The Lee Massacre in Winfield Pa, 1782

 
 The Murder of John Lee & His Family

A tombstone for John Lee is in the median along route 15, at the redlight where you turn into Winfield.

The stone does not mark the actual grave of Major Lee.  In 1938 State Representative Reagan, and Union County Historical Society President C.M. Steese applied for a number of headstones from the War Department, including this stone for Lee. 

A dedication was held in August of 1939.

JOHN LEE

MAJOR

1 BN PA Mil

REV WAR

August 12 1782

"John Van Buskirk told me when he came to the Valley, in 1816, the old people thereabouts showed him the spot where Lee was killed, by what is now (1877) a blasted pine, some little distance in a westerly course from the furnace stone stable ; and he said Lee was buried, with his family, near their residence, which Isaac Eyer, senior, tells me, stood just where the furnace railroad crosses the road to the river, and that his father lived in it until he built the new house, within his own recollection." - The Annals Of Buffalo Valley by Linn

Also according to Linn, "Turtle creek was so called before 1769, and in the latter year I found the stream below it, traversing Dry valley, called Lee's run, after John Lee, the first settler of the site of Winfield" 

In 1773 Buffalo Township comprised all of what is today Union County.  In the first election that year, following the formation of Northumberland County, John Lee was appointed Overseer of the Poor for Buffalo Township.  That same year Lee was issued a tavern license, for a tavern in what is today Winfield.  Two years later, in 1775, the tax assessment shows Lee with 20 acres of cleared land, one cow ten sheep, and one servant.  

In 1776, the Northumberland militia was organized.  John Lee was commissioned one of the "good and true men" to produce powder and lead at Harris Landing [today, Harrisburg].   He was chose to serve as 2nd Major of the 1st Battalion, and was later promoted to first major.

Following his service in the Revolution, Lee and the other members of the militia returned to protect the settlers on the frontier.

On September 14, 1782 the Independent Gazeteer, a Philadelphia newspaper, ran a letter from a "Gentleman at Sunbury" describing the Lee massacre.

According to the letter’s account, Major Lee was dining at his home with friend and neighbors when 60-70 native inhabitants [Indians] arrived on the scene.  

They “took him and his family, and part of two other families to the number of thirteen” people from the house. The gentleman continues, “declaring if they would submit, they should not be hurt; they acquiesced and proceeded as prisoners, walking about a half mile, when the savages, without any hesitation, murdered seven of them, who were tomahawked and scalped in the most shocking manner.” 

The letter ends the recounting of the event by telling us, “a

party of volunteer inhabitants upon hearing of the affair, went to their relief…the scene and groans of the dead and dying people, were enough to have melted any heart of flesh....  Since the last spring, no less than sixty two of our people have been butchered by the Indians; and this hath been the practice for several years past.

The seven who are thought to have been murdered were: John Lee & his wife, two young sons of the Lee's, John Walker, Mrs. Claudius Boatman, and one of Mrs. Boatman's daughters.

Philadelphia Inquirer

September 24th 1906

Lee’s oldest son, Robert, spent several years trying to secure the release of his young brother from the native captivity, eventually succeeding in obtaining his freedom. His two sisters, Rebecca and Sarah, escaped and returned home within a short time after their capture.

 In 1797, Robert Lee obtained releases from each of his siblings in order to deed the property in Winfield to Abraham Ire (Eyer). 

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Meginness & Linn Account Of The Lee Massacre

In Linn's Annals, he does note: "I copy from Meginness his narration of the occurrence, as I can find no contemporaneous account of it. Meginness, however, confounds Major John Lee with Sergeant Lee, killed at Fort Rice.."

Some of Meginness information was obtained from an account by A. H. McHenry, whose father, Henry McHenry, was a member of the expedition that followed the native inhabitants after they fled the scene of the Lee massacre.

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"John Lee lived a few miles below Derrstown (Lewisburg) in the area that is now Winfield. On a warm evening in August, Lee and his family, along with a few of his neighbors, were having supper.  A band of Indians suddenly burst upon them.

"Katy Stoner  [possibly  the daughter of Gustavus Stoner of Northumberlan?] rushed upstairs and managed to hide behind a chimney.  Lee was tomahawked and scalped, as was an old man named John Walker.  Mrs. Boatman and a daughter were also killed.

"Mrs. Lee and two young children were taken captive. One of Lee's sons, who had not been at the supper,  had just been returning home as the Indians were leaving the house.  He was not seen, and he quickly fled to Northumberland and raised the alarm.  A party of twenty men were hastily collected by Col Hunter and they started in pursuit.

