A Close Reading of a Wyoming Massacre List, 1778

D IELMCM LLE A CLO E REA.DINGOF A WYOMING MASSACRE LIST, 1778 David Kendall Marlin, FASG. escendants of Daniel McMullen of Luume ounty have long believed that he resided in the Wyoming Valley quite early and was a participant in the events of 3 July 1778 that came to be known as the Wyoming Valley Mas acre. The problem i that if Daniel McMullen were a r sidcnt of the Wyoming Valley during the Revolution, he could not be the same man as the Daniel McMullen of Allen Township, Northampton County, of the same period. And Daniel of Northampton seems to have a most tantalizing record genealogically-an enlistment under Major James Moore for "Daniel McMullen, age 32, complexion fair, born Ireland, millwright, enli tcd 30 September 1783." 1 The occupation is inconsistent with the occupation of weaver for Daniel in Northampton and Luzerne records, but the name is relatively uncommon in both areas. This information concerning birth date and place is important enough to warrant a closer look at records in both localities. DANIEL MCMULLEN IN LUZERNE COUNTY Daniel McMullen was certainly in Luzerne County by 1790, 2 settled at Newport,3 where in 1798 he had a weaving shop. 4 In 1801 he moved to Mount Pleasant 5 [now] Wayne County, where he died 19 June 1804. 6 David Kendall Martin, martind@westelcom.com, Mouse Hill, West Chazy, New York 12992-0194, is the author of numerous books and articles centering on New England and New York families, a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, and a retired tc:2-cher.He is a descendant of Daniel McMullen and several other survivors of th.e Wyoming Massacre. 1 ..Muster Rolls of Northampton County," Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, 4(1906): 784. 2 1790 US census, Luzerne County, no township, page 150; ARAM637, roll 8. Luzerne County Dttds 1:554~also Stewart Pearce: Annals of Luzerne County: A Record of Interesting Events, Traditions and Anecdotes from the First Settlement in Wy<r ming Valley to 1860 (Philadelphia:}. B. Lippcncott. 1860), Appendix P, 441; also, 1800 US census, ewport Township. Luzerne County, page 346; ARAM32, roll 39. 4 US Direct Tax of 1798, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County, Newport Township, 3758, 337E; NARA M372, roll 13. 5 Samuel Whaley: History of the Township of Mount Pleasant (New ork: M. W. Dodd, 1856), 68; al o, Phineas G. Goodrich: History of Wayne County, Pennsylvania * Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 4 (2005) 143 144 Pennsylvania Genealogical Magaztne Vol. 44 With two exceptions, at no time during the period 1772-1787 does Daniel McMullen (or any McMullen orvariant7) appear on any list for the Wyoming Valley.8 Was he resident there during the Revolutionary period as his descendants believe? If so, the clue from the militia list of the place and year of birth of Daniel of Northampton County would not apply. DANIEL MCMULLEN OF ORTHAMPTON Daniel McMullen first appears in orthampton County as a private under Rob tt Hay of orthampton County, when he was paid for monthly wages 27 December 1776. The troops, who were in the City of Philadelphia, were paid in salt, each private receiving ½ bushel of salt as payment in full. Hays reported that the alt be distributed had cost 7 shillings 6 pence a bu heJ.9 Daniel continued in the militia in 1778, 10 1780, 11 (Honesdale: Haines and Beardsley, 1880), 329; also, Alfred Mathews: History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Counties, Penmylvania (Philadelphia: R. I. Peck & Co., 1886), 648. 6 Luz.ernc County Federalist, 30 June 1804. 7 There were Mullens in the Wyoming Valley early, but no Daniel, and nothing to indicate a connection with Daniel McMullen. 