and under the command of Captain Zebulon Butler, joined by a party under the command of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, returned to Wyoming to recover possession of their lands. Ogden and his party, consisting of men, women and children, amounted at that time to eighty-two persons, who immedi ately took refuge in the Fort and prepared for their defence. This was a new Fort built on the bank of the River a short distance above Fort Durkee to which Ogden had given the name of Wyoming Fort. On the night of the 9th. of July the Connecticut party commenced the erection of two smali redoubts; one on the bank of the river a little be low and within musket shot of the Fort-the other on the point of a hill a short distance above the Fort, having command of the river. These entrenchments were so far completed by day-break as to afford protection to the detachments occupied in their construction. The following day two othe er entrenchments were formed, one on the West side of the river opposite the Fort, and the other further up the hill on the East side. A few days afterwards re-enforcements arrived to the Connecticut party which then amounted to about one hundred and fifty effective men. Wyoming Fort was by these means completely invested, and all com munication with the surrounding country entirely cut off; but the garrison possessed the means of defending themselves as long as their provisions and ammunition should last. Ogden who was igmorant of the actual strength of the Connecticut party, seeing himself thus besieged without anyt

prospect of escape or of receiving supplies, and knowing the necessity of conveying intelligence and applying for assistance, to the Government of Pennsylvania, resolved upon an attempt, which, for resolution and courage may vie with the most celebrated individual actions of modern times. On the night of the 12th. of July, he escaped from the Fort by the following means. Having tied a portion of his clothes in a bundle, with his hat upon the top of them, and having connected them to his body by a cord of several feet in length, he committed himself to the river, and floated gently down the current, with the bundle following him at the end of the cord. Three of the redoubts commanded the river for a considerable distance above and below, and the centinels by means of the star-light observing some object floating upon the river which excited suspicion, commenced a fire upon it, which was continued from two of the re doubts for some time, until observing that its motion was very uniform and no faster than the current, their suspicions and their firing ceased. Ogden escaped unhurt, but his clothes and hat were pierced with several balls. He arrived at Phila delphia on the 15th. and immediately communicated to the Council the unpleasant situation of the little Colony at Wyoming.

On the following day the Council resolved That an hundred men should be hired to accompany the Sheriff to Wyoming for the purpose aforesaid, and that a quantity of provisions should be Immediately provided in town and sent up to

Northampton ;" and " in order to defray the expenses which must necessarily arise, the Receiver General may be justified in paying the drafts of this Board for £300.*

The troops thus hired for the reduction of Wyoming were placed under the command of Colonel Asher Clayton ; and two divisions, one commanded by Capt. Joseph Morris, and the other by Capt. John Dick, were to march at different times through the swamp. While measures were taking to raise these troops, which it was found very difficult to accomplish, the siege of Wyoming Fort was conducted with unabated rigor. Col. Dick having succeeded in collecting thirty-one men, after receiving the provisions of nearly a hundred, set out with a number of pack-horses loaded with provisions for Wyoming, where he arrived on Tuesday the 30th, of July about the dawn of day. The Connecticut party had been apprized of his approach, and they had formed an ambuscade near the Fort to interrupt his march and secure the provisions, and as Capt. Dick and his men advanced they were fired upon from the bushes, and thrown into great confusion. Twenty two of them suc ceeded in getting into the Fort, and the remainder, with four horses loaded with provisions fell into the hands of the Connecticut party. After the arrival of Capt. Dick the garrison consisted of forty-nine men able to bear arms, two wounded men, and forty-eight women and children. Upon this gar

*See minutes of Council, Book U, page 209.

rison a fire was commenced on the same day from four batteries or redoubts, and continued without much intermission until the night of the 10th of August. On the 11th. Capt. Butler sent a flag demanding a surrender of the Fort, but the garri son having promptly refused to comply with the demand, the attack again commenced with a wood. en cannon, which burst at the second discharge The garrison were induced to hold out under the hope of receiving re-enforcements; for in addition to those who were expected to follow the detach. ment which had arrived, Capt. Dick had succeeded in despatching a messenger immediately after his arrival with an account of their situation; and the Executive Council after considering his letter ordered that one hundred additional men be raised with the utmost expedition, and the President immediately advanced £300 to defray the expenses of the enterprize. The Fort continued to be closely besieged and the firing continued from day to day whenever any person appeared upon the ramparts. The garrison had for many days been upon very short allowance, as the small quantity of provisions with which Capt. Dick succeeded in entering the Fort, served only as a temporary relief, On the 14th. of August, their provisions being all exhausted and no appearance of supplies, it was concluded to surrender the Fort to the Connecticut party, and articles of capitulation were agreed upon by which Col. Clayton and his troops, and Ogden and his party should all remove from Wy eming

During the siege a number of persons were wounded in the Fort, and among others Amos Ogden, who being faint from the loss of blood, was reclining upon William Ridyard his junior officer, when a shot from the redoubt on the West bank of the river, entered the door of the block-house and instantly killed Ridyard who was the only person killed during the siege. The number of killed and wounded among the Connecticut party was not ascertained. A re-enforcement of sixty men under the command of Capt. Andrew Ledlie, were sent by the Government of Pennsylvania for the relief of the garrison, and when the Fort surrendered they had advanced within ten miles of Wyoming, and were encamped upon a stream on the mountain called "Ten mile Run." Having at this place received information that the Fort was closely besieged, and that it would then be impracticable to enter with their provisions, Capt. Ledlie had concluded to send a quantity of Flour by way of the Lackawannock ten miles above the Fort, and to cross the river with a part of his forces, and commence an attack upon the block-house on the West side of the river. It was expected that this attack would draw the attention of the Connecticut party to the defence of that post, and give an opportunity for the escort with the prisoners to enter the Fort and relieve the garrison; but just as this measure was about to be attempted, in formation was received that the garrison had sur rendered to the Connecticut forces. Capt. Ledlie then concluded to place guards upon the Shohola