of Northumberland, to raise a force and march against Wyoming for its immediate conquest and subjugation. The proposal was listened to by the Governor, and orders were issued to Plunkett to raise the necessary forces, and execute his purpose by the expulsion of the Connecticut settlers. Plunkett was himself a civil magistrate, as well as a colonel; but in order to impart to the expedition a civil rather than a military character, the army was called the "Posse" of the county, and the colonel was accompanied by the sheriff. The number of men raised for the service was seven hundred, well provisioned, and amply furnished with military stores, which latter were embarked upon the river in boats. These formidable preparations gave no small degree of uneasiness to Congress, yet in session in Philadelphia, and resolutions were immediately passed, urging the Pennsylvanians at once to desist from any farther hostile proceedings, to liberate the prisoners that had been taken, and restore all private property that had been detained; and in a word to refrain from any and every hostile act, until the dispute between the parties could be legally decided.* But these resolutions commanded no more respect from the Pennsylvanians, either the government or the people, than the others. Plunkett, who had already commenced his march, pursued his course. Winter, however, was approaching; the boats were impeded in their * Journals of Congress. progress by a swollen torrent, bearing masses of ice upon its surface; and the troops could not of course proceed in advance of their supplies. The progress of the invaders, therefore, was as deliberate as those who were to be attacked could desire. It was near the close of December when Colonel Plunkett reached the Nanticoke rapids, in the narrow mountain defile through which the Susquehanna rushes on its escape from Wyoming, and the obstructions of which were so great, that the boats could not be propelled any farther. Detaching a guard, therefore, for the protection of his supplies, the Colonel continued his march by the road on the west side of the river, which winds along by the bases of the mountains, whose rocky battlements at times hang impending over it. After emerging from the gorge, and entering the valley, the prospect, on that side of the river, is at one point nearly intercepted by a large rock projecting from a spur of the Shawanese Mountain, and extending nearly to the edge of the river. Entering the valley from the south, this rock, or ledge, presents a formidable perpendicular front, as even as though it were a structure of hewn mason-work. The road winds along at the base of the ledge, turning its projection close by the river. The Colonel was somewhat startled as he came suddenly in view of this gigantic defence; nor was his surprise diminished by a second glance, which taught him that the extended brow of the rock had been fortified, while a volley of musketry told him farther, that this most unexpected fortification was well garrisoned. The whole passage of the defile at the Nanticoke falls presents exactly such a geological conformation as it would delight a Tyrolese population to defend; and the Yankees of Wyoming had not been blind to the advantages which nature had here supplied for arresting the approach of the invader. The fire had been given too soon for much effect; but it served to throw the forces of Plunkett into confusion, and an immediate retreat behind another mountainous projection, for consultation, was the consequence. The hazard of turning the point of the battlemented Shawanese rock, defended by an enemy of unknown strength, thus securely posted, was too great to be entertained. It was therefore determined, by the aid of a batteau brought past the rapids by land for that purpose, to cross the river and march upon the fort of Wyoming along the eastern shore. Immediate dispositions were made for executing this change in the plan of the campaign; but on the approach of the batteau to the opposite shore with the first detachment of the invaders, headed by Colonel Plunkett himself, a sharp fire from an ambuscade gave unequivocal evidence that their every possible movement had been anticipated. * Gordon affirms that this volley killed one man, and dangerously wounded three others of Plunkett's party. He also states that Colonel Plunkett was at first met in an amicable manner, by a party of the settlers, under one of their leaders, and that he assured them his only object was to arrest the persons named in his warrants, protesting that he would offer violence to no one submitting to the laws. This ambuscade was commanded by Lieutenant Stewart, who had reserved his fire until the invaders were leaping on shore. One man was killed by the first fire, and several others wounded. So warm a reception upon both sides of the river had not been foreseen. The boat was therefore instantly pushed from the land, and without attempting to regain the shore whence they had embarked, was suffered to drift down the stream and over the rapids, to the fleet of provision boats below. The chivalrous Colonel, being a peace officer, lay down in the bottom of the boat to avoid the shots that were sent after him. His troops on the western side, however, attempted to cover his retreat, by firing at random into the thicket where Stewart had posted his men. By one of these chance shots a man named Bowen was killed. Plunkett's entire force now fell back upon the boats, where another council of war took place. To attempt to force the passage of the terrific rock, frowning in its own strength, and bristling with bayonets besides, was evidently impracticable. It could not be carried by assault, for want of two articles, courage and scaling ladders.— To march around the point the garrison would not allow them. And to avoid the difficulty by threading the ravines of the mountains in the rear on either side, would be a yet more dangerous undertaking, inasmuch as the Yankees might not only use their fire-arms, but also tumble the rocks -- down upon their heads and ignominously crush them to death. In addition to all which, it was now evident that even should they be successful in sitting down before the fort of Wyoming, and opening their entrenchments, the works would not be very easily taken; while their own situation, by the destruction of their boats, and the cutting off of their supplies, and in sundry other respects, might be rendered exceedingly uncomfortable. Under such an accumulation of untoward circumstances and forbidding prospects, discretion was wisely esteemed the better part of valour, and the expedition was abandoned. They With this unsuccessful effort "terminated the endeavours of the Executive of Pennsylvania to expel, by force, her troublesome inmates. had become very numerous, and had extended themselves over a large tract of country, upon which they had planted and built with great success. Possession, by lapse of time, was growing into right, to preserve which, it was obvious, the possessors had resolved to devote their lives. Forcible ejection would therefore be followed with much bloodshed, and wide-extended misery, which would tend greatly to weaken the efforts of the two colonies in the common cause against Great Britain.”* For a season after the breaking out of the war of the revolution, Wyoming was allowed a state of comparative repose. The government of Penn * Gordon. |