8 These lists have been published several times: • August 1776 tax list. Oscar Jewell Harvey, A History of Wilkes-Ban-e, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, 5 volumes (Wilkes-Barre: Raednar Press, 1909, 1927), 2:877-78 [hereafter cited as Harvey, History of Wilkes-Barre};Proceedings and Collections of the W_>(>mingHistorical and Geological Society vol. 5 (1900), 209-18. • Oath of Allegiance September 1777, April 1778. August 1777 tax list. Harvey, History of Wilkes-B~rre, 2:946-47; Proceedings, 5:219-30. • ovcmber 1778 tax list. Harvey, History of Wilkes-Ban-e, 2:951-53; Proceedings, 5:231-41. • Lossc sustained by inhabitants of the Town of Westmoreland 3 July 1778 to May 1780. Harvey, History of Wilkes-Barre, 3:1277- 79. • August 1780 Polls and Estates of Town of Westmoreland. Harvey, History of Wi'lkesBarre, 3: 1254-55; Proceedings, 5:242-43. • August 1781 Polls and B tates. Petition for Relief of Wyoming Sufferers. House Documents vot 4 No. 121-210 #347 25th Congress, 3rd Session, House of Representatives, Doc. No. 203, 1839 26th Congress, 1-40, at 35-40 for settlers' testamonics [hereafter cited as Petition for RcJief}. • Petition for Relief, 12-30 • Circa April 1783 Settlers of Wyoming who wished to support the laws of Pcnnsyl~ vania. Julian P. Boyd and Robert Joseph Taylor, editors, Susquehanna Company Papers (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Pres for Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 1969-1971) 7:290-91. • 1786, 1787 election lists. Susquehanna Company Papers9:l3-21, 107-9. 9 "Muster Rolls Relating to the Associators and Militia of the County of Northampton," Thomas Lynch Montgomery, editor, Penmylvania Archives, 5th Serie, 8(1906): 541-42 [hereafter cited as "Muster Rolls of orthampton County"}. to Daniel McMullen~ on a general muster roll in the 7th class of the 6th Company, th Battalion, under Capt. John Ralstone and 1st LL Adam Clendenin on 14 May 1778. ,.Muster Rolls of orthampton County," Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Scrie5, 8:314. 11 Daniel McMullion was in the 7th classi 5th Company, under Capt. Adam Clinden• ing. "Muster Rolls of Northampton County," Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, 8:244. 2005 Daniel McMullen of Luzerne County 145 1782, 12 and 1783 and 1784.13 By 10 August 1784, he had hired John Wilson as a sub titute. 14 Toe musters of 1778, 1780, and 1782 were for an Allen Town hip company.15 On 5 August 1777, Daniel McMullen took the oath of allegiance in Northampton County. 16 In Allen Township, Northampton County, Daniel McMullen is found on tax records from 1781 to 1788, but not before or after. 17 In 1781 he was called a weaver. ote that thi agrees with the occupation of the man in Luzerne County. He was on three tax exoneration lists in 1782, one in 1784, one in 1785, and one in 1786, and on the federal tax lists in 1785, 1786, and 1788. 18 MILITIASERVICE IN PENNSYLVANIA From March 1777 until 1790, Pennsylvania had no governor. Toe chief authority was the President with a Supreme Executive Council, which, among other powers, could call up militiamen as needed. Between 1777 and 1783 all men aged from 18 to 53 were required to enroll in the militia. Each town raised one company. Toe companies of several neigh12 Daniel McMullon was in the same unit on a list for 1782, but signed by Clendening 8 March 1783. "Muster Rolls of Northampton County," Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, 8:197. 13 He was in Capt. Philip Shrawder's Company in the Corps of Pennsylvania Infantry under Major James Moore on rolls and musters in December 1783 (twice), January 1784 (three times), May 1784, and 31 October 1784. "Muster Rolls of Northampton County," PennsylvantaArchtves, 5th Series, 4(1906): 818,823,784,828,829,831,835. 14 The muster roll of Capt. Adam Clendening's 5th Company of Northampton County militia in service at Wyoming in the 4th Battalion under Lt. Col. Nicolas Kerns, shows Daniel Mic Mullen, private, substitute Jon Wilson, entered August the 9th. "Militia Rolls 1783-1799; Northampton County," Thomas Lynch Montgomery, editor, PennsywanJa Archives, 6th series, 3(1907): 791 [hereafter cited as "Militia Rolls of Northampton County"]. 15 Nicholas Kern was commissioned 21 May 1777 as Lt. Col. of Col. John Siegfried' 4th Northampton County Battalion. Adam Clendinen (1739-1817) was a son of John Clendinen, a pioneer settler of Allen Township. 16 Gaylord Griffiths, An Alphabetized Listing of Those Subscribers to the Oaths of Allegiance of Northampton County, Pa. 1777-1784 (Apollo: Closson Press, 1992), 46; also Henry F. Marx, Oaths of Allegiance of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 17771784 from Original Lists of John Arndt, Recorder of Deeds (Easton Public Library, 1932), 14. 