"When the party arrived at the Lee home, Lee & Mrs. Boatmans' daughter were alive, but in great agony.  Litters were quickly constructed, and they were sent to Fort Augusta.  Lee soon expired, but Miss Boatman recovered and lived for many years.

"Without delaying to bury the dead, Col Hunters party pursued the savages, catching sight of them above Lycoming creek.   In crossing the mountains, Mrs. Lee had been bitten by a rattlesnake, and her leg was greatly swollen, slowing the party down.  At the mouth of Pine Run, below Jersey Shore, she could go no further.  With the whites rapidly approaching, an Indian slipped up behind her, placed his rifle at the back of her head, and shot her. The entire upper portion of her head was blown off. The Indian then picked up her little child and hastily dashed it against a tree. When Col Hunter and his men came to the scene, the child was moaning, but alive, and the body of Mrs. Lee was still warm.

"Crossing the river as quickly as possible, they could see the savages, but as they came to the mountain swamp, there was no way to be sure the Indians were not lying in the thicket waiting to ambush them. Much exhausted, they reluctantly gave up chase, and headed home, stopping to bury first Mrs. Lee, then the others at Lee's house.  "A hole was dug beside walker, and his body rolled into it."

"Thomas Lee, the child taken captive, was not recovered for many years.  His older brother, who had raised the alarm, made arrangements with certain Indians to bring his brother to Tioga point, where he was delivered to his friends. Thomas, having been raised among Indians, did not wish to leave.    The friends tied him up, and placed him in a canoe.  When near Wilkes Barre they untied him, and he ran off.  It was several hours before they caught him. Once in Northumberland, Thomas remained sullen.  Indian boys and girls his own age were made to play with him for several days before he showed any disposition to join them.  Eventually he began to inquire the names of things, and gradually "became civilized" - from the account by Meginness, which was repeated by Linn in his annals of the Buffalo Valley.

1775 LeRoy  Penns Creek	Plum Tree 1779	Brady 1779
1780 Etzweiler	1780 Grozing or French Jacobs Mill	1781 Hettick

Where The Forts Once Stood

3 Day Celebration On The  160th Anniversary of The Penns Creek  Massacre, 1915

 

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1909 Lewisburg Journal

[Note the discrepancy - the tombstone reads August 12th, the Pennsylvania Historical Marker reads August 16th, a 1909 newspaper article gives the date as the 25th.  A letter directed to Colonel Magaw, at Carlisle, found among his papers, from Colonel Butler, dated 25th August, says, a party of Indians, supposed to be sixty or seventy in number, killed Mr. Lee and family, a few miles above Sunbury.  It does not provide an exact date.]

The Lewisburg Journal

August 17th 1939

Miltonian 1930

In the Annals of Buffalo Valley by Linn:

"Lee's massacre was about a year after Emerick's. It was in Dry Valley, and about the time of the general runaway. I saw Lee's family all lying scalped. Emerick has some children. I never saw any of them. There was one of the girls down below at the time, and was at my house about a year ago. Emerick lived near the hill, not far from Hummel's tavern, in Dry Valley. Emerick's children were all taken, except the one below. I saw Lees' killed in the house where they were killed. They had their heads all scalped, and were laid on a bundle of straw." Jacob Bower, of Union township, whose deposition was read, stated that knew David Emerick, and, three years after he became acquainted with him, he was taken by the Indians. " They killed him on the hill, and we fled to Lee's, and lived there until after hay-making. Lee was after the Indians when Trinkle and Faught were killed. Lee was killed by the Indians afterwards. Emerick was not taken prisoner the same summer Lee was killed, but the year we lived at Lee's."

The annals go on to establish that The Emerick and Bickle Massacre must have been in 1781, and the Lee massacre in 1782.

Page 212:

John Van Buskirk told me when he came to the Valley, in 181 6, the old people thereabouts showed him the spot where Lee was killed, by what is now (1877) a blasted pine, some little distance in a westerly course from the furnace stone stable ; and he said Lee was buried, with his family, near their residence, which Isaac Eyer, senior, tells me, stood just where the furnace railroad crosses the road to the river, and that his father lived in it until he built the new house, within his own recollection.

Records show that in September of 1770 John Lee hired James Wilson to survey a 38-acre tract of land. Wilson states, he “commenced at a white oak at a survey on which Ludwig Derr now lives.” This places the 38 acres near Lewisburg, probably in the area of Bucknell University, and raises the question as to whether the white oak referenced is the famous “Witness Tree” that still stands near the entrance to the Lewisburg Cemetery. 

