Wyoming Valley As Westmoreland County, Connecticut, Even Though It Was Separated from the Rest of the Colony of Connecticut by Over Two Hundred Miles

Wyoming Valley as Westmoreland County, Connecticut, even though it was separated from the rest of the Colony of Connecticut by over two hundred miles. On July 3, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, the Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley were attacked by a contingent of British Loyalist forces, Pennamites and Iroquois commanded by Major John Butler. The Susquehanna settlers were led by Colonel Zebulon Butler, a Continental Army officer, who just happened to be on furlough in the Wyoming Valley at the time of the confrontation. Major John Butler (1728-1796) – not related to Colonel Zebulon Butler – was born in Connecticut, but moved to New York before the Revolutionary War. He fought in the French and Indian War and later served as an officer in the British Army during the Revolution. Colonel Zebulon Butler (1731-1795) was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and later moved with his family to Connecticut. After serving in the French and Indian War, he became one of the directors of the Susquehanna Company. He commanded the 3rd and 1st Connecticut Regiments during the Revolutionary War, and later represented the Wyoming Valley settlers in the Connecticut General Assembly (1774-1776). Another important leader of the Wyoming Valley settlers was Colonel John Durkee (1728-1782), although he was not present at the massacre on July 3, 1778. Colonel Durkee was from Norwich, Connecticut, and led two hundred settlers into the Wyoming Valley in May 1769. Fort Durkee on the Susquehanna, near the present city of Wilkes-Barre, was named in his honor. rd th He commanded the 3 and 4 Connecticut Regiments in the Revolutionary War. It is interesting to note that Sergeant James Grant served under Colonel John Durkee in the 3rd and 4th Connecticut Regiments (1775-1781) and in the 1st Regiment commanded by Colonel Zebulon Butler in 1783. This may or may not have been a coincidence. It is quite possible that Colonels Durkee and Butler knew John Grant of Ashford, said to be the father of James and Hamilton Grant. In the early stages of the massacre on July 3, 1778, the Connecticut settlers successfully held the Loyalists at bay, but a large contingent of Iroquois launched a surprise attack on the settlers’ flank in support of the British. Accounts vary with respect to how many settlers were killed, but estimates range between two and four hundred, many of whom were scalped in the massacre that ensued. It has been said that Major Butler was unable to control the Iroquois in the latter stages of the battle and the atrocities escalated without his consent. The following summer, in retaliation for the massacre, a large contingent of Continental forces under the command of General John Sullivan reentered the valley and destroyed forty Iroquois villages and torched their farmlands. This “scorched earth” campaign essentially marked the end of the Native American occupation of the upper Susquehanna. General John Sullivan (1740-1795) served as a Major General in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. After the war, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress, served as Governor of New Hampshire, and in 1789, President Washington nominated him to be the first federal judge in the U.S. District of New Hampshire. On December 30, 1782, a court of arbitration of the Continental Congress decided in the Decree of Trenton to grant the Wyoming Valley lands to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Armed with this mandate, Pennsylvania then proclaimed that the Yankees were not citizens, could not vote, and were to relinquish their claims to property in the Commonwealth. The Connecticut settlers refused to leave and the second Yankee-Pennamite war erupted in May 1784. Recognizing that a compromise was required to resolve the protracted dispute, the Pennsylvania legislature rescinded the Decree of Trenton. They eventually secured a settlement with the Connecticut claimants by agreeing to honor their claims to land in the Wyoming Valley. 31 .

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