wash his hands in his heart's blood. The monster with his own hands murdered his father, mother, brothers, and sisters, stripped off their scalps, and cut off his father's head!! Thomas Terry with his own hands butchered his own mother, his father-in-law, his sisters and their infant children, and exterminated the whole family!!" Upon which the worthy Doctor remarks—"It is only in the infernal regions that we can look for a parallel instance of unnatural wickedness." It is doubtful whether so great an atrocity was ever committed even there. Certainly no such were perpetrated at Wyoming. Dr. Thatcher also states, that when Col. Z. Butler sent a flag to propose terms of capitulation, the reply of Col. John Butler was in two words—"The Hatchet." He also remarks, in regard to the moral and social condition of Wyoming, that but for the dissensions produced by the war of the Revolution, "the inhabitants of this secluded spot might have lived in the enjoyment of all the happiness which results from harmony and the purest natural affection." Witness the ten years of civil wars sketched in the preceding pages. It was also reported that a man named Thomas Hill with his own hands killed his own mother, his father-in-law, his sisters and their families! And such is history! These monstrous exaggerations were the reports of the battle first published at Poughkeepsie on the 20th of July, as derived from the lips of the terrified fugitives who were wending their way back to Connecticut,
There is still another important correction to be made, in reference to every written history of this battle extant, not even excepting the last revised edition of the Life of Washington by Chief Justice Marshall. This correction regards the name, and the just fame, of Joseph Brant, whose character has been blackened with all the infamy, both real and imaginary, connected with this bloody expedition. Whether Captain Brant was at any time in company with this expedition, is doubtful; but it is certain, in the face of every historical authority, British and American, that so far from being engaged in the battle, he was many miles distant at the time of its occurrence. Such has been the uniform testimony of the British officers engaged in that expedition, and such was always the word of Thayendanegea himself. It will, moreover, be seen, toward the close of the present work, that after the publication of Campbell's "Gertrude of Wyoming," in which poem the Mohawk chieftain was denounced as "the Monster Brant," his son repaired to England, and in a correspondence with the poet, successfully vindicated his father's memory from the calumny. [FN]
[FN] Since the present chapter was written, and while the work was under revision, the author has received a letter from Mr. Samuel C. Frey, of Upper Canada, a son of the late Philip R. Frey, Esq. a loyalist of Tryon County, who was an ensign in H. B. M.'s Eighth Regiment, and who, with his regiment, was engaged in the campaign and battle of Wyoming. Philip R. Frey, the ensign spoken of, died at Palatine, Montgomery (formerly Tryon) County, in 1823. It was his uniform testimony that Brant was not at Wyoming. Mr. Frey writes to the author, that there were no chiefs of notoriety with the Indians on that expedition, and that the Indians themselves were led from Detroit, by Captain Bird of the Eighth Regiment. Bird had been engaged in a love affair at Detroit, but, being very ugly, besides having a harelip, was unsuccessful. The affair getting wind, his fellow-officers made themselves merry at his expense, and in order to steep his griefs in forgetfulness, he obtained permission to lead an expedition somewhere against the American frontier. Joining the Indians placed under him, and a detachment of his regiment, to Butler's rangers, they concerted the descent upon Wyoming. Ensign Frey stated that he was ill-natured during the whole march, and acted with fool-hardiness at the battle. He farther stated, according to the letter of his son, that the American Colonel challenged them to a fair field-fight, which challenge was accepted. "The next morning, at about 9 o'clock, the Americans poured out of the fort about three hundred and forty in number—the Indians fell back over a hill—the troops on both sides drew up in battle array and soon commenced; after a few rounds fired, the American Colonel ordered his drum-major to beat a charge, the drum-major mistook the order and beat a retreat, the Americans became disordered immediately, and ran helter-skelter; the moment the Indians saw them running, they poured down upon them from their hiding places, so that no more than about forty survived out of three hundred and forty." Rarely, indeed, does it happen that history is more at fault in regard to facts than in the case of Wyoming. The remark may be applied to nearly every writer who has attempted to narrate the events connected with the invasion of Colonel John Butler. Ramsay, and Gordon, and Marshall—nay, the British historians themselves—have written gross exaggerations. Marshall, however, in his revised edition, has made corrections, and explained how and by whom he was led into error. My excellent friend, Charles Miner, Esq. long a resident of Wyoming, a gentleman of letters and great accuracy, furnished the biographer of Washington with a true narrative of the transactions, which he made the basis of the summary account contained in his revised edition. Other writers, of greater or less note, have gravely recorded the same fictions, adding, it is to be feared, enormities not even conveyed to them by tradition. The grossest of these exaggerations are contained in Thatcher's Military Journal and Drake's Book of the Indians. The account of the marching out of a large body of Americans from one of the forts, to hold a parley, by agreement, and then being drawn into an ambuscade and all put to death, is false; the account of seventy Continental soldiers being butchered, after having surrendered, is also totally untrue. No regular troops surrendered, and all escaped who survived the battle of the 3d. Equally untrue was the story of the burning of houses, barracks, and forts, filled with women and children.