Selinsgrove Times, 1930

 September 14, 1782 Independent Gazeteer, Philadelphia

Among the dead was an old gentleman named John Walker (1706-1782). In an assessment that is dated between 1778 and 1780 he is taxed in Buffalo Township, apparently in the neighborhood of John Lee. According to a 1937 letter written by a Walker descendant, Alice Walker who was born in 1855, John Walker lived in Harrisburg prior to the Revolution. She states that John Walker was a Dutchman who had several sons, three are remembered by history, Benjamin, William and Henry.

The Walker brothers, although young at the time of their father’s death, grew up to be respected citizens of the Pine Creek, a few miles above what is now Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, but at that time was part of Northumberland County. On June 27, 1790, eight years after the Lee massacre, the Walker brothers were among a number of men at Stephenson’s Tavern that was located near the mouth of Pine Creek. Two Seneca Indian chiefs who were “in the bash a hunting” stopped at the tavern, one was a young man and the other was middle aged. There are various versions of the story, but it is clear from all accounts, that the chiefs became intoxicated. One version handed down in the Walker family states that one of the chiefs exhibited a stick with notches in it that represented lives of white men he had taken. One of the patrons noted a long notch, and inquired about it. The drunken chief explained that it was for Colonel Walker, a big officer we killed. He went on to provide details of the death of John Walker, entertaining spectators by lying on the ground making grimacing faces that mimicked Walker, gloating how he looked as they tomahawked and scalped him. Benjamin, William and Henry Walker became incensed with rage at the performance, and set in place a plan to avenge their father’s death. They sought the help of Samuel Doyle (1752-1817), a Revolutionary War veteran and frontiersman. They pursued the two Senecas, and a desperate battle ensued with knives and tomahawks that ended in Pine Creek with the death of both Seneca chiefs, despite the younger man’s pleads to be spared, since he had not participated in the death of John Walker. Reports say the bodies were sunk in the creek, but rising waters revealed the murders as the bodies washed onto a gravel bar in the creek. Following the discovery of the murder of the Seneca chiefs the native inhabitants threatened to avenge their deaths. As the native inhabitants became agitated the local settlers became concerned for their own safety. The Walkers were suspected to be the murderers and some of the locals felt their actions were justified, while others believed that such an atrocity committed during a time of peace would renew the violence that had finally subsided in recent years. Days later a letter was sent by Robert Fleming, and signed by 26 settlers of Pine Creek, to both the Northumberland County Council and Lieutenant Bernard Hubley of Northumberland County requesting arms, ammunition and provisions. Hubley along with Colonel William Wilson and other members of the Northumberland Council sent letters to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council regarding the incident, and expressing fear of retaliation from the Senecas. Several letters of correspondence were exchanged regarding how to proceed because the hostilities had been perpetrated against “friendly Indians,” and any troops sent for protection might be considered to be a sign of additional hostility. It was clearly a political situation for Pennsylvania’s government. The Vice President of Pennsylvania, George Ross, responded on behalf of the Council, explaining that a proclamation had been issued by President Mifflin that included an $800.00 reward for the apprehension of the perpetrators so they may be brought to justice. He provided copies of the proclamation along with a letter to the native inhabitants decrying the murders, and explaining the action being taken by Pennsylvania’s government. The hope was that the actions of the state government would quell any retaliation by the Senecas.

Thomas Mifflin, President of Pennsylvania’s Proclamation offering an $800.00 reward for the apprehension and conviction of Benjamin Walker, Henry Walker, Joseph Walker, and Samuel Doyle for the murder of the two Seneca Chiefs on Pine Creek.

John Robinson of Pine Creek sent a letter to Colonel Proctor on behalf of the Walker brothers and Samuel Doyle, seeking his influence with the Council with a request for a pardon that was submitted. Robinson explains their regret, as well as their reason for killing the native inhabitants being that one of them had vaunted the taking of twenty-three scalps, one of them being their father. The Supreme Executive Council was notified on September 23, 1790, that Samuel Doyle had been apprehended and was in the Lancaster jail. Doyle was subsequently tried and acquitted in Sunbury. The Walker brothers’ oral family history says they hid in a cellar for nine days, and then fled during a noisy and violent storm, traveling deep into the mountains of Western Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh, where the three rivers come together, they decided it was best to separate and head in different directions. In Geneseo, a key settlement of the Seneca tribe, the actions of Pennsylvania’s Executive Council did little to satisfy their anger at the offensive act of war. The Senecas sent a message to the Council demanding that the Governor come to the “Painted Post” (near modern day Tioga, Pennsylvania) and meet with the tribe of the deceased to “bury the hatchet, and put it out of memory as it is yet sticking in our head.” In addition, they demanded the return of “the property of the murdered, and to bring the property of the murderers.” President Thomas Mifflin declined to make the trip personally, but commissioned Colonel William Wilson to act as his representative to try to reestablish relations with the Senecas.

