THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE WYOMING VALLEY [Illustration: “‘SO TRUE AS I LIVE, I WILL SHOOT.’”] THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE WYOMING VALLEY BY JAMES OTIS AUTHOR OF “MINUTE BOYS OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS,” “MINUTE BOYS OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY,” ETC., ETC. Illustrated by A. BURNHAM SHUTE [Illustration] BOSTON DANA ESTES & COMPANY PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1906_ BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY _All rights reserved_ THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE WYOMING VALLEY _COLONIAL PRESS Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. Boston, U. S. A._ FOREWORD It was the good fortune of the writer, a short time ago, to find in manuscript form a story--perhaps a diary would be more nearly correct--of that which the boys of Wyoming Valley did during the year 1778, while their fathers were fighting the battles of the Revolution elsewhere. It is not necessary to explain how that manuscript came into my possession, nor to speak of the doubts which I had concerning the accuracy of the information given, because in the last case every statement made by the lad Jonathan Ogden has been verified by the works of such historians as Fiske, Lossing, and Bancroft. It is essential, however, to a thorough understanding of the conditions existing in that portion of what is now the State of Pennsylvania, known as Wyoming Valley, to state as briefly as may be the troubles and trials which fell to the lot of the settlers there prior to the opening of the War of the Revolution. Every fellow finds fault, and with good cause, at being forced to stop in the midst of a narrative to read historical matters which are of no very great interest, even though they may serve to enlighten him as to the reason of the movements of the several characters; therefore, as the editor, rather than the author, I propose to give a synopsis of the story of the settlement of Wyoming Valley, as set down by Lossing in his “Field Book of the Revolution.” In 1753 an association was formed in Connecticut, called the Susquehanna Company, the object of which was to plant a colony in Wyoming Valley. At that time Connecticut claimed, by virtue of its old charter, the northeastern portion of the State of Pennsylvania. In order to strengthen its title to the land, the association purchased from the Six Nations the entire valley of Wyoming and the country westward to the Allegheny River. Shortly afterward another Connecticut association, called the Delaware Company, purchased from the Indians land upon the Delaware River at a place called Cushetunk, and began a settlement there in 1757, but, owing to the French and Indian War, little was done until 1762, when two hundred colonists began building and planting near the mouth of Mill Creek, a little above the present site of Wilkesbarre.