[REVOLUTIONARY WAR.] &
STILL (Elijah).
ALS account of attack of Fort Susquehanna by "Tories", "Indians & the White Savages".
Elija Still writes home to his sister and cousins, reporting the information he has received from his brother, Jabez.
“I have Recd a Letter from poor Dear Brother Tober … in which he informs me that soon after he arrivd, at the Fort at Susquehana the Indians and the White Savages the Tories more three Hundred came & surrounded the Fort our People fought them went out of the Fort. Drove them off without any Peoples being killed but they drive of[f] almost and all their Cattle. Poor Brother lost 3 Cows one ox one cow & 2 Horses. His life was Exposed going down the River to his Wife.”
This was a critical time in the Revolutionary War as settlers in the Susquehana Valley were under ongoing attack by the British and their allies. Jabez describes the attack by a force of 300 and how, despite the loss of most of their cattle, fought them off. The settlement was, however, subsequently disbanded and Jabez Still escaped by boat to safety. This was no doubt part of the “Little Runaway” of 1779 (a repeat of the “Big Runaway” of the preceding year), which saw the mass evacuation of settlers to Fort Augusta at the confluence of the north and west branches of the Susquehanna River. General Sullivan moved in and took full advantage of this, defeating the British at Newtown in August 1779.
Jabez mentions another battle “Yesterday I heard there had lately been a terrible battle & it turned out much in our favour.” This presumably refers to Col. Goose van Schark’s defeat of the British at the Iroquois village Onondaga.
