Wyoming Commemorative Association was founded in 1878 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the

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 ...

(also known as the Wyoming Valley Massacre). This

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

battle was fought on July 3, 1778, near

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 present-day

Exeter, Pennsylvania Exeter is a borough in the Greater Pittston-Wilkes-Barre area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, about west of Scranton and a few miles north of Wilkes-Barre. It is located on the western bank of the Susquehanna River and has a total ...

History

The Association was informally organized in 1877 to prepare for the centennial anniversary of the battle. Organizers of the events gathered on January 1, 1878 on the recently excavated foundation of the original fort at

Forty Fort Forty Fort was a stronghold built by settlers from Westmoreland County, Connecticut, on the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolutionary War, both Connecticut and Pennsylvania claimed this territory, as ...

, the site from where the American defenders had departed on the day of the fateful battle in 1778. In 1928, the

sesquicentennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

of the battle was elaborately celebrated both at the monument as well as throughout the community. The Association's first observance was held on July 3, 1878, drawing a crowd of more than 50,000 people to hear the main speaker for the event, U. S. President

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governo ...

. During the three-day visit, President Hayes was accompanied by the U.S.

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

John Sherman John Sherman (May 10, 1823October 22, 1900) was an American politician from Ohio throughout the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. A member of the Republican Party, he served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. He also served as ...

, as well as the

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Charles Devens Charles Devens Jr. (April 4, 1820 – January 7, 1891) was an American lawyer, jurist and statesman. He also served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life and career Born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Devens gr ...

.{{cite book, last1=Harvey, first1=Oscar Jewell, last2=Smith, first2=Ernest Gray, title=A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania: From its First Beginnings to the Present Time, Including Chapters of Newly-discovered Early Wyoming Valley History, Together With Many Biographical Sketches and Much Genealogical Material, date=1929, pages=2132–2135, edition=1st Over a quarter of a century later, President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

visited the Wyoming Monument during a tour of

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 ...

in 1905. On May 28, 2013, former President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

gave a speech at the Monument.

19th Century speakers

Each year since 1878, the Wyoming Commemorative Association has hosted a major observance on the grounds of the Wyoming Monument to pay tribute to the famed battle. Hereditary and military organizations place floral tributes at the foot of the monument and the 24th Connecticut Militia (Revolutionary War reenactors) present a volley tribute. Many members of the Association represent some of the leading families of the greater Wilkes-Barre area as well as descendants of those who fought in the battle. Frank E.P. Conyngham has served as president of the association since 1990. A number of prominent speakers have addressed the annual program, including Rev.

Thomas K. Beecher Thomas Kinnicut Beecher (February 10, 1824 - March 14, 1900) was a Congregationalist preacher and the principal of several schools. As a Congregational minister, his father took the family from Beecher's birthplace of Litchfield, Connecticut, to ...

, D.D., brother of famed writer and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1895; Francis W. Halsey of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

in 1898 and Dr.

John Howard Harris John Howard Harris (April 24, 1847 – April 4, 1925) was president of Bucknell University from 1889 to 1919. Biography John Howard Harris was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania on April 24, 1847. Harris served in the American Civil War. He o ...

President of

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

in 1899.

20th Century speakers

In 1901, Dr. E. D. Warfield, President of Lafayette College; Dr.

William Elliot Griffis William Elliot Griffis (September 17, 1843 – February 5, 1928) was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author.Brown, John Howard. (1904)."Griffis, William Elliot,"''The Twentieth Century Biographical Diction ...

in 1903; History Professor Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1906; Hon.