17 He docs not appear on the 1780 li t; History of Northampton County, Pennsylva• nia (PhiladeJphia: Peter Frits, 1877), 72-75. 18 Tax Exoneration List.S1762-1794, Office of the Comptroller General, Pennsylvania Archives RG4; also, "'Supply and State Tax Lists of the Counties of Northampton and Nonhumbcrland for the Years 1772 to 1784 (1788)," Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd Series, 19(1897): 3- 78; also Assessments at the Northampton County Courthouse, 1779-1790, FHL #21,685; also Tax Lists at the Northampton County Courthou c, 17811793, FHL 121,685; also "Federal Tax for the Counties of Northampton a.nd Northumberland, for the Years 1772 to 1787 [ 1788]," Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd Series, 19(1897):159,255,356. 146 Pennsylvania Genealogfcal Magazine Vol44 boring towns formed a battalion. Each company was divided by lot into eight classes. Active duty was given in two-month terms to each class in rotation. That way, no town was depleted of its manpower, nor were individual families disproportionately affected. The company itself was a sort of training company that drilled occasionally during the year, usually 2 April, 3 May, 2 Augu t, 2 September, and 1 October. Otherwise, the men were free. When a class was on active duty, it was usually absorbed into a new company on a temporary command. Hence, there are two types of records: permanent battalion rolls and active duty rost r . If it was inconvenient for a militiaman to go on active duty, a substitute could be hired. If a man were on active duty in the Continental service or otherwi e, he would not be subject to militia duty, so his name would not appear on the miHtia class lists. 19 The 7th Class of the Northampton County Militia, including Daniel McMullen, was apparently unassigned during 1777. In 1778, the situation changed . . . . although the season's campaign was over for the Continental Army, mill• tia were on active duty during the entire winter. On 9 January 1778, John Lacy was promoted to brigadier general, and ordered to assume their command. '1bc whole eight Classes of the Militia of the interior counties having been called into the field,' in January. Two classes from Cumberland (the 5th and 6th), rwo from York (the 6th and 7th), and two from Northampton (the 7th and 8th), were ordered to join Lacey's camp 'near Graham Park: 20 One class from Northumberland-the 5th-also, ordered out, was later cancelled, and instead three classes of Colonel Cookson Long's Fourth Battalion 'that lives on the West Branch,' were sent to the frontiers to guard against the Indians. In March, the 7th and 8th Classes of Cumberland, and the 1st Class of Philadelphia County were called into service, and the 8th Class of York County was embodied to relieve Continental troops in Lancaster which had been ordered back to Valley Forge. Though Lacey's numbers during the Winter were small-he never had more than 500 rank and file in his commandthe duty was hard. Posted in small parties on the roads leading to the enemy's lines, much of the men's time was taken up hunting provisions for themselves, since they were at 'too Grate a distance to be supplied by the commissary.' 21 As terms of active duty were usually two months, the implication is that Daniel McMullen in the 7th class was called up for active duty in January 1778 and would have served until March 1778, when he would have returned to Allen Township to resume his normal activitie . l9 Por background on the militia. sc.e Hannah Benner Roach, "lbc PcnnsyJvania Militia in 1777," Pennsylvania Genealogtcal Magaztne, 23(1964): 161-229 {hereafter cited as Roach, "Milim in 1777,• PGM]; also "A Pcnnsylvan.12 Viewpoint on the 1757 English Militia Law,"PGM 44: 166-68. 20 Graeme Park, home of a coJonial governor, is now in Horsham, Montgomery County, not far south of Northampton County. 21 Roach, "Militia in 1777," 228-29. 'Jenof Luzerne County ITORIOGRAPHY celebrated Wyoming Massacre, a s 1 merican Revolutlon. 