Sugarloaf massacre

The Sugarloaf massacre was a skirmish that occurred on September 11, 1780. In the event, a number of Native Americans and loyalists attacked militia based in Northumberland County and Northampton County. The militia were led by a Captain Klader. The Sugarloaf massacre was the first major historical event in Luzerne County. The Indians and Loyalists were led by the Seneca chief Roland Montour. The bodies of the dead Revolutionary War soldiers were collected on September 20, 1780. Despite the fact that it is commonly believed that the Sugarloaf Massacre occurred on Sugarloaf Mountain, it actually occurred not far from Little Nescopeck Creek between Buck and Nescopeck Mountains.

Background
Previous violence between the Iroquois people and white settlers was one of the contributing factors to the events of the Sugarloaf massacre. Such violence dated back as far as the 17th century. In the year 1780, there were a large number of attacks by Indians in the vicinity of the area where the massacre took place, including an attempted attack on Moses Van Campen.

On June 15, 1780, a group of American militia in Northampton were commissioned to serve for seven months. These soldiers were led by Captain Johannes Van Etten.

The area in the vicinity of the Sugarloaf massacre, especially the communities of Bloomsburg and Catawissa was home to large numbers of loyalists, who aided the British army during the Revolutionary War. Near the end of the summer of 1780, however, several local people decided to do something about the loyalists in the area. Thus, after receiving orders from the Columbia County council of safety and President Reed in Philadelphia, Colonel Hunter, who was based in Fort Augusta; and Captain Klader, who was based in Northumberland County, made plans to take action against the loyalists. These plans also involved the formation of a detachment of 41 of Van Etten's men. This detachment was placed under the command of Captain Klader. Klader was commanded to head with his group of soldiers from Fort Penn in Northampton County into Sugarloaf Valley to search for Loyalist sympathizers and spies. Klader's men left Fort Penn in the beginning of September 1780. On the way, the men stopped at Fort Allen for a short time. On September 8, the men left Fort Allen. Upon leaving the fort, Klader's men crossed the Lehigh River and traveled to the community of Jim Thorpe and then to Nesquehoning Creek, where they camped. The next day, Klader's men traveled over Broad Mountain and through a stretch of wilderness known as the Haselschwamp. The men passed through the swamp on September 10.

On September 6, 1780, a group of approximately 250 to 300 Native Americans and British soldiers arrived at Fort Rice, near Chillisquaque Creek in Lewis Township, Northumberland County. The group of British soldiers and Native Americans proceeded to attack the fort and the surrounding residences, but Colonel Hunter sent some troops from Fort Jenkins to their aid. Approximately 200 men arrived at Fort Rice, and the British soldiers and Native Americans dispersed. Upon retreating, these people went over Knob Mountain and a group of 30 to 40 of them went down the stream known as Cabin Run to Fort Jenkins, which they burned down, along with numerous buildings in the fort's vicinity. After burning down Fort Jenkins, the British soldiers and Native Americans crossed the Susquehanna River and went to Sugarloaf Valley in southwestern Luzerne County.

The attack
On September 11, 1780, Montour commanded his troops to wait in a pine grove for Klader's arriving platoon, having learned of its existence from local Loyalists. Approximately at this time, Klader and his men were traveling down Nescopeck Creek and over Buck Mountain to where the Indians and Loyalists were waiting.

At noon on September 11, 1780, while Captain Klader's men were resting and not watchful, despite the fact that Klader knew he and his men were in hostile territory. They were also scattered across the surrounding countryside and were not carrying their weapons. In these circumstances, the Loyalists and Native Americans in the area started firing muskets at them. The Native Americans then arrived in the midst of Klader's men, also armed with tomahawks. After Klader himself was killed, Lieutenant John Myer attempted to make a last stand against the Indians, but was unsuccessful. A total of 15 of Klader's men were killed by the Indians. The total number of deaths of Indians and Loyalists is unknown, but Roland Montour, the leader of the Indians, definitely died after the skirmish, from wounds inflicted. However, a number of the soldiers escaped and three were taken prisoner. The men who were taken prisoner were a private, Lieutenant John Myer, and Ensign Scoby. Myer managed to escape, but the other two men were taken to Niagara. Some of those who escaped before being captured were also pursued. A number of the American soldiers who escaped did so via the Nescopeck Path, a nearby Indian trail. One also managed to escape by crossing the Susquehanna River and another escaped back over Buck Mountain. After the end of the skirmish, the dead soldiers were scalped.

Upon escaping from the Indians, John Myer traveled to Fort Wyoming, which he reached on September 14. It was at this point that everyone else in the area received word of the skirmish.

Aftermath
After the skirmish, Montour and his war party searched the surrounding area for several hours. The next day, they, along with their prisoners, went down Nescopeck Creek and towards the Susquehanna River before turning towards Berwick and Catawissa.

On September 15, a group left Fort Allen with the intent of burying the dead soldiers. Some time after that, on September 20, a Colonel Stephan Balliet and Joseph Reed arrived in the are with a company of men and buried the fifteen people who died in the event, although they were in a state of considerable decomposition by that point.

Many of the residents of the area in the vicinity of the Sugarloaf massacre were angered by the event. It was for this reason that Colonel Hunter travelled to eradicate a nearby Loyalist settlement. He travelled past Mahoning Creek and Roaring Creek to the settlement. Additionally, Moses Van Campen and his friend, a man known as Captain Solomon, disguised themselves as Native Americans and travelled to the settlement. They then encountered a Loyalist hunter named Wilkinson and proceeded to gather information about the Loyalist settlement from him. Wilkinson led them to the other Loyalists, and Van Campen and Solomon tricked them into coming with them. The Loyalists, including Wilkinson, were thus captured by Captain Robinson. The captured loyalists were brought back to Northumberland, where Colonel Hunter agreed to release them on the condition that they would leave the area.

After the massacre, the three soldiers who escaped spread the news of the event as far away as the Delaware River.

The survivors of the Sugarloaf massacre lived until the middle of the 19th century. In 1933, the Pennsylvania Historical Commission together with the Wyoming Historical and Genealogical Society and the Sugarloaf Commemorative Committee built a memorial near to the location of the massacre. In 1947, a State Historical Marker devoted to the skirmish was installed on Pennsylvania Route 93, near Conyngham.

Media response
Accounts of the Sugarloaf massacre were included in texts about regional and local history as early as the 1840s. In September 1866, an article about the Sugarloaf Massacre was written by John C. Stokes and published in the Hazleton Sentinel. In the 1930s, William Tilden Stauffer, a member of the Sugarloaf Commemorative Committee wrote a number of articles on the skirmish. A play about the massacre was performed in 1976, as part of the United States's bicentennial celebrations. However, as of 2009, the event is in obscurity.