moved forward, the Tories thought us numerous. I adopted this mode of advancing because my letter to you, which I sent you by [Capt. Robert] Carr* fell into the enemy's hands. In this, among other things, I informed you that Congress had directed General Washington to send on a body to break up the settlements at Chemung and protect the frontiers of Pennsylvania, New York, etc., and that I was ordered to hold myself in readiness to co-operate with those troops, and was preparing for the same; and also gave you notice to do the like.

*

"You will receive fifteen axes, a number of carpenter's-tools, ammunition, etc.; forty-two barrels of flour, three barrels of whisky, two barrels of biscuit. You shall have more as soon as I can send the same. Captain Bush, with a party, conveys these stores as far as Wapwallopen-or the whole way, if necessary. Some men of Major Eichelberger's company and one of Captain Thornbury's company goes, and is to be stationed at Wyoming. * You will send the remainder of my men by Captain Bush, unless there should be some new alarm. I have wrote pressingly to Congress and the Board of War for a regiment to be sent to garrison Wyoming, and that my regiment should be stationed here and at the West Branch, and I have no doubt but this will be complied with. You may keep the swivel which is on the big boat. You will please to let Mr. Lemon come down; Mr. Ensign Thornbury relieves him. If you are reinforced with the regiment, and would make a movement toward Tanckanock with 200 men, I should imagine the enemy would be almost intimidated enough to leave Chemung, as they believe an expedition will be carried against them."

*

*

Miner records, in the following words, an account of a most distressing tragedy enacted on November 19, 1778, by a band of Indians in what is now Nescopeck Township, some twenty-two miles down the river from Wilkes-Barré. "A whole family were butchered. John Utley, Elisha Utley and Diah Utley were attacked. The two first were shot down and soon despatched. Diah, the youngest, fled to the river and swam over to the west side (near Beach Grove), but an Indian had crossed before him in a canoe, and struck him with a tomahawk as he reached the shore. He plead for his life, but there was no mercy shown. The savages then entered the house, and, having murdered and scalped the aged mother, placed her as in sport in a chair and so left her. The Utley family were from the east side of the Connecticut River, in Hartford County."

At Sunbury, under the date of November 23, 1778, Colonel Hartley wrote to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barré as follows† :

"I received yours of the 20th inst. I am glad to understand that your place is in so defenceable a situation. By the boats we send you forty barrels of flour and - barrels of biscuit, 1 barrel of salt and one of whisky; also the keg of spirits. There are at present but a very few barrels of flour for the whole troops-besides those sent you. I have wrote more pressingly to Congress and the other public bodies for another regiment to be sent to Wyoming. I understand there is one at the Minisinks which will most probably join you. I am about going to Philadelphia, and shall not be present for some time again on these frontiers. I desire the following dispositions may be carried into exe

cution:

"That if you be not reinforced at Wyoming, Captain Kenney's and Mr. Eichelberger's companies to remain at your post in garrison. Should another regiment join you-in that case those two companies are immediately to march to Fort Muncy by the way of Northumberland-town; and two companies of the regiment which is to join you are immediately to be detached to Fort Jenkins, where they are to remain in garrison to preserve the communication, instead of Captains Bush's and Forrester's companies who will then be withdrawn to strengthen the posts next the Allegheny. Should the enemy after this attempt an invasion, the troops at Wyoming and Muncy might fall in the rear. The Board of War have intrusted me with arranging the troops, and I expect these instructions will be punctually attended to. I am exceedingly happy to think I have been of some use to the frontiers, and when I go away I shall always be ready to give them any assistance in my power.

"You must send a guard to Wapwallopen on Friday, which must remain there till the boat and convoys meet them. I wish you may enjoy peace and plenty during the Winter season. Captain Stoddert will command the troops that may be here, or on the West Branch, or at Fort Jenkins; the garrison at Wyoming to command above Nescopeck. Present my compliments to Mrs. Butler and the gentlemen officers of the

*

* *

* See page 1107, ante.

† See "Proceedings and Collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII:144.

* *

*

garrison. A boat with eighty barrels of flour sunk in the [Nescopeck] Falls. You must not issue above a pound of flour per man per day."