22 Daniel McM1 II nvolving the escape of Elisha Blac drama of this story has evolved ovi r nological order of publication. 1 e ntemer ~ made rca ly accessible the text of a publication dcbrating the centennial of Warrior Run, Luzerne County, including a vivid story of Daniel McMullen's involvement in the events. Elisha Blackman, at 18 years old, was one of eight men out of the thirty-two comprising his company who escaped the battle and massacre alive. During the heat of the fight he slew an lndian. He and others escaped by swimming the Susquehanna River to an island called Monocanock. The Indians fired at them in the water and some were killed as soon as they got on land. Elisha reached the island about dusk, hiding under some willow bushes until all was quiet. Late in the evening the savages ca.me toward the island searching for escapees. Any they found were killed and scalped. Elisha heard them walking on the willows over him but was not discovered. By midnight the Indians finished torturing their prisoners. Only then did Elisha crawl out to swim back to the west shore of the river and down the river bank to Forty Fort. At daylight, he and a man named McMullen, having lea.med the fort was to be surrendered and determined not to be surrendered with it, went to the lower gate and waited for it to be opened. At 10 o'clock, the gate was opened to drive in some cattle and he and McMullen ran out. The guard shouted, 'Halt or I'll shoot,' to which they answered, 'Shoot and be damned!' The guard didn't shoot and they escaped After escaping the fon, Blackman and McMullen went down river two miles (opposite Wilkcs--Barre),where they found a canoe and crossed to the east ide to the Wilkes-Barre fort Ell ha's father was the only man in the fort, the others having gone with the women and children to show them the path to Stroudsburg. They arrived in two days, ill and exhausted, The Bladcmans returned to Connecticut where they could li:ve safely. Elisha returned to Wilkes-Barre in August with Capt Spalding's company and in October he helped bury the dead of the massacre at Wyoming. He later J r fl J • t)1 ll 148 Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 44 and to have taken part in the battle of Wyoming, Pa., JuJy 3, 1778, (see Johnson's Historical Record, II, 5) in the ompany of Captain Jame Bidlack."24 1909 Oscar Jewell Harvey, one of the most widely quoted sources on the massacre, described Elisha Blackman's escape from the island, but did not mention McMullen. To the contrary, Harvey implied that Blackman left the island alone. [Elisha Blackman] remained hiding on the island until after nightfall, and then made his way to Forty Fort. The next morning he set out for Wilkes-Barre ... 25 1897 ilas A. McMullen, a double descendant of Daniel McMullen through two of Daniel's children, stated in 1897 that his great-great-grandfather [Daniel's father] "was one of the pioneer settlers of the now famous Wyoming Valley ... " and [his grandfather], James McMullen "was the son of a Revolutionary soldier [i.e. Daniel], who was in active service at the time of the Wyoming Massacre" on 3 July 1778.26 1889 It was the 1889 obituary of the daughter of Elisha Blackman, Jr., in a Wyoming Valley periodical that first reported the details of Daniel McMullen's involvement in the events of 1778. DEATH OF A PIONEER'S DAUGHTER Mrs. Julia Anna Blackman Plumb Passes Away at the Age of 83Some of the Trying Hardships of Pioneer Life. Julia Anna Blackman Plumb died on June 29, at the residence of her son, H. B. Plumb, Esq., in Plumb town, at the advanced age of 83 years." She was a daughter of Elisha Blackman (1760-1845) and granddaughter of Elisha 81ackman (1727-1804). She was born 25 April 1806 on the farm in Hanover Town hlp, where she passed her entire life. Her father "participated in the battle of July 3, 1778, he being one of the fortunate few who escaped. He was a member of Capt. Bidlack's company, from lower Wilkes-Barre, out of whose 32 men only eight escaped. After the repulse he succeeded in making his way to the Susquehanna River, which he attempted to swim. His efforts were noticed by a sav2ge along the bank who fired a fllntlock musket at him, but fortunately Without effect He succeeded in reaching the Monoconock 24 Williams T. Blair, The Michael Shoemaker Book (Scranton: lnternational Test Book Press, 1924), 442. 