The Wyoming Massacre& Events Following"

"(129v) Elijah Shoemaker married (67) Jane McDowell, a daughter of (130) John McDowell, who owned and lived on the property known as "Shaw's Meadows", in Cherry Valley, the property now owned by Jacob H. Featherman. (130) John McDowell is buried in the church-yard near the old home. (129v) Elijah moved to Wyoming (Valley) with his new bride, where they had their first child, late in the Spring. A month later, Elijah was treacherously tomahawked by a Tory named Windecker, who had befriended him, after the battle of Wyoming. Elijah was but twenty-six years of age at the time of his death. His son, named also (67[1]a) Elijah, became the father of the Hon. D. L. Shoemaker, late member of Congress from Wilkes-Barre. (The painting of the Wyoming incident at the left shows a man with a tomahawk, pursuing an unarmed young man. I presume the painting was patterned after memories of Elijah (Sr.)).

(64) Daniel Shoemaker, son of (128) Benjamin and brother of Elijah (Sr.), married (65) Ann, a daughter also of (130) John Mc Dowell." -- taken mostly from page 1073 of "History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania" by Alfred Matthews published by R. T. Peck & Co. in 1886. In the Wyoming massacre, the British and Tories, with their Indian allies under Capt. Joseph Brandt, faced mostly boys, old men and those generally unfit for combat. Almost every able-bodied man in the Valley, at that time, was away helping Gen. Washington, who desperately needed them. Men from Wyoming Valley fought the first battle in Jan., 1777 at Millstone. (132) Joseph Blanchard and his sons Andrew and (64) Leban, were part of the 24th CT regiment, Zebulon Butler's detachment. They served with Washington's army starting in January, just after Washington's crossing of the Delaware. (64) Laban later married the widow of Elijah Shoemaker. Other ancestors were also involved in the Battle of Wyoming. (529iv_a) Jeremiah Blanchard Sr. was Captain of the CT Militia; his son, Jeremiah Blanchard Jr. was Captain of Luzerne County PA militia. Capt. Blanchard Sr. was in command of Fort Brown at Pittston -- across the river from Forty Fort where Elijah Shoemaker was killed. He and his men were prevented from joining the battle because the Indians had stolen all their boats during the night. (277i_b) Peter DeCoursey, who had enlisted in 1777 under Capt Dathic Hewit, was with his company at the defeat at Wyoming but escaped and reenlisted with Capt. John Van Etten's 4th (Northampton) Co., Col. Jacob Stroud's Sixth Battalion, Pennsylvania Militia The patriots were badly beaten in the battle. They were unaware of the size and intentions of the British/ Tory/ Indian force that opposed them. Col. Zebulon Butler gave his wise counsel not to attack the enemy, but to wait until reinforcements arrived the next day. The younger men at Forty Fort, however, who were quite unused to military discipline, were concerned that the enemy would attack and overwhelm their friends and relatives holed up in Fort Brown across the river. They engaged the enemy in the open field and when the day was obviously lost, many surrendered, laying down their arms. The enemy, however, proceeded to slaughter some, reserving others for death by torture the following night. "The number of fugitives were about 2,000. The women and children fled the country; several floated down the river as soon as the news of the disaster on the night of the third of July was known. Many others fled across the mountains and through the terrible wilderness back to CT. Many perished on the way for lack of food, and many lost their way and were never heard of again. The dreary swamp was then called "The Shades of Death." These were new widows and freshly orphaned children mostly whose protectors lay dead and unburied on the fatal and bloody field.The ghastly details of each family in these dread days has not and never will be written. There were a few old men with these fleeing crowds of sufferers, so old and helpless mostly as to be like the infants, but an additional burden. Children were born and died on the long, terrible way." -- H.C. Bradsby's "History of Luzerne County Pennsylvania 1893") "A new stockade was (later) built in Wilkes-Barre and the settlers were encouraged to return. Some who returned continued to be murdered by roving Indian bands, attacked in their homes, as they worked in their fields and as they traveled along the roads. Among many killed and captured over the next months was (132) Joseph Blanchard. Joseph was captured by Indians near Nanticoke on August 24, 1778 and was never seen again...from August, 1778, through 1779 the Indian raids continued and many more settlers were killed ((130) John McDowell died during this period, at the age of 65)." --"History of Luzerne County." On 10 November, 1778, British and Tories who had been at Wyoming Valley attacked the settlers at Cherry Valley, NY. The Indians under the British command went on a rampage and savagely killed many women and children there. The Continental Army sent a large force against the British and Indians in retalliation, which was entirely successful. The Olive Tree has published a list of prisoners taken by the Patriots in April, 1780. The author of the page claims that those taken were not Tories. Among them, however, was one "John Windecker, Col. Claus' Tenant".