Late in November, or early in December, 1778, Isaac Inman*, who, as a private in the 5th, or Hanover, Company of the 24th Regiment, had taken part in the battle of Wyoming, and later had served in the detachment commanded by Lieut. Colonel Butler (see page 1096), was murdered by Indians near his father's home in Hanover Township. Late one afternoon he heard what he believed to be the gobbling of wild turkeys, so, taking his gun, he went out in search of the birds. Soon thereafter the report of a gun was heard, but young Inman did not return home. That night there was a fall of snow, and the next day a search was made for the missing man; but as no traces of him could be found it was believed that he had been captured by Indians and carried away. Early the next Spring, however, his body, shockingly

ELIJAH INMAN, SR., was born in either Connecticut or Rhode Island in 1718, and in 1775 he came with his wife, Susannah, and children to Wyoming Valley, and settled in Hanover Township. His name appears in the tax-lists for 1776, 77, '78, '80 and '81. After the battle of Wyoming he fled from the Valley with his wife and younger children, but returned a few months later to find his house and barn burnt, his cattle missing, and the most of his crops destroyed. Elijah Inman, Sr., died in Hanover Township February 7, 1804, and his wife Susannah died in Wilkes-Barré August 21, 1809, aged eighty-eight years. They were the parents of the following-named children, at least: (i) Elijah, mentioned hereinafter. (ii) Richard, born about 1751. (See below.) (iii) Israel, killed at the battle of Wyoming. (iv) David, who was in the battle of Wyoming, and subsequently served in the detachment of Westmoreland militia commanded by Lieut. Col. Zebulon Butler, as explained on page 1096. He died within a short time thereafter. (v) John, born about 1758; died in 1814, leaving sons Hiram and Richard. (vi) Isaac, born in 1760; murdered by Indians in November, 1778, as mentioned above. (vii) Edward, born in 1763; died in 1848. (See below.)

(i) Elijah Inman, Jr., came to Wyoming with the other members of his father's family and settled in Hanover. His name appears in the tax-lists for 1777 and 1778. He was a private in the 5th Company, 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, and with that company took part in the battle of Wyoming, and was slain. Letters of administration upon his estate were granted by the Probate Court of Westmoreland June 23, 1779, to his widow Sarah Inman-Capt. Stephen Fuller being her surety on a bond for £1000. The original inventory of the decedent's estate, filed a few months later, is now in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and reads as follows: "Westmoreland, November 17, A. D. 1779. an Enventory of the Estate of Elijah Enmon, Desest. we the subscribers being chosen and sworn as the Law direcks do prise 200 acres of Land at £300; 1 mair at £10; 2 sowes and peggs [sows and pigs], £3; 1 pair plow iorns, 18s.; 1 grubing how [hoe], 6s.; 1 pair ring and weges, 9s.; old iorn, 5s.; 1 woman's saddle, £1; 1 pair plow iorns and plow, £1, 5s.; 1 iorn cittle [kettle], 9s.; 1 dito, 6s.; 1 pot, 8s.; 1 how [hoe], 4s.; 1 mans sadle, 18s. ; 1 shave, 4s.; 1 jaket, 8s.; 1 pr. of shoe buckels, £1, 4s.; 1 pr. of nee buckels, 12s. Total, £321 16s. "the above arcticls are prised at hard money prise. [Signed] "JABEZ SILLS "CALEB SPENCER

}prisers."

(ii) Richard Inman was born in 1751, and came to Wyoming with the other members of his father's family. His name appears in the Hanover tax-lists for 1776, 1777, 1778, 1780, and 1781. He was a private in the 5th Company of the 24th Regiment, and started for the battle field of July 3, 1778, but did not get there-as is explained on page 1018. Later he served in the detachment of Westmoreland militia commanded by Lieut. Col. Zebulon Butler, as noted on page 1096. Between the years 1790 and 1800 the Town Committee of Hanover leased to Richard Inman part of public lots Nos. 30 and 31 in Hanover Township-"to hold on lease simple as long as wood grows and water runs. The rental to be "one bushel of wheat to be paid every twenty-fifth of December into the town treasury." Prior to 1809 Richard and Israel Inman built a very substantial grist-mill at the foot of Solomon's Falls, in Hanover Township. In 1812 Richard Inman became the sole proprietor of the mill, and operated it from about 1817 till his death in 1831. Richard Inman was married to Hannah Spencer, and they were the parents of Israel, Isaac, Caleb (married to Elizabeth Hartzell), Richard, Walter (married to Alden), John, Perry, Mary, Susan, and Margaret (married to

Robert Valentine).