25 Harvey,History of WIikes-Barre, 2:1067-68. 2 6" Uas A. McMullen," Portrait and Btographical Record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania (New York: Chapman Publishing Co., 1897), 465. Silas A. McMulleo·s parents were fust cousins, both grandchildren of Daniel McMullen. 2005 Daniel McMullen of Luzerne County 149 Island, 27 where he secreted himself in the bushes. He was an eye witness to the killing of Philip Weeks, who had also sought to escape to the river, but was induced by a savage to return to shore on a promise that his life should be spared. It is needless to say that the promise was shamefully and instantly violated and Weeks was killed and scalped. The Blackman boy-for he was a lad of only 18-lay concealed until darkness had covered the earth for several hours, when about midnight he took advantage of the dead silence and returned to the west side of the river and made his way to Forty Fort, in which such of the frightened settlers as had not fled towards Connecticut had taken refuge. About the same time another refugee came to the fortDaniel McMullen, who was entirely naked, he having thrown aside his clothing when he took to the river. The next morning Ouly 4, 1778) these two men objected to the proposed capitulation of the fort and rather than fall into the hands of the British and Indians as prisoners they took advantage of the opening of the gates to admit some cattle and fled, reaching WilkesBarre fort in safety. This fort was already abandoned, Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith and the aged men composing the local military company-the Reformadoes-having gone to the Five Mile Mountain as an escort for the women and children who were fleeing towards the Pocono on their way to their homes in Connecticut. The only man in Wilkes-Barre fort was young Blackman's father. The family home was in South Wilkes-Barre ... They [Elisha and his father? and Daniel McMullen?] fled down the river, then up Nescopeck Creek, and succeeded in crossing the Necopeck Mountain to Stroudsburg, where they overtook the main body of the fugitives ... When Capt. Spalding's company returned to the desolated valley in August to bury the dead, young Blackman accompanied and assisted in that melancholy duty .... Father and son then returned to Connecticut ... "28 • Mrs. Plumb did not write her own obituary; presumably it was the editor, F. C. Johnson, from information supplied by her son, Henry Blackman Plumb, historian of the region, who did so. In the year before her death, her recollections were published in the same journal. Mrs. Plumb, of Hanover, at age 82 noted "I was born in 1806."29 but her recollections did not mention the escape incident at all. The important analysis is that there is no reason for Johnson or anyone else known to be associated with Mrs. Plumb to have inserted Daniel McMullen into the narrative if he did not belong there. 1888 Elisha Blackman Sr. kept "an old pocket account book" in which he wrote brief sketches of his neighbors. It was later owned by his greatgrandson Henry Blackman Plumb, who mentioned that the whole num27 Also called Monacasy and Monokasy Island. It is 1½ miles down river from the battlefield opposite Pittston's southwest corner on the Pittston-Wilkes-Barre line on one side of the river and Kingston on the other. 28 F. C. Johnson, ed.: The Historical Record, a Quarterly Publication Devoted Principally to the Early History of the Wyoming Valley, 3(1889): 73- 74 [hereafter cited as Johnson, The Historical Record]. 29 "Some Interesting Recollections," Johnson, The Historical Record 2(1888): 185-86, 3(1889): 37-39. 