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Wyoming Commemorative Association was founded in 1878 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Wyoming (also known as the Wyoming Valley Massacre). This American Revolutionary War battle was fought on July 3, 1778, near Wilkes-Barre in present-day Exeter, Pennsylvania.
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, the site from where the American defenders had departed on the day of the fateful battle in 1778. In 1928, the sesquicentennial 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. During the three-day visit, President Hayes was accompanied by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman, as well as the U.S. Attorney General Charles Devens. [1] Over a quarter of a century later, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Wyoming Monument during a tour of Wyoming Valley in 1905. On May 28, 2013, former President Jimmy Carter gave a speech at the Monument.
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, D.D., brother of famed writer and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1895; Pennsylvania historian Sydney G. Fisher in 1896; Francis W. Halsey of the New York Times in 1898 and Dr. John Howard Harris President of Bucknell University in 1899.
In 1901, Dr. E. D. Warfield, President of Lafayette College; Dr. William Elliot Griffis in 1903; History Professor Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard University in 1906; Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin in 1907; Pulitzer Prize winner Claude Halstead Van Tyne of the University of Michigan 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 diplomatic writer for the New York Tribune in 1925; University of Pennsylvania dean William E. Lingelbach in 1930; Arthur C. Parker in 1931; Alexander Flick, professor at Syracuse University and then New York State historian in 1933; historian and Union College President Dixon Ryan Fox in 1934; historian, Princeton University 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 in 1941; former Pennsylvania governor Arthur James in 1947; Lafayette College President Ralph Cooper Hutchison in 1951; Julian P. Boyd, editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson in 1958; Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Benjamin R. Jones in 1959; Congressman Francis Walter in 1960; Hon. William Scranton in 1961; Wilkes University President Eugene Farley in 1963; U.S. Senator Hugh Scott in 1969; Congressman Daniel J. Flood in 1973; Major General Joseph Perugino of the 28th Infantry of the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1995; and Dr. Michael MacDowell, President of Misericordia University in 1999.
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. 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 Jimmy Carter 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.
Wilkes-Barre is a city in and the county seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. 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 second-largest city, after Scranton, in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 567,559 as of the 2020 census, making it the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania after the Delaware Valley, Greater Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley, and Greater Harrisburg.
Luzerne County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 906 square miles (2,350 km2), of which 890 square miles (2,300 km2) is land and 16 square miles (41 km2) is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 325,594, making it the most populous county in the northeastern part of the state. The county seat and most populous city is Wilkes-Barre. Other populous communities include Hazleton, Kingston, Nanticoke, and Pittston. Luzerne County is included in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a total population of 555,426 as of 2017. The county is part of the Northeastern Pennsylvania region of the state.
Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Wyoming Valley metropolitan area, which has a population of 562,037 as of 2020. It is the sixth-most populous city in Pennsylvania.
Forty Fort is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,233 at the 2020 census. Its neighbors are Wyoming, Plains Township, Kingston, and Swoyersville. The Wilkes-Barre Wyoming Valley Airport and the Wyoming Seminary Lower School are both located in the borough.
Kingston is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the western bank of the Susquehanna River opposite Wilkes-Barre. Kingston was first settled in the early 1770s, and incorporated as a borough in 1857. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,349, making it the most populous borough in Luzerne County.
Wyoming is a borough in the Greater Pittston area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located 5 miles (8 km) north of Wilkes-Barre, along the Susquehanna River. The population was 3,097 as of the 2020 census.
The Battle of Wyoming was a military engagement during the American Revolutionary War between Patriot militia and a force of Loyalist soldiers and Indigenous warriors. The battle took place in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania on July 3, 1778 in what is now Luzerne County. The result was an overwhelming defeat for the Americans. The battle is often referred to as the "Wyoming Massacre" because of the roughly 300 Patriot casualties, many of whom were killed by the Seneca and Cayuga as they fled the battlefield or after they had been taken prisoner.
Westmoreland County, Connecticut was a county established by the State of Connecticut in October 1776, encompassing the present-day area of Wyoming Valley, in northeastern Pennsylvania. Both colonies claimed this territory and the issue was further confused by the Six Nations selling the territory to both Connecticut in 1754 and again to Pennsylvania in 1768. The first of the Yankee-Pennamite Wars were fought in and around the County, from 1771 through 1775.
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 area, it is known as the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, after its principal cities, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. With a population of 567,559 as of the 2020 United States census, it is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania, after the Delaware Valley, Greater Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley, and the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical areas.
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 settlers from Connecticut (Yankees) and Pennsylvania (Pennamites) disputed for control of the Wyoming Valley along the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. Both colonies and later states declared that their original land grants gave them control of this territory.
The Times Leader is a privately owned newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Route 115 (PA 115) is a 35.7-mile-long (57.5 km) north–south state highway in eastern Pennsylvania. It stretches from U.S. Route 209 (US 209) in Brodheadsville, Monroe County, northwest to Interstate 81 (I-81) and PA 309 near Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County. PA 115 passes through rural areas along its route, intersecting PA 903 in Tunkhannock Township, I-80 and PA 940 in Tobyhanna Township, and I-476 in Bear Creek Township. The road serves as a connector between the Pocono Mountains and the Wyoming Valley.
The Wyoming Monument is an American Revolutionary War monument and grave site located in the Borough of Wyoming in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
Greater Pittston is a 65.35 sq mi (169.3 km2) region in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in reference to the area in and around Pittston. As of 2010, the total population of Greater Pittston is 48,020. This region includes Avoca, Dupont, Duryea, Exeter Boro, Exeter Township, Hughestown, Jenkins Township, Laflin, Pittston Township, West Pittston, West Wyoming, Wyoming, and Yatesville. It is a subregion of Wyoming Valley.
Campbell's Ledge is a geographical feature in Duryea, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It is about 1,280 feet (390 m) above sea level. It is located about 0.3 miles (0.48 km) south of the center of the nearby Campbell's Ledge Reservoir. It features a multipurpose antenna for emergency services.
Shawnee Cemetery in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, located on 13.5 acres on a hillside overlooking Wyoming Valley, was established by the Shawnee Cemetery Association, and chartered on September 5, 1873. Interments began in the fall of 1873, many of which were initially reinterments from other older cemeteries.
The Luzerne County Courthouse is a historic county courthouse located in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The building houses the government of Luzerne County.
Thomas Henry Atherton Jr. was an American architect and decorated World War I officer. He designed many public buildings in New York and Pennsylvania and a war memorial in France. A number of his works, including numerous National Guard armories in eastern Pennsylvania, are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Edith Brower was a Progressive Era American reformer who lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Edith Brower became a music and literary critic, and contributed arts columns to The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Weekly.
Charles Abbott Miner was an American industrialist and politician. He was affiliated with the Republican Party and served three terms (1875–1880) in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a state legislator from Wilkes-Barre.