approached, some small parties of the enemy, more impatient than the reft, or more eager and covetous to come in for the first fruits of the fpoil, made fudden irruptions into the fettlement, and committed feveral robberies and murders; in the course of which, whether through ignorance, or whether from a total contempt of all ties and obligations, they maffacred the unhappy wife and five children of one of thofe men, who had been fent for trial, in their own caufe, to Connecticut.

At length, in the beginning of July, 1778, the enemy appeared fuddenly, but in full force, on the Sufquehanna. They were led by Butler, that diftinguished partizan, whofe name we have aiready mentioned; who was affifted by most of those leaders, who, like him, had rendered themselves terrible in the prefent frontier war. Their force was estimated at about 1,600 men, of whom, fomething lefs than one fourth were Indians, led by their own chiefs; the others, were disguised and painted in fuch a manner, as not to be diftinguished from the favages, excepting only their officers, who being dreffed in regimentals, car ried the appearance of regulars. One of the smaller forts, which was mostly garrifoned by thofe called Tories, was by them given up, or as it was faid betrayed. Another was taken by form, where, although they maffacred the men in the most inhuman manner, they fpared the women and children,

It seems odd enough, if not fingular, that another Colonel Butler, and faid to be a near relation to the invader, should chance to

have the defence of Wyoming, either committed to his charge, or by fome means fall to his lot. This man, with nearly the whole force of the fettlement, was ftationed in the principal fort, called Kingston; whither alfo, the wemen, children, and defenceless of all forts, as the only place of common refuge, crowded for fhelter and protection. 'It would feem, from his fituation and force in that place, that he might there have waited, and fuccefsfully refifted, all the attempts of the enemy. But this man was fo wretchedly weak, that he suffered himself to be enticed by his namefake and kinfman, to abandon the advantage and fecurity afforded by his fortrefs, and to devote thofe under his charge to certain deftruction, by expofing them naked to so severe an enemy, Under the colour of holding a parley for the conclufion of a treaty, he was led into an agreement, that upon the enemy withdrawing their force, he fhould march out to hold a conference with them in the open field, and that at fo great a diftance from the fort, as fhut out every poffibility of the protection which it otherwife afforded. To render this measure ftill more unaccountable, he, at the fame time, fhewed fo great a distrust of the enemy, and feemed fo thoroughly apprehenfive of their designs, that he marched 400 men well armed, being nearly the whole ftrength of his garrifon, to guard his perfon to the place of parley.

Upon his arrival there, he was greatly furprized at finding nobody to treat with; but not being willing to return without finishing his business, he advanced towards

the

the foot of the neighbouring mountains, ftill hoping that he might hear or fee fomething of thofe he wanted. As the country began to grow dark and woody, a flag at length appeared, at a confiderable distance among the bushes, the holders of which feemed fo much afraid of treachery and dan ger from his fide, that they retired as he advanced; whilft he, endeavouring to remove this ill impreffion, ftill purfued the flag.

This commander of a garrifon did not once perceive his danger, until his party was thoroughly enclosed, and he was fuddenly awakened from his dream, by finding it attacked at once on every fide. His behaviour in this wretched fituation, could fcarcely have been expected from the conduct which led him into it. He and his party, notwithstanding thofe circumftances of furprize and danger which might have difconcerted the most veteran troops, fought with refolution and bravery; and kept up fo continual and heavy a fire for three quarters of an hour, that they feemed to gain a marked fuperiority over their numerous enemy.

In this critical moment of danger, fome fudden impulfe of fear, or premeditated treachery in a foldier, which induced him to cry out aloud that the colonel had ordered a retreat, determined at once the fate of the party, and poffibly that of the final author of their ruin. In the ftate of con, fufion that enfued, the enemy breaking in on all fides without obftruction, commenced an unrefifted flaughter. Confidering the great fuperiority of numbers on the fide of the victors, the fleetnefs of the favages, and the fierce.

nefs of the whole, together with the manner in which the vanquifhed had been originally furrounded, it affords no small room for aftonishment, that the commander of the garrison, with about feventy of his party, fhould have been able to effect their efcape, and to make their way good to a fmall fort on the other fide of the river.

The conquerors immediately invested Fort Kingston, and to cheer the drooping fpirits of the weak remaining garrifon, fent in for their contemplation, the bloody fcalps of 200 of their late relations, friends, and comrades. Colonel Dennifon, the prefent commander of the fort, feeing the impoffibility of any effectual defence, not having force fufficient even to man the works for one effort, went with a flag to Butler, to know what terms he would grant on a furrender; to this application of weakness and mifery, Butler, with all the phlegm of a real favage, answered in two fhort words, the hatchet." In these dreadful circumstances, the unfortunate governor having defended his fort, until most of the garrison were killed or difabled, was at length compelled to furrender at difcretion. Some of the unhappy perfons in the fort were carried away alive; but the barbarous conquerors, to fave the trouble of murder in detail, fhut up the greater part promifcuously in the houfes and barracks, which having then fet on fire, they enjoyed the favage pleasure of beholding. the whole confumed in one general blaze.