150 Pennsylvania Genealogtcal Magazine VoL44 ber of names in thi account book i 65. Of these 14 were killed in the battle and massacre of 1778. There were al o in the battle 6 who escaped. The accounts covered dates from 1772 to the battle and massacre, 3 July 1778. The editor of The Historical Record reported that: Mr. Plumb has kindly furnished the RECORD with a list of the names, together with brief mention by himself of each one. Though the comment is brief it has required no little research by Mr. Plumb to cull the matter from published and unpublished sources. The original orthography of the nam is given. Among the sixty-three-not sixty-five-accounts, which are presented in alphabetical order, are: Elisha Blackman, Sr.: The owner of the account book in which these names appear; lived in Wilkes-Barre from 1772 to 1778, the family fled to Connecticut after the massacre. He returned in 1787 to Wilkes-Barre, where he resided till his death in 1804, aged 87 ... Son of the above, was eighteen years old at the time of the Wyoming battle and massacre in which he fought, and escaped with his life, and fled the next day with his father to Stroudsburg, ... Elisha Blackman,Jr.: Lived in Wilkes-Barre in 1778, was in the battle and massacre and escaped. Nothing further known of him by the writer. 30 Daniel Mackmullen: The implication from an examination of Plumb's comments after each name on the list is that when he says "Lived in Wilkes-Barre ... " and gives a year or years, he means that is when the name appears in the account book. Hence, Daniel McMullen's account would be found only in 1778, prior to the battle on July 3rd. 1885 Henry Blackman Plumb, in his own history of the area, wrote: The following names were found written in pencil on a blank leaf in an old account book of Elisha Blackman and appear to be in his3 1 handwriting. These are the names of the men in his company that he could remember who were in the battle and massacre of July 3, 1778. The list includes, in separate columns, the names of the killed and those that escaped. They were all in the lower Wilkes-Barre company . ... KILLED. CapL J. Bidlack, Ueut. A. Stevens, ~rgeant D. Spafford, E. Fish, ESCAPED. Sergeant D. Downing, S. Carey, J. Garrett, Jo. Elliot, 30 Johnson, The Htstorical Record, 2(1888): 3-4. Henry Blackman Plumb was born 1829-31. 3l It can be difficult to distinguiSh between the two Elisha Blackmans, r. and Jr. It seems to be Sr. who kept the: account books and Jr. who served in Bidl2ck's company. It is possible:, however, that this list was made: by Jr. Comparing the handwriting is inconclusive. As Plumb wasJr.' grandson, his wording is importanL 2005 Da,niel McMullen of Luzerne County P. Weeks, B. Weeks, J. Weeks, P. Wheeler, (or Weeler) T. Brown, S. Hutchinson, S. Cole, T. Fuller, E. Sprague, 151 G.Slocum, E. Blaclan~ J. Fish P.Spafford (Daniel McMullen, {Thomas Porter, (and one other, Solomon Bennett C. Avery, J.Williams, James Wigton. 32 The list of escaped has]. Garrett,Jo. Elliot and G. Slocum, who belonged to Elisha's comp~y and escaped; but the penciled 112.0lesdo not include 'McMullen, Thomas Porter and the one other.' They are found in Miner's 'Blackman family,' and arc put in this list because it is a H t of the escaped on the company. James Wigton was killed, the writer puts his name at the bottom, and of escaped, Solomon Bennett. The original list is located in the Blackman-Plumb manuscripts in a book with accounts dating from Lebanon [Connecticut] 1783 to WilkesBarre 1800-1801. Added to the bottom of the list in another hand, probably by Plumb, is a note, "These seem to be the names of Person in one of the Wilkes Barre Companys in the Wyoming Massacre. The Elisha Blackman named was the son of the owner of this account book." It is instructive to see how Plumb edited the list for publication. In the original, the names are in two untitled columns in the reverse order of those published: Capt J Bidlack PSpafford Lieut A Stevens JFish DDowning S Carey JG2nct (-) Eliott GSlocum E Blackman Serg D Spafford Cor E Fish PWccks BWecks ///Weeks PWecden J iU01t T. Brown S. Hutchison s Cole T Fuller ESprague [in a different hand] Isaac Tripp CAvery I. Tripp J Williams33 32 Henry Blackman Plumb, History of Hanover Townshtp Including Sugar Notch, Ashley and Nanttcocke Boroughs and Also a History of Wyoming Valley, In Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre:R. Baur, 1885), 107-8. 33 Blaclan2n-Plumb manuscripts, Manuscript Collection of the Luzerne County Historical Society, Wilkes-Barre,at unnumbered page 34. 