Simeon Eben Baldwin Simeon Eben Baldwin (February 5, 1840 – January 30, 1927) was an American jurist, law professor, and politician who served as the 65th governor of Connecticut. Education The son of jurist, Connecticut governor and U.S. Senator Roger Sherman ...

in 1907; Pulitzer Prize winner

Claude Halstead Van Tyne Claude Halstead Van Tyne (October 16, 1869 – March 21, 1930) was an American historian. He was a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in 1902. He taught history at the University of Michigan from 1903 to 1930 and wrote several books ...

of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1909; Hon. John E. Potter in 1916; Pennsylvania State Librarian and Director of the State Museum of Pennsylvania Frederic A. Godcharles in 1923;

Willis Fletcher Johnson Willis Fletcher Johnson (1857 – March 29, 1931), was an author, journalist, and lecturer who had a twenty-year tenure as the foreign and diplomatic editorial writer for '' The New York Tribune''. Critical reception According to Paula Hunt, w ...

diplomatic writer for the New York Tribune in 1925;

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

dean William E. Lingelbach in 1930;

Arthur C. Parker Arthur Caswell Parker (April 5, 1881 – January 1, 1955) was an American archaeologist, historian, folklorist, museologist and noted authority on Native American culture. Of Seneca and Scots-English descent, he was director of the Roc ...

in 1931; Alexander Flick, professor at Syracuse University and then New York State historian in 1933; historian and

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

President

Dixon Ryan Fox Dixon Ryan Fox (December 7, 1887 – January 30, 1945) was an American educator, researcher, and president of Union College, New York from 1934 until his death in 1945. Fox graduated from Columbia College in 1911. He took his Ph.D in histor ...

in 1934; historian,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

librarian and editor of the Susquehannah Company Papers Julian P. Boyd in 1936; Pulitzer Prize winning author Roy Franklin Nichols in 1937; Pulitzer Prize winner

Lawrence Henry Gipson Lawrence Henry Gipson (December 7, 1880 – September 26, 1971) was an American historian, who won the 1950 Bancroft Prize and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for History for volumes of his magnum opus, the fifteen-volume history of "The British Empire Be ...

in 1941; former

Pennsylvania governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforc ...

Arthur James in 1947;

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

President Ralph Cooper Hutchison in 1951; Julian P. Boyd, editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson in 1958;

Pennsylvania Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

Justice Benjamin R. Jones in 1959; Congressman Francis Walter in 1960; Hon.

William Scranton William Warren Scranton (July 19, 1917 – July 28, 2013) was an American Republican Party politician and diplomat. Scranton served as the 38th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967, and as United States Ambassador to the United Nations fr ...

in 1961;

Wilkes University Wilkes University is a private university in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200 graduate students (both full and part-time). Wilkes was founded in 1933 as a satellite campus of Bucknell University, and bec ...

President Eugene Farley in 1963; U.S. Senator

Hugh Scott Hugh Doggett Scott Jr. (November 11, 1900 – July 21, 1994) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1959 and in the U.S. Senate, from 195 ...

in 1969; Congressman Daniel J. Flood in 1973; Major General Joseph Perugino of the 28th Infantry of the

Pennsylvania National Guard The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 pe ...

in 1995; and Dr. Michael MacDowell, President of

Misericordia University Misericordia University is a private Roman Catholic university in Dallas, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Religious Sisters of Mercy in 1924 as College Misericordia; in 2007 it became a university and changed its name. The university offers ...

in 1999.

21st Century speakers

Theodore Roosevelt's great-grandson Tweed Roosevelt, spoke at the Association's 2005 observance, which celebrated Roosevelt's visit to the Monument in 1905. The principal speaker at the 2010 observance was Denise Dennis, author and collateral descendant of Revolutionary War soldier Gershom Prince, an African American patriot who was killed during the Battle of Wyoming. On July 4, 2011, the Association held their annual observance, which included a rededication of the Wyoming Monument following its extensive restoration. In 2012, the keynote speaker for the observance was Dr. William V. Lewis, Jr., Commissioner of the

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responsible for the collection, conservation and interpretation of Pennsylvania's historic heritage. The commission cares fo ...

. In 2013, the commemoration speaker was Professor John Frantz, Professor Emeritus of American History at The Pennsylvania State University In May 2013, at a privately sponsored event at the Monument, former U. S. President

gave an address on the Monument grounds. The Association publishes an annual ''Proceedings'', which is widely distributed both to its membership and to historic research libraries.

References

External links