They then proceeded to the only remaining fort, called Wilkesborough, which, in hopes of ob

taining

taining mercy, was furrendered without refiftance, or without even demanding any conditions. Here the tragedy was renewed with aggravated horrors. They found here about feventy of that fort of militia, who are engaged by the different provinces, merely for the guard and defence of their refpective frontiers, and who are not called to any other fervice. With thefe, as objects of particular enmity, the flaughter was begun; and they were butchered with every poffible circumftance of the moft deliberate, wanton, and favage cruelty. The remainder of the men, with the women and children, not demanding fo much particular attention, were fhut up as before in the houses, which being fet on fire, they perished all together in the flames.

A general fcene of devastation was now spread through all the townfhips. Fire, fword, and the other different inftruments of deftruction alternately triumphed. The corn fields were fet on fire, and the ftanding corn, now almoft ready for the fickle, burnt as it grew. The houses, furniture, valuables of every kind, together with all thofe improvements which owed their rife to the perfevering toil, and patient induftry of man, were as completely deftroyed, as their nature, or the industry of of the spoilers would admit. The fettlements of the Tories alone, generally efcaped, and appeared as iflands in the midft of the furrounding ruin. It has been often obferved, that the practice and habit of cruelty with respect to any particular object, begets a facility in its execution, and a difpofition to its commiffion, with

regard to all others. Thus, these merciless ravagers, when the main objects of their cruelty were exhaufted, feemed to direct their animofity to every part of living nature; and, as if it were a relaxation or amusement, cut out the tongues of the horses and cattle, leaving them ftill alive only to prolong their agonies.

The following are a few of the more fingular or detached circumftances of barbarity, which are related as parts of this massacre. A Captain Bedlock, who had been taken prifoner, being ftripped naked, had his body ftuck full of sharp pine fplinters, and then a heap of knots of the fame wood being piled round him, the whole was fet on fire, and his two companions, the Captains Ranfon and Durgee, thrown alive into the flames. It is faid, that the returned Tories, who had at different times abandoned the fettlement in order to join in those favage expeditions, were the most distinguished for their cruelty. Among these, one, whofe mother had married a fecond husband, butchered with his own hands, both her, his father-in-law, his own fifters, and their infant children. Another, who, during his absence, had sent home feveral threats against the life of his father, now not only realized them in perfon, but was himself, with his own hands, the exterminator of his whole family; mother, brothers, and fisters, mingled their blood in one common carnage, with that of the ancient hufband and father.

However painful the task of reciting fuch horrible barbarities, (many of the worst circumstances of which are fpared) it may not

be

be totally useless, if they ferve to produce a diflike of that prompti-tude of entering into wars, which is but too natural to people, as well as to princes, when they fee the confequences, which their paffion, often for trivial and contemptible objects, fo frequently produce; and by which they are led gradually, not only to great crimes and great misfortunes, but even to a total change and degradation of their nature.

It is neceffary to obferve with refpect to the deftruction of Wyoming, that as no narrative of the exploits of the leaders in that tranfaction, whether by authority or otherwife, has as yet appeared in this country, we can only rely, for the authenticity of the facts which we have ftated, upon the accounts published by the Americans. As thefe have already been long expofed to the view of all Europe, without their yet producing a fingle contradiction, any natural, but im proper partiality, which might be a temptation to induce us, either to draw a veil over the whole, or to fupprefs any of the parts of that tranfaction, would therefore of course, be as fruitless in the effect, as difgraceful in the defign. Happy fhould we deem it, for the honour of humanity, that the whole account was demonstrated to be a fable. The event has already fhewn, the impolitic nature of thefe proceedings, which have only ferved to fix a bitter and lafting refentment in the minds of the colonists.

The fufferings of the refugees, confifting mostly of women and children, (the broken parts, and fcattered relicks of families, who had escaped to the woods during the different scenes of this devafta

tion) were little lefs deplorable, than those of their friends who had perished in the ruins of their houfes. Difperfed and wandering in the fo refts, as chance and fear directed their steps, without any mutual knowledge or communication,without provifion or covering, they had a long tract of defarts to traverse, without guide or direction. They accordingly fuffered every degree of diftrefs. Several women were delivered alone in the woods, át a great diftance from every poffibility of relief. If thefe, through vigour of mind, or ftrength of conftitution, efcaped, undoubtedly others, in fimilar, and in different circumflances, perifhed.

Although the fate of Wyoming, and the lamentations of the furvivors, had ferved alternately to freeze every breaft with horror, and to melt it with compaffion; yet the various objects and exigencies of the war, rendered the Americans incapable for the prefent, of executing that vengeance on their favage enemy, which was, however, fully intended at a proper feafon. Some small expeditions were, indeed, undertaken, which, from the difficulties attending them, and the fpirit of enterprize under which they were conducted, were not deftitute of merit, and confequently, are not unworthy of obfervation, in the narrative of a campaign not diftinguished by any activity in the great and fplendid operations of war.

Of this fort was an expedition undertaken in the courfe of the fummer from Virginia, under the conduct of a Col. Clarke, with a fmall party of between two and three hundred men. It cannot but appear aftonishing to thofe, who'