152 Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 44 1838 In May 1838 Charle Miner interviewed Maj. Eleazer Blackman, aged 73, five-year-younger brother of Elisha Black.man, Jr., who commented [italics added]: ... companies of old men, out of the trainband, were formed, called 'The Reformadoes,' to defend the forts, and do garrison service, while the younger portion performed the more active duties. Thus the fort in Plymouth was kept by a company, of which old Mr. Bidlack was captain ... The day preceding the battle (Eleazer) Blackman' father and two brothers, Elisha and Ichabod, were with the party up at Exeter. Elisha ... was 18 ... He belonged to Capt. Bidlack's Company and when they marched up to the battle there were 32 men. Of these only 8 escaped; himself, Serjt. Daniel Downing, Jabez Fish. orderly serjeant, Phineas Spafford, M. Mullen, Samuel Carey, Tom Porter, drummer, and one other; all the rest were slain .... Bidlack's company was near the right, being next to Hewett's. Bidlack was a firm and brave man. and would not retreat although the left was broken and in full flight .... He died on the field where he stood at the head of his men ... 34 Oscar Jewell Harvey identifies Capt.James Bidlack,Jr. as commander of the 1st or Lower Wilkes-Barre Company with Asa Stevens as Lieutenant and Daniel Downing as Ensign, 35 but the Pennsylvania Archive write they can find no record of Bidlack in service, 36 probably because thi was a local "pick-up" company of civilian "Reformadoes," formed for the emergency of Indian attack. Although there were Mullens early in the region, the soldier cited as M Mullen is certainly Daniel McMullen, added to the list above by Plumb, who knew McMullen was there and had escaped with his grandfath rand who omitted the name Mullen altogether. June 1778 An examination of the original account book, presently among the Plumb and Blackman Papers, proves that Daniel McMullen was in Wyoming in the critical time period. The particular account book, one of everal, covers the period approximately 1770 to 1790. There is one entry for Daniel McMullen:37 3'4 Charles Miner, History of Wyoming fn a Series of Letters from Charles Miner to his Son, William Penn Miner (Philadelphia: J. Cri~, 1845) Appendix, 33-34. 3S Harvey, History of Wilkes-Barre, 2:996. 36 Letter to the author, 14 January 1980, from Frank Suran, Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Hist0rical and Museum Commis ion, Bureau of Archives and History, Harrisburg. 37 Dated l 790[sic)-1861 in the Blackman-Plumb manuscripts, Manuscript Collection of the Luzerne County Historical Society, Wilkes-Barre,kindly located, examined, and photocopied for me by David P. Chin, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Engli h, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, a fellow-descendant of Daniel McMullen. Daniel's entry is about page 134 of the unnumbered pagcs.Jchabod is no doubt Ichabod Blackman, son of Elisha. 2005 Daniel McMullen of Luzerne County 153 WestmorlandJune 1778 Daniel Mackmulen Deter {debtor] To goin to the river And Carting Sum hay O10 To Jchabod and the oxen One day and half O12 CONCLUSION When Elisha Blackman recorded the names of the men with whom his son, Elisha Blackman Jr., had served, he did not include Daniel McMullen. However, his great-grandson, H. B. Plumb, observed that the names of McMullen, Tom Porter, and one other had been noted by Charles Miner in his 1838 interview with Elisha Blackman's son Eleazer, so Plumb added them to the original list, substituting the name Daniel McMullen for M. Mullen. He also added the names of James Wigton and Solomon Bennett from his own knowledge. Although Plumb comments that he could learn nothing more of Daniel McMullen other than his name in the account book, the writer of the obituary for Plumb's mother knew that at the time of the massacre Daniel McMullen had hidden from the Indians and then fled the settlement with her father, Elisha Blackman, Jr. The impression is that the Blackmans really knew little about McMullen because he was a stranger, a visitor in the community at the time of the Indian attack. The picture that has emerged of the activities of