“MARTYRS IN THE HOLY CAUSE OF LIBERTY AND INDEPENDENCE”: THE WYOMING VALLEY MASSACRE OF 1778

MINER, Charles. History of Wyoming, in a Series of Letters from Charles Miner, to his son William Penn Minor, Esq. Philadelphia: J. Crissy, 1845. Octavo, original blind-stamped green cloth. $600.

First edition of “the most complete of all the histories of this valley, which has been the scene of many tragic events” (Sabin 196). With two folding maps, one hand-colored.

During the summer of 1778 British troops and their Indian allies pillaged the Wyoming Valley frontier, now in northeast Pennsylvania, whose settlers were staunchly for independence. The murderous atrocities “aroused a storm of fury against the Indians and the Tories [and the] ‘Wyoming Valley Massacre’ became a byword for Tory and Indian brutality” (Smith II, 1157-58). Miner’s History devotes several chapters to the Revolution and his account of the Massacre is based, in part, on interviews with witnesses. He also appends Lt. Col. Hubly’s important Journal on a Western Expedition, an account of the punitive expedition to avenge the “martyrs in the holy cause” (Appendix, 13). Howes 638. Contemporary owner signature on title page.

A bright, beautiful copy.