It is related in the unwritten history of this battle, that the celebrated Catharine Montour was present, with her two sons; and that she ranged the field of blood like a chafed tigress, stimulating the warriors of her adopted race to the onslaught, even in the hottest of the fight. But from the antecedent character of that remarkable woman, the story can hardly be credited. She was a native of Canada, a half-breed, her father having been one of the early French governors—probably Count Frontenac, as he must have been in the government of that country at about the time of her birth. During the wars between the Six Nations and the French and Hurons, Catharine, when about ten years of age, was made a captive, taken into the Seneca country, adopted and reared as one of their own children. When arrived at a suitable age, she was married to one of the distinguished chiefs of her tribe, who signalized himself in the wars of the Six Nations against the Catawbas, then a great nation living south-westward of Virginia. She had several children by this chieftain, who fell in battle about the year 1730, after which she did not again marry. She is said to have been a handsome woman when young, genteel, and of polite address, notwithstanding her Indian associations. It was frequently her lot to accompany the chiefs of the Six Nations to Philadelphia, and other places in Pennsylvania, where treaties were holden; and from her character and manners she was greatly caressed by the American ladies—particularly in Philadelphia, where she was invited by the ladies of the best circles, and entertained at their houses. Her residence was at the head of the Seneca Lake. [FN]
[FN] Catharinestown—so named from her. This account of Catharine Montour is chiefly drawn from Witham Marshe's Journal of a treaty with the Six Nations, held at Lancaster in 1744—Vide Mass. Hist. Coll. In 1758 Sir William Johnson had an Indian interpreter in his service, known as "Captain Montour." One of Catharine's sons was called "Captain," and was probably the same. Tradition, at Seneca Lake, holds that Catharine Montour was killed by Sullivan's men in 1779. But it will hereafter be seen that such was not the fact.
Some of the flying fugitives from Wyoming had not proceeded many miles from their desolate homes, before they met a detachment of Continental troops on their way to assist the Colony. It was now too late. But the detachment, nevertheless, remained at Stroudsburg three or four weeks, by which time Colonel Zebulon Butler had collected a force consisting of straggling settlers and others, with whom, and the regular troops just mentioned, he returned, and repossessed himself of Wyoming—the enemy having retired shortly after the battle—Colonel John Butler to Niagara, and the Indians to their homes; while Thayendanegea moved as he had occasion, from his old haunts higher up the Susquehanna, at Oghkwaga and Unadilla.
Immediately on the reception of the disastrous tidings from Wyoming at the Continental head-quarters, Colonel Hartley's regiment was ordered thither, with instructions from Congress to remain on that frontier until the crops were secured and the enemy should have retreated. He was joined by several militia companies, and, among other officers, by Colonel Dennison, who, in the capitulation of Wyoming, had stipulated not again to serve against the King's troops. He accompanied Colonel Hartley in an expedition against some of the Indian towns up the Susquehanna, in the direction of Oghkwaga, several of which were destroyed. A few prisoners were also taken. It appearing, however, that the enemy were gathering in too much force for him to remain long within their territory, Colonel Hartley was constrained to retreat. An attack was made upon his rear, but the assailants were repulsed. Colonel Dennison doubtless felt himself warranted in breaking the stipulations of Fort Wyoming, by the fact that those stipulations were not strictly observed by the Tories and Indians. But the enemy made no such allowance; and this expedition, or rather the conduct of Colonel Dennison, was subsequently used as a pretext for some of the incidents connected with the attack upon Cherry Valley.