Wyoming Massacre

Background. The engagement occurred during the American Revolutionary War, pitting Patriot militia against a combined force of Loyalist soldiers and Iroquois warriors. By April 1778, the Seneca were already raiding settlements along the Allegheny River and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and inhabitants of the Wyoming Valley had fled to forts scattered throughout the valley, including Fort Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre) and Fort Pittston.

Battle and Defeat. The battle took place in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania on July 3, 1778, in what is now Luzerne County. The result was an overwhelming defeat for the Patriots. In the days before the engagement, officers of the Independent Westmoreland Companies—including Captains Robert Durkee and Samuel Ransom and Lieutenants James Wells and Peren Ross—resigned their commissions in late June 1778 and, with about 25 enlisted men, joined Lieutenant Colonel Butler at Forty Fort in time for the battle.

Aftermath. The day after the battle, a fort was surrendered on July 4, 1778, and was partially burned a few days later; Fort Wilkes-Barre, completed in 1778, was abandoned and burned later that year following the battle. Settlers who had fled spread harrowing stories and rumors of the defeat, contributing to a general panic across the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania. In early August 1778, Lieutenant Colonel Butler returned to the valley with the Westmoreland Independent Company and a company of militia, and in October 1778 a burial party recovered the scattered remains of the fallen.