Noting that Congress had just passed the federal Indian Trade and Intercourse Act on August 22, 1790, Washington took control of the situation, because under the new act, it was not a state matter, but rather the federal government’s duty to regulate Indian affairs. The Constitution was not even a year and half old, and the federal government had not yet organized or staffed itself fully. Washington supported the plan that was put in motion by the government of Pennsylvania, but in addition saw the meeting as an opportunity to communicate the details of the new Indian Trade and Intercourse Act with the Senecas. Under the act, he took control from Pennsylvania on behalf of the federal government, and appointed an individual to represent the United States. Washington chose Timothy Pickering, who had served as his Quartermaster General of the Continental Army during the Revolution. Pickering was living in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, at the time and was seeking a position with the federal government. In a meeting between the two men, Washington asked Pickering to serve as his representative to meet with the Seneca chiefs. He directed Pickering to “express the fullest displeasure at the murders committed at Pine Creek,” to explain the measures that have been taken, and “to communicate the act of Congress respecting the trade and intercourse with the Indian Tribes.” He added that he also wanted Pickering to declare to them the friendly disposition of the federal government towards them, and to extend the government’s protection and support to them. Washington was clear in that he wanted the meeting to be a small event with only a handful of witnesses to the offering of condolences and presents to the families of the murdered chiefs. In November of 1790, following the logistics of moving supplies to accommodate the conference that had swelled to approximately 220 Seneca men, women and children in Tioga, a meeting was convened with chiefs Big Tree, Little Beard, Farmer’s Brother, and Red Jacket in attendance. It was Red Jacket who insisted that wampum belts be presented to the families of the deceased, not only presents. Pickering had not brought wampum belts with him, and Red Jacket agreed to sell him the wampum belts.

The Tioga conference was a success and resulted in establishing good relations between the United States and the Geneseo Senecas. However, Pickering would later write to Washington in his report on the Tioga conference the following statement, “I am informed that the only one of the murderers of the Indians at Pine Creek who was apprehended has had his trial…and been acquitted against the clearest evidence and the most pointed application of it by the Chief Justice.” Pickering continues, “It is in the highest degree mortifying to find that the bulk of the frontier inhabitants consider the killing of Indians in time of peace to be no crime and that their murderers are faultless, provided they escape detection.” He complains of giving his word to the Senecas that the murderers would be brought to justice in the same manner as if they had murdered a white man. The Aftermath Benjamin ended up in Dearborn County, Indiana, and used his mother’s maiden name, Wilson. His wife and children discretely joined him several years later. Henry traveled to New York, dying in Bath, and Joseph went to Butler County, Ohio. A Walker descendant, Dave Miller, claims a pardon was issued years later, and that he possesses a copy.

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Find More Stories & History Of Lewisburg Here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/lewisburg-pa.html

And More Stories & History From Surrounding Towns Here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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The Central Susquehanna Valley In The Revolutionary War 1775-1784
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-central-susquehanna-valley-in.html

Among the local militiamen who volunteered to protect the region, was

Major John Lee who had settled in the area now known as Winfield, being among
the first settlers following the Treaty of Stanwix (1768). He acquired about 300
acres in April of 1769 from the Penn Proprietors, naming it “Lee’s Adventure.”
The stone house that still stands along the creek in Winfield is believed by many
to be the site of Lee’s homestead. 

Lee owned the first tavern in what is today Winfield.  The tax assessment list in 1775 shows him to be a wealthy man.  His household was one of only 12, out of 146, in the area to have servants.