(vii) Edward Inman was born in 1763, and came to Wyoming with the other members of his father's family. He fled from the Valley with his parents after the battle of Wyoming, but, returning a few months later, spent the remainder of his life in Hanover Township-living, in his later years, on what was known as Inman's Hill, where he died in 1848. During the Second Pennamite-Yankee War he took a very active part in opposing the Pennsylvania land claimants, and once was imprisoned, with other Wyoming Valley men, in the jail at Easton-as is more fully related hereinafter. In November, 1787, he was elected and commissioned Lieutenant of the militia company in the Upper District of Hanover, forming a part of the battalion commanded by Lieut. Col. Matthias Hollenback. He was commissioned March 20, 1789, Captain of the 2d Company in the "1st Regiment of Militia in Luzerne County"-commanded by Lieut. Colonel Hollenback. Prior to 1804 he was promoted Major of this regiment, and prior to 1837 he became a Colonel in the Pennsylvania militia. Charles Miner, the historian of Wyoming, writing in 1838, said: "A few miles below Wilkesbarre lives Col. Edward Inman, one of our most respectable and wealthy citizens. He owns one of the noblest farms in the county-part of it the same where his father dwelt, and part added by his own industry-consisting of several hundred acres, embracing a large body of the most productive flats. Plenty crowns his board, and independence cheers the evening of his days."

Edward Inman was married in 1785 or '86 to Jerusha Dilley of Hanover Township, and they became the parents of the following-named children: (1) Lovina, born in 1787; married April 5, 1809, to John (born July 26, 1776; died February 3, 1843), son of George Espy; died February 19, 1874. (See sketch of the Espy family.) (2) Jemima, born in 1789; married in 1814 to John (born in Plymouth, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1787; died there July 3, 1871), son of John and Catharine Turner, originally of New Jersey, but after 1784, of Plymouth Township. Mrs. Jemima (Inman) Turner died August 1, 1864. (3) Susan, married (as his second wife) to Dr. Asa Clark Whitney of Kingston Township, who was born May 5, 1785, and died December 10, 1824. (4) Jerusha, married to William Jackson. (5) John E., married to Mary Hannis. (6) Elizabeth, born in 1801; married to Stiles; died in 1851. (7) Nathan, born in 1803; died November 2, 1835.

mangled, was found in a creek not far from his home. He had been shot, beaten with a war-club, and scalped, and by his side lay the club. with which he had been beaten.

Early in December, 1778, Colonel Butler sent Matthias Hollenback from the Wyoming Post, at Wilkes-Barré, to Col. William Cook,* Deputy Quartermaster General at Northumberland, for a supply of food and money for the post. Mr. Hollenback returned shortly before Christmas-day, 1778, bringing £1,155 to be used at the post in a manner "most conducive to the public welfare."

The following copies of original documents now in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society will give the reader some idea of what was going on at the Wyoming Post in November and December, 1778.

(1) “Wyoming, November 21, 1778.

Received of Colonel Butler eighteen dollars for work as a Joyner on a House at the Fort at Wyoming. [Signed]

"PHINEHAS SPAFFORD.'

(2) "Westmoreland Dec. ye 1st, 1778. Then we the subscribers apraised one frame belonging to Capt. William Gallup, for the use of the Contanent for a store house, at the sum of twenty pounds in money of Connecticut. Also one frame for Barracks, belonging to jonathan fitch, at the sum of twelve pounds Lawf. money.

"By us

(3)

[Signed] SIMON SPALDING, Capt.,

BENJAMIN HARVEY, "STEPHEN FULLER." Wyoming, December 1, 1778.

The United States of America to Lt. Col. Zebn Butler, Dr. "To paying Isaac Baldwin as Express from Wyoming to Board of War, 3d July, £38 15s.; to paying Lt. Gore as Express from Fort to headquarters, for expenses, in July, £7 10s.; to paying Mr. Jenkins as Express from Fort Penn to Harris' Ferry, in July, £7, 17s. 6d.; to paying Mr. John Hageman as Express from Wyoming to Philadelphia, in August, £22, 6s. 3d.; to paying Captain Spalding for his expenses to Philadelphia in November, to get clothing, money, arms & ammunition at this Post, £41, 13s. 6d.; to 168 lbs. nails @ 7/6, for building stores, barracks, &c., £63; to blacksmith's bill for shoeing horses, and other iron work, £74, 1s. 3d; to 1,000 brick for chimnies, bake-ovens, &c., £5, 12s. 6d.; to 14,572 feet of boards for building barracks, store-houses, &c., @ 7/6 per hundred, £241, 2s. 6d.; to one drum for the use of the troops, £3 15s.; one frame, as per appraisal, for store, £13 15s.; one do., £25; one do., for store and barrack, £15; 1,000 long shingles, at two dollars per 100, £7 10s.”

