Settlement forts along the Susquehanna River in the Wyoming Valley in the late 1700s. A. Fort Durkee B. Fort Wyoming C. Fort Ogden D. Village of Kingstown E. Forty Fort F. Battle of Wyoming G. Fort Wintermoot H. Fort Jenkins I. Monocasy Island (Today’s Monocanock Island).
J. Pittston Stockades
The Wyoming Massacre, a painting by F.O.C. Darley, 1905.
Library of Congress
Of the eight or nine forts and a number of blockhouses that lined the Susquehanna River from Hanover to Exeter in the 1770s, one was a loyalist stronghold to the British Rangers — Fort Wintermoot.
Located in the area of today’s Valley Street and Susquehanna Avenue in Exeter, Fort Wintermoot was believed to have been constructed in the early 1770s by Philip Wintermoot, also spelled Wintermute, who relocated to the Wyoming Valley from the Upper Delaware River Valley of New Jersey.
Other forts were constructed by the Pennamites and Connecticut settlers, who were rivals and fought over the Wyoming Valley, but set their differences aside for the Patriotic cause of American Independence.
Fort Wintermoot, which consisted of a blockhouse (log cabin) fortified by a stockade of fallen trees set into the ground like fence posts, was instrumental in leading up to the Battle of Wyoming on July 3, 1778.
In the days prior to the Wyoming Massacre, the Harding brothers of Benjamin, Stukely, and John left Jenkins Fort in today’s West Pittston to tend to their family’s farm along the river in Exeter Township on June 30, 1778. The brothers were joined by four boys and two other men.
Jenkins Fort was the northernmost fort in the valley in the shadows of Dial Rock, also known as Campbell’s Ledge.
As the day was coming to a close, two British Tories in canoes on the river saw them at work in the field adjacent to Sutton’s Creek and carried the news of their sighting to the advance guard of Seneca Native Americans who joined the British Rangers of Major John Butler.
“After the Hardings had quit their work for the day, they started homeward, their path lying through a deep, narrow ravine. Here, they were ambushed by the Indians and Tories, who fired upon them and wounded Benjamin and Stukely Harding. They promptly returned fire, and then a blood fight ensued,” according to a historical story published in the Wilkes-Barre Record on Aug. 2, 1920.
The Harding brothers, Benjamin and Stukely, became the first victims of what would transpire three days later in Exeter and Wyoming, known as the Battle of Wyoming, or the Wyoming Massacre.
British Major Butler entered the valley on July 1, 1778, and took control over the surrendered Fort Jenkins as Philip Wintermoot gave quarters to the British Rangers and their Native American allies without firing a single shot.
Meanwhile, patriot settlers had barricaded themselves in Forty Fort, Fort Durkee, Fort Wyoming, and blockhouses in Hanover, Plymouth, and Nanticoke.
American Revolutionary Army Col. Zebulon Butler formed a militia along with a few regular Continentals at Forty Fort. When Col. Butler refused British Major Butler’s commands to surrender Forty Fort, the Battle of Wyoming was set.
As the militia of nearly 350 men organized in six companies marched out of Forty Fort at about 2 p.m. on July 3, 1778, they saw black smoke coming from Fort Wintermoot.
British Major Butler set Fort Wintermoot ablaze to deceive the American militia into believing the British Rangers and Native Americans had retreated.
Those British Rangers and Native Americans laid in wait near Abraham’s Creek to ambush the American militia in a battle that lasted about one hour.
During and after the Battle of Wyoming, those militia who retreated sought refuge anywhere they could, including on the Susquehanna River islands of Monocanock and Wintermoot.
After the battle, it is believed Philip Wintermoot, his wife, and seven children fled to Canada.
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