Daniel McMullen during the latter 1770s and early 1780s includes elements of the family traditions, but a meaningful rearrangement of the chronology. It now seems that in the spring of 1778 Daniel McMullen was a resident of Allen Township, Northampton County, where he had been since at least 1776. Between January and March, 1778, he was on active duty. In May 1778 he was on call in the 7th class of Capt. John Ralstone's 6th company of the 4th Battalion of Northampton County Militia. He was not, however, on active duty and was, instead, visiting the vicinity of Wilkes-Barre in the Wyoming Valley, perhaps contemplating settlement there. Hired by Elisha Blackman for a day and a half in June to cart hay, he had been there only a few weeks when the surprise attack on the settlements by the Indians involved him in the bloody events of July 3rd. He was pressed into service, as were all males in the settlement, from boys to old men, because of the emergency to defend the community. 38 38 Intimation of an impending attack was felt in the Valley as early as spring. Congress was asked for relief, but none was forthcoming. The defenders of Wyoming appear to have been entirely local men, old men, and boys. Capt. John Franklin, who was at Huntington and Salem, tried to get there with his company, but did not make it until the night of the 3rd after the battle. Capt. Simon Spaulding was about 30 or 40 miles away beyond the Great Swamp, but-though he started out-could not have reached the battle in time and turned back. No other outside units are known to have been involved in the fighting. 154 Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 44 To escape the Indians, Daniel hid in the Susquehanna River, purportedly completely naked. On the morning of the 4th, he climbed out of the river and, with young Elisha Blackman, went to Forty Fort, then on to the fort at Wilkes-Barre, which they found nearly abandoned. From WilkesBarre the Blackmans, probably accompanied by McMullen, began their way down the Susquehanna, up Nescopeck Creek, over Nescopeck Mountain to Stroudsburg. This way is apparently the Nattanhutler Path, an Indian trail that ran from Wyalusing to Lehighton (Fort Allen) and Bethlehem, an escape route from the massacre in 1778. This path would take the fugitives right into Northampton County, not far from Allen Township, which as the crow flies is about forty miles southeast of the Wyoming Valley.39 Daniel probably went as far as needed with the Blackmans, who then continued on their way to Stroudsburg and Connecticut, leaving McMullen to return to his own home in Allen Township. A close look at the details of the Blackman account book shows Daniel McMullen was in Wilkes-Barre in 1778. His presence there in June 1778, together with the tradition that he was in the battle as accepted by both the Blackmans and his own descendants in Wayne County-descendants who knew family members who had known Daniel himself-convinces me that Daniel McMullen did, indeed, have a narrow escape from the Indians in July 1778. There is no evidence, however, that he was in military service there nor that he lived there for any significant period during the Revolution. Thus, Daniel McMullen of Allen Township, Northampton County, was likely the Daniel McMullen who was present at the Wyoming Valley massacre, but only as a brief participant in the events, not as a resident in the valley. Thus, the man who hid in the river was also likely the Irishman born about 1750-51. In spite of his experiences in July 1778, a dozen years later Daniel did relocate to the Wyoming Valley from Northampton County. He resided in the valley until 1801. 39 In a letter to the author in 1979, the late George E. McCracken, FASG, editor of The American Genealogist and a native of the Wilkes Barre region, wrote that Daniel McMullen "likely came up from the south [to Luzerne County] from Northampton County .... One of the two ways to get from Northampton County to Wyoming was the easternmost route through the Effort Mountain but there was a western route that would start north from the present Allentown and this would most likely reach the Valley somewhere near Hanover Township."