After the capture of Frances Slocum by Indians on November 2d (as mentioned on page 1106, and fully narrated in the ensuing chapter), the remaining members of the Slocum family removed from their home at the north-east corner of the town-plot to Fort Wyoming, for safety. Mr. Slocum left his few head of live-stock on his premises, together with the hay and fodder which had been harvested and stacked by him in the early Autumn, and each day he or some member of his family, accompanied by a file of soldiers detailed by Colonel Butler, would go forth from the fort to feed the cattle. On December 16, 1778, Jonathan Slocum, his son William, and his father-in-law, Isaac Tripp (see page 467, Vol. I), left the fort for Mr. Slocum's premises, unarmed, and unaccompanied by the usual guard of soldiers-inasmuch as neither Indians nor their traces had been seen in the vicinity for some time. The three men had scarcely arrived at their destination, however, when a cry of "Indians! Indians!" was raised by one of them, and at the same moment several savages, who had been lying under cover at the corner of Main and North Streets, were discovered making for the hapless party from the fort. The latter immediately separated and ran in different directions, but Mr. Tripp, being an old man, was soon overtaken, speared nine times, and scalped. Jonathan Slocum ran in the

See note on page 818.

direction of the fort, while William Slocum made his way towards the public burial-ground, at the corner of Market and Washington Streets. Jonathan was soon shot, killed, and scalped, but William, although wounded in the fleshy part of one of his legs by a rifle ball, managed to get safely to the fort. A detachment of soldiers was immediately sent out, but the alert and wily foe had disappeared, leaving behind them no traces save the mangled remains of Isaac Tripp and Jonathan Slocum, which were gathered up and interred in the burial-ground.

Just two weeks later (being Wednesday, December 30, 1778) a day of public thanksgiving was observed at Wilkes-Barré by the inhabitants of Westmoreland gathered here, and by the Continental soldiers composing the Wyoming Garrison. This was agreeably to a resolution adopted by the Congress, and in conformity with a proclamation issued by Governor Trumbull of Connecticut.

"Accurs'd, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!
Most miserable hour that e'er Time saw

In lasting labor of his pilgrimage!

But one, poor one, one poor and loving child,
But one thing to rejoice and solace in,

And cruel Death hath catch'd it from my sight."
-Shakspeare, in "Romeo and Juliet."

"Among a savage people, still

She kept from savage moods apart,
And thought of crime and dream of ill
Had never swayed her maiden heart."
-W. G. Simms, in "Pocahontas."

To the general mind the most striking and dramatic incident in Wyoming history is that of the carrying away into Indian captivity of little Frances Slocum. The story of her abduction and her long and unwonted life among the Indians is one with which every reader of the annals of Wyoming is familiar, and this story will always continue to be as interesting and affecting as it is now and as it has been in the past.

In the Autumn of 1777 Jonathan Slocum,* a member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, immigrated to Wilkes-Barré from the township of Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island, accompanied by his wife, six

JONATHAN SLOCUM was born in East Greenwich Township, Kent County, Rhode Island, May 1, 1733, son of Joseph Slocum, and sixth in descent from Anthony Slocum. The last named was presumably of Somersetshire, England, where he was married about 1610 to Harvey (born about 1590), daughter of Thomas Harvey of Somersetshire. (See "The Harvey Book," page 27.) Anthony Slocum and his wife and one child, at least, came to America about 1636, and it is believed that they settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts. Anthony was one of the forty-six "first and ancient purchasers" in 1637 of Taunton, Massachusetts, where he resided from 1638 till 1662, when, having united with the Society of Friends, or Quakers, he disposed of his rights in Taunton and removed with his family to that part of New Plymouth incorporated later under the name of Dartmouth Township. He and one Ralph Russell were the first settlers there. A fragment of a letter written by Anthony Slocum at Dartmouth-probably about 1670-to his "brother-in-law William Harvey in Taunton," has been preserved. In it is this paragraph: "Myself, wife and sons and daughter Gilbert who hath four sons, remember our respects and loves, and my sons are all married."

It has been said that Giles Slocum (born about 1618), the eldest child of Anthony and (Harvey) Slocum, "was the common ancestor of all the Slocums whose American lineage has been found to date from the 17th century." Giles Slocum settled in what is now the township of Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island, and September 4, 1648, was granted, and had laid out to him, thirty acres of land. For a number of years prior to his death he owned considerable land in Portsmouth, also in Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey, and elsewhere. He and his wife Joan were early