decrease; the result being what has been or is destinel to be the result over the whole extent of the continent. ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENT. Attempts at settlements were made from time to time at Wyoming; the first permanent location of a colony or town being on the bank of the river, near Mill Creek, in the year 1762. A small house was built of logs at the mouth of the creek, which was soon surrounded by several small cabins, which formed the residence of the whole colony. They found the valley covered with woods, except a few acres, the plantinggrounds of the Indians. The summer was so far advanced when the new colony arrived that they only prepared a few acres for wheat, and, as provisions for their sustenance during the winter could not be procured from the Indians, they concealed their tools and implements of husbandry, and in November departed for their former homes in New England. Early in the spring of 1763 they returned with their families, and a number of new emigrants, with a view of commencing a permanent settlement, for which purpose they brought a number of cattle and hogs, and considerable stores and provisions for immediate use. They took possession of their former dwellings at the mouth of the creek, which they found in the same condition as that in which they had been left in the preceding autumn; and commenced their labors by extending their improvements upon the west side of the river. The Indians in the valley were apparently friendly, but this was only the smiling mask which concealed the bitterest passions, for while unsuspicious, and occupied as usual with the labors of the field, the whites were attacked on the 15th of October by a party of Indians, who massacred about twenty persons, took several prisoners, and, having seized upon the live stock, drove it toward their town. Those who escaped hastened to their dwellings, gave the alarm to the families of those who were killed, and the remainder of the colonists, men, women, and children, fled precipitately to the mountains, from whence they beheld the smoke arising from their late habitations, and the savages feasting on the remains of their little property. They had taken no provisions with them except what they hastily seized in their flight; and now must pass through a wilderness sixty miles in extent before they could reach the Delaware River. They had left brothers, husbands, and sons to the mercy of the savages; they had no means of defense in case they should be attacked, and they found themselves exposed to the cold winds of autumn without sufficient raiment. With these melancholy recollections and cheerless prospects did the fugitives commence a journey of two hundred and fifty miles on foot. Language can not describe their sufferings as they traveled through the wilderness, destitute of food and clothing, on their way to their former homes. NEW BANDS OF COLONISTS. But the sturdy sons of New England were unmoved and unfaltering in their purpose to go up and possess the land. Colonists and emigrants from this time forward came into the valley, and though they were liable to be startled by the war-whoop of the relentless savages, and to be called from their beds at the dread hour of night to witness the sad sight of peaceful abodes wrapt in flames, or to see father, mother, brother, son, butchered or tortured it might be, and they themselves perhaps compelled to look on the while in speechless agony; they still nerved themselves to bear their misery and privations like men, waiting for those peaceful and happy times which would surely come for them, or, at least, for their children. Noble and brave men, noble and self-sacrificing women! they did not count their lives dear; they endured bitter hardships; they have entered upon their rest; but now their children and their chil dren's children are in the quiet and unmolested possession of that for which they so bravely fought and suffered. The clods of the valley have been heaped over their resting-places, and, though many of their graves are unknown and undistinguished, their memory is cherished, and the story of the privations they endured, the valor they displayed upon many a wellfought field, or in limited and personal encounters, is not forgotten, and their deeds recounted at the winter fireside, written out by the historian, and strung in lofty numbers by great poets. Thus, what with battling the Indian without, and strifes and contentions within, growing out of conflicting claims to the territory of Wyoming, passed years that included in their progress the war of the Revolution. Although remote from the scene of its origin, where during its first years the battle raged, and hoping to enjoy exemption from its stern realities, the colony struggled along, yet the time came when Wyoming was destined to receive again the baptism of blood. THE STORY OF THE GREAT MASSACRE. For a season after the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, Wyoming was allowed a state of com parative repose. The government of Pennsylvania was changed by the removal of the proprietaries or successors of Penn, and the formation of a new constitution; and both Connecticut and Pennsylvania had other and more important demands upon their attention than the disputes of rival claimants for a remote and sequestered territory. Notwithstanding the remoteness of its position, and its peculiar exposure to the attacks of the enemy, rendered more perilous from its contiguity to the territory of the Six Nations, the people of Wyoming were prompt to assume the cause of their country, and, as early as the 1st of August, 1775, in town meeting they voted, "that we will unanimously join our brethren of America in the common cause of defending our country." THE WYOMING COMPANIES. A census had been taken, and the whole population of the several towns of the valley now acknowledging the jurisdiction of Connecticut was computed at about two thousand five hundred souls. Two companies of regular troops, of eighty-two men each, were raised, and commanded by Captains Ransom and Durkee. These companies were mustered and counted as part of the Connecticut levies, and attached to the Connecticut line. They were moreover efficient soldiers, having been engaged in the brilliant affair of Millstone, |