ph.

[Illustration: VIEW OF WYOMING.]

[Illustration: COLONEL ZEBULON BUTLER.]

MASSACRE OF WYOMING.

The following account of the battle and massacre is taken from an
interesting history of Wyoming, written by Isaac Chapman, Esq., late of
Wilkesbarre. Judge Chapman lived upon the spot, and could hardly fail to
have collected ample materials, and to give a correct narrative of the
events which transpired there during the Revolutionary war. The
inhabitants had collected in Forty Fort--the principal fort in the valley.
The number of men was three hundred and sixty-eight.

On the morning of the 3d of July, 1778, the officers of the garrison of
Forty Fort held a council to determine on the propriety of marching from
the fort, and attacking the enemy wherever found. The debates in this
council of war are said to have been conducted with much warmth and
animation. The ultimate determination was one on which depended the lives
of the garrison and safety of the settlement. On one side it was contended
that their enemies were daily increasing in numbers; that they would
plunder the settlement of all kinds of property, and would accumulate the
means of carrying on the war, while they themselves would become weaker;
that the harvest would soon be ripe, and would be gathered or destroyed by
their enemies, and all their means of sustenance during the succeeding
winter would fail; that probably all their messengers were killed, and as
there had been more than sufficient time, and no assistance arrived, they
would probably receive none, and consequently now was the proper time to
make an attack.

On the other side it was argued, that probably some or all the messengers
may have arrived at head-quarters, but that the absence of the
commander-in-chief may have produced delay; that one or two weeks more may
bring the desired assistance, and that to attack the enemy, superior as
they were in number, out of the limits of their own fort, would produce
almost certain destruction to the settlements and themselves, and
captivity, and slavery, perhaps torture, to their wives and children.

[Illustration: THE MASSACRE OF WYOMING.]

While these debates were progressing, five men belonging to Wyoming, but
who at that time held commissions in the continental army, arrived at the
fort; they had received information that a force from Niagara had marched
to destroy the settlements on the Susquehanna, and being unable to bring
with the