“In the meanwhile two companies of regular troops, of eighty-two men each, had been raised in the valley, under the resolution of Congress, commanded by Captains Ransom and Durkee, and were attached to the Connecticut line. The Wintermoots, who had purchased land toward the head of the valley and upon the old banks of the Susquehanna, at a place where bubbled forth a large and living spring of pure water, erected a strong fortification known as Wintermoot’s fort.” Because these Wintermoots were avowed Tories, those of the settlers who had espoused the American Cause, met in town meeting and resolved that it had “become necessary for the inhabitants of the town to erect suitable forts as a defence against the common enemy.” The original settlers, as the people of Pennsylvania called themselves, were, to a man, in favor of the Revolution, and this declaration as to fortifications was the first step taken in Wyoming to further and strengthen the cause of liberty. Lossing says: “A fort was accordingly built, about two miles above Wintermoot’s, under the supervision of the families of Jenkins and Harding, called Fort Jenkins. Forty Fort (so called from the first forty Yankees, pioneers of the Susquehanna settlers in Wyoming), then little more than a weak blockhouse, was strengthened and enlarged, and sites for other forts were fixed on at Pittstown, Wilkesbarre, and Hanover. It was agreed in town meeting that these several fortifications should be built by the people ‘without either fee or reward from the town.’” Such, in brief, was the condition of affairs in Wyoming Valley in 1776. And now, with one more extract from the records of the past, these dry, but necessary, matters of history shall come to an end, save when Jonathan Ogden refers to them in the story which he himself wrote. On the tenth of March, 1777, the following resolutions were adopted at a town meeting held at Wilkesbarre: “_Voted_, That the first man that shall make fifty weight of good saltpetre in this town shall be entitled to a bounty of ten pounds lawful money, to be paid out of the town treasury. “_Voted_, That the selectmen be directed to dispose of the grain in the hands of the treasurer or collector in such a way as to obtain powder and lead to the value of forty pounds lawful money, if they can do the same.” JAMES OTIS. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE COMPANY 11 II. THE SIEGE 29 III. SIMON BARTLETT 47 IV. AFTER THE BATTLE 66 V. THE SORTIE 85 VI. THE SECOND ATTACK 104 VII. MONOCASY ISLAND 123 VIII. WICKED FOLLY 140 IX. DISASTER 159 X. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 178 XI. A COMRADE IN DISTRESS 196 XII. SAVING ELIAS 214 XIII. DEFENDING THE CAVE 233