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There is a gravestone on the side of the southbound lane of Route 15 in
Winfield that bears Major John Lee’s name. That stone does not mark the grave
of John Lee. In 1938, Pennsylvania State Representative, Charles R. Reagan
along with C. M. Steese of the Union County Historical Society applied to the War
Department for a headstone for the unmarked grave of Lee. Then in August of
1939 a celebration was held in Winfield to set the marker and remember Major
John Lee and the incident that occurred in 1782. The program included an
invocation, a speech by the Secretary of the Northumberland County Historical
Society, a speech by the Honorable Charles R. Reagan, and another by the
President of the Union County Historical Society and the unveiling of the marker,
a military salute by the Troop “C” firing squad, and closed with a benediction.
The marker reads, JOHN LEE MAJOR 1BATTALION PA MILITIA
REVOLUTIONARY WAR AUGUST 12, 1782

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From Indian Wars of Pennsylvania By C. Hal Sipe pg 674:
Outrages in Union County in 1782- The Lee tragedy
Indian outrages in Union County began on May 6th of this year, when two men named Lee and Razoner were killed between Mifflinburg and New Berlin, and Edward Tate was badly wounded. They belonged to Capt. George Overmeir's Company of Rangers.
On the evening of August 13th 1782, occurred the attack on the home of Major John Lee, in what is now Winfield, Union County.
This was one of the most revolting crimes of the Pennsylvania frontier. The family and some neighbors were seated for supper when between sixty and seventy Indians rushed into the house, tomahawked and scalped Major Lee, and old man named John Walker and Mrs. Claudius Boatman and her daughter. A young woman named Katy Stoner hurried up the stairs and hid behind a chimney, where she remained undiscovered, and thus survived to relate the details of the story. Mrs. lee, her small child and a larger boy named Thomas were led away captives. Lee's son Robert, who was absent when the Indians came, returned just as the Indians were leaving, but was not discovered by them. He fled to Northumberland and gave the alarm.
The Indians fled along the Great Path, leading up that side of the valley of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, over White Deer Mountains, and then crossed to the east side of the river below Muncy. Colonel Samuel Hunter with a band of twenty volunteers hastened in pursuit from Fort Augusta, where Sunbury now stands. Arriving at the Lee home, Col. Hunter's men found some of the victims of savage cruelty yet alive and writhing in the agony of their wounds. Both Major Lee and Mrs. Boatman's daughter were alive, and were carried back to Fort Augusta on litters, were the Major died in great agony soon after his arrival, while Mrs. Boatman was nursed back to health. Colonel Hunter and his party, without waiting to bury the dead, hastened after the Indians as rapidly as possible, and came in sight of them above Lycoming Creek.
Mrs. Lee was accidently bitten on the ankle by a rattlesnake while crossing White Deer Mountains, causing her leg to become terribly swollen and to pain her so severely that she traveled with great difficulty. The Indians, realizing they were being pursued, urged her along as rapidly as her strength would permit, but she became weaker and weaker, and when about four miles below where Jersey Shore now stands, her strength entirely failed her, and she seated herself upon the ground near the mouth of Pine Run. By this time, Colonel Hunter's party were close upon the Indians, and in order that the poor woman might not be recovered by the whites, a warrior stealthy slipped up behind her, placed the muzzle of his rifle close to her ear and pulled the trigger, blowing off the whole top of her head. Another Indian then snatched up her young child, and holding it aloft by the feet, dashed it against a tree. The whole Indian band then fled with renewed speed, crossing the river at Smith's fording, at Level Corner, and following up through Nippennose Valley. When Col. Hunter's men came upon the spot where Mrs. Lee was murdered, they found her body still warm. Happily her child was not dangerously injured, but was moaning piteously. The pursuit was now pressing with so much vigor that near Antes Gap, the Indians hurriedly separated, further pursuit was not prudent. His men came back and then buried the body of Mrs. Lee where she died and returned, bringing back the child. At the Lee home, they halted and buried the dead there. They dug a hole alongside of Walkers body and rolled him in.
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From the LYCOMING COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA GENEALOGY PROJECT

The murder of Maj. John Lee and several members of his family, some time on August 16, 1782, was very cruel and caused much excitement among the people. He lived near what is now the little town of Winfield, a few miles above Northumberland, on the west side of the river. It was a warm evening, and Lee and his family, with one or two neighbors, were eating supper. Suddenly a band of Indians burst upon them. Lee was stricken down and scalped, and an old man named Walker shared the same fate. Mrs. Boatman was killed and scalped, and a daughter was also scalped. Two or three escaped. A son of Lee named Robert was returning home, and when he came in sight of the house the Indians were leaving it. He fled to Sunbury and gave the alarm. In the mean time the Indians, retreated up the river, carrying Mrs. Lee and her infant child with them as prisoners. Colonel Hunter hastily collected a party of twenty men and started in pursuit. When they reached the house they found Lee and Miss Boatman still, living. They were sent to Sunbury on litters for treatment, but Lee soon after died. Miss Boatman recovered and lived for many years.