The Pennamite–Yankee Wars or Yankee–Pennamite Wars were a series of conflicts consisting of the First Pennamite War (1769–1770), the Second Pennamite War (1774), and the Third Pennamite War (1784), in which the
Wyoming Valley
The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan ...
along the North Branch of the
Susquehanna River was disputed between settlers from
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
(
Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
) and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
(Pennamites).
Grants to Connecticut and Penn
Claims on the
Wyoming Valley
The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan ...
were disputed from the start. The
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
regarded the
Susquehanna River as the border between
New Netherland
New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...
and the English colony of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. King
Charles II of Great Britain
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
rejected all Dutch claims on North America and he granted the land to Connecticut in 1662, two years before his country's conquest of New Netherland and its subsequent conversion into the
Province of New York
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...
. In 1681, Charles II also included the same land in the grant to
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
.
The charter of each colony assigned the territory to the colony so that overlapping land claims existed. In the 17th century, fierce resistance by the
Susquehannock rendered the debate academic, but by the mid-18th century, the double grant became problematic.
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
mentioned the conflict in his pro-independence pamphlet ''
Common Sense
''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arg ...
'' as evidence that "Continental matters" could be sensibly regulated only by a Continental government.
Both colonies purchased the same land by treaties with the
Indians. Connecticut sent settlers to the area in 1754, but the work of colonization was delayed for a time by the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754†...
. In 1768 the
Iroquois Confederacy repudiated their sale to Connecticut's Susquehanna Company and sold the land to the Penns;
[ This source contains detailed accounts of the conflicts.] however Yankee settlers from Connecticut founded the town of
Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...
in 1769. Armed bands of Pennsylvanian Pennamites tried to expel them without success from 1769 to 1770, starting the First Pennamite War. This was followed by the Second Pennamite War in 1775, and by the Third Pennamite War in 1784.
Connecticut's claim was confirmed by King
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
in 1771. In 1773, more settlers from Connecticut erected a new town which they named
Westmoreland. In December 1775, the Pennsylvanians refused to leave, and the militia of
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Northumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,647. Its county seat is Sunbury.
The county was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancas ...
, forced them at gunpoint to leave.
Resolution
Conflicts continued between the two claimants at the end of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, and the Continental Congress overturned the king's ruling in 1782 and upheld Pennsylvania's claim to the area. As such, it remains the only interstate dispute settled by Congress under the
Articles of Confederation. But the state of Pennsylvania sought to force the Yankees from the land in 1784, which began the Third Pennamite War, with Connecticut and
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
sending men to help the settlers. During the conflict, the Pennsylvania general
John Armstrong, assisting the Pennsylvania representative Alexander Patterson, brought about a truce by promising impartial justice and protection, but as soon as the Yankees were defenseless he took them prisoner. This treatment swayed public sentiment in favor of the Yankees, and Patterson was withdrawn.
Umbrage remained and disputes broke out until the Pennsylvania Legislature confirmed the various land titles in 1788. The controversy ended in 1799, with the Wyoming Valley becoming part of Pennsylvania and the Yankee settlers becoming Pennsylvanians with legal claims to their land.
See also
* On July 3, 1778, the infamous
Battle of Wyoming
The Battle of Wyoming, also known as the Wyoming Massacre, was a military engagement during the American Revolutionary War between Patriot militiamen and a mixed force of Loyalist soldiers and Iroquois raiders. The clash took place in the Wyom ...
occurred, which was an episodic event within the Pennamite–Yankee War period, but actually was part of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
.
References
Bibliography
* Ousterhout, Anne M
"Frontier Vengeance: Connecticut Yankees vs. Pennamites in the Wyoming Valley,"''Pennsylvania History,'' Summer 1995, Vol. 62 Issue 3, pp 330–363
* Smith, ''Story of Wyoming Valley'', (Kingston, Pa., 1906)
Primary sources
The following printed resources are in the collection of the Connecticut State Library (CSL)
*Boyd, J. P. The Susquehannah Company, 1753–1803.
SL call number: F157 .W9 B69 1931*Henry, William (ed.). Documents Relating to the Connecticut Settlement in the Wyoming Valley. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 1990
SL call number: F157 .W9 D63 1990 v1, 2
*Joyce, Mary Hinchcliffe. Pioneer Days in the Wyoming Valley. Philadelphia: 1928
SL call number: F157 .W9 J89
*Smith, William. An Examination of the Connecticut Claim to Lands in Pennsylvania: With an Appendix, Containing Extracts and Copies Taken from Original Papers. Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1774
SL call number: Wells Collection F157 .W9 S55
*Stark, S. Judson. The Wyoming Valley: Probate Records... Wilkes-Barre, PA: Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 1923
SL call number: F157 .W9 S72
*Warfle, Richard Thomas. Connecticut's Western Colony; the Susquehannah Affair. (Connecticut Bicentennial Series, #32). Hartford, CT: American Revolutionary Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, 1979
SL call number: Conn Doc Am35 cb num 32
*Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre (the "Diamond City"), Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre, PA: The Committee on Souvenir and Program, 1906
SL call number: F159 .W6 W65 1906
External links
Connecticut's "Susquehannah Settlers"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennamite-Yankee War
American Revolutionary War
Military history of the Thirteen Colonies
Pre-statehood history of Connecticut
Pre-statehood history of Pennsylvania
History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Internal territorial disputes of the United States
Internal wars of the United States