to harvest their wheat on Jacob's plains, were waylaid and both shot and scalped. The widow of Mr. Abbott, who had fled to Cattawissa, with nine children, (their house and barn having been burnt, and all their property destroyed,) set out on foot, a journey of near three hundred miles, and begged their way home to Hampton, in Wyndham county.

About this time, three Indians took prisoners on the Lackawana, Isaac Tripp, Esq., the elder; Isaac Tripp, his grandson, and two young men, by the names of Keys and Hocksey. The old gentleman they painted and dismissed, but hurried the others into the forest, (now Abington,) above Leggett's Gap, on the warrior's path to Oquago. Resting one night, they rose next morning and traveled about two miles, when they stopped at a little stream of water. The two young Indians then took Keys and Hocksey some distance from the path, and were absent half an hour, the old Indian looking anxiously the way they had gone. Presently, the death-whoop was heard, and the Indians returned brandishing bloody tomahawks, and exhibiting the scalps of their victims. Tripp's hat was taken from his head, and his scalp examined twice, the Savages speaking earnestly, when at length they told him to fear nothing, he should not be hurt, and carried him off as a prisoner. Luke Swetland and Joseph Blanchard were taken prisoners, near Nanticoke, on the 24th of August, and carried away captives to the Indian country.

Surrounded by murderous parties, a very small portion of the grain could be preserved. Col. Hartley, of the Pennsylvania line, was now ordered to join Col. Butler, and thus strengthened, active offensive measures were instantly adopted, to hunt out and repel the Indians. Having pitched their lodges on the flats, at Sheshequin, within Westmoreland town, an expedition was set on foot, to break up their settlement. A detachment of one hundred and thirty men marched on the 8th of September, to the West Branch, and thence to Sheshequin. On the 29th a battle ensued. Several Indians were known to be killed, as their bodies were left on the field, and it was not doubted that a number more were slain. Two or three of Col. Hartley's men were killed and several wounded. The Indian settlement was broken up, and besides cattle and horses recovered, a considerable portion of plunder* was taken. Col. Hartley, in general orders, at camp Westmoreland, Oct. 3d, 1778, not only expresses

* So universally was the expression, plunder, used at that time, for property taken from an enemy, that we adopt it.

his satisfaction, generally, with the troops, "during a tiresome and dangerous march, amidst hunger-the wading of rivers at midnight, where not a complaint was heard," but adds, "In short, the whole detachment, with very few exceptions, have acquitted themselves with the highest reputation, and they have the satisfaction to know they have saved the lives of many, and served their country." The Colonel particularly compliments "Capt. Franklin, and the Wyoming volunteers." Serjeants Allison and Thornbury were raised to the rank of ensigns, in Col. Hartley's regiment, for their distinguished bravery in action. On the same day, Lord Butler was officially announced as "Quarter-Master at this post-to be obeyed as such;" a son, then a youth, of Col. Z. Butler. His name will frequently occur in these annals.

The middle of October had come and passed, and the dead yet lay on the field, unburied. Before the autumn frosts it had been impossible to perform the mournful duty.

"Camp Westmoreland, Oct. 21, 1778.-Ordered, That there be a party, consisting of a lieutenant, two serjeants, two corporals, and twenty-five men, to parade to-morrow morning, with arms, as a guard to those who will go to bury the remains of the men who were killed at the late battle, at and near the place called Wintermoot's Fort." On the 22d of October, therefore, the bodies were collecteda large hole dug, in which they were thrown, constant alarm from the enemy preventing a more ceremonious or respectful inhumation. But few could be recognised. Two brothers of the Ross family had fallen-Lieut. Perrin, aged thirty-one, and Jeremiah, nineteen. The former was known by a ring he wore. Reserving for a chapter of personal narrative, a more particular account of many who fell, we may here observe, to give the reader an impression of the sacrifices families were obliged to make that there were more than twenty who lost two in the battle; in several instances father and The slaughter in Mr. Weeks' family, of seven, we have recorded,-Anderson Dana and Mr. Whiton, his newly married sonin-law; old Mr. Searle, and Capt. Hewitt, his son-in-law, and two of Mr. Bullock's sons, have been mentioned. Of the Inman family, three lost their lives, (and one was subsequently murdered). Three of the Coreys fell. The Gores suffered most pitiably. Sevenfive sons, and two sons-in-law, of Obadiah Gore, Esq., were in the battle, namely:-Daniel, Samuel, Asa, George, and Silas.-The sonsin-law were Timothy Pierce and John Murfee. At night, three of the sons, and the two sons-in-law lay on the field.

son.

Samuel escaped

unhurt, Daniel with his left arm shattered. Another son, Lieut. Obadiah Gore, was then away with the main line of the army. The following is a list of the killed, so far as the persons could be recollected. Probably there might have been twenty or thirty more whose names were not remembered.

From the records at Hartford, was obtained the following List of Officers in the Militia, whose commissions were "established" by the Assembly, in October 1775. At the time of the battle, most of them held different commissions. How dreadful the slaughter must have been, may be inferred from the heavy loss among the officers. The company that lost none, was not present in the battle.

Those marked with an asterisk [*] were killed; so that of fifteen, eleven were slain.

All the early historians, who have related the massacre, stated that the houses of tories left, looked like islands in a sea of fire,