Sullivan Expedition Against the Iroquois Indians, 1779 - Fort Wyoming (PLAQUE)
Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Mobilization camp of Sullivan's Army, June 23 - July 31, 1779.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the summer of 1779 the Wyoming Valley became the assembly point for General John Sullivan's expedition against the Iroquois. From late June through the end of July, the army gathered, drilled, and stockpiled supplies at its mobilization camp here before marching north up the Susquehanna. This staging at Fort Wyoming set in motion one of the Revolution's largest offensive campaigns.
Why it matters
It marks where a major Continental army assembled for a campaign that reshaped the frontier, linking the war-torn Wyoming Valley to the broader struggle for the northern frontier.
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Related people
- · General John Sullivan
Related events
- · Sullivan Expedition
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fort Wyoming
Wilkes-Barre, PA · est. 1947
Pennsylvania built Fort Wyoming in 1771 to press its claim in the Wyoming Valley, only to have it seized by the Connecticut settlers it was meant to check. Rebuilt in 1778, it served the following year as a mustering point for General John Sullivan's expedition against the Iroquois during the Revolution. The garrison held until 1784, when Continental and Pennsylvania troops withdrew and the works were destroyed.
Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre Township, PA · est. 1949
Wilkes-Barre was laid out in 1770 by settlers from Connecticut, who claimed this Susquehanna valley land under their colony's sea-to-sea charter—a claim Pennsylvania hotly disputed. The rival claims erupted into the Pennamite Wars of 1769–72 and again in 1784, while the Revolution brought the brutal Wyoming Massacre of 1778 nearby. Organized as the seat of Connecticut's "County of Westmoreland" in 1776, the town sat at the center of one of early America's fiercest boundary struggles.
Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre, PA · est. 1949
Wilkes-Barre was laid out in 1770 by settlers from Connecticut, who claimed this stretch of the Susquehanna under their colony's charter in defiance of Pennsylvania. The dispute boiled over into the Pennamite Wars of 1769–72 and 1784, and in 1778 the surrounding Wyoming Valley suffered the infamous Wyoming Massacre during the Revolution. Made the seat of the Connecticut-created "County of Westmoreland" in 1776, the settlement stood at the heart of a bitter contest over who owned the land itself.
Forty Fort
Forty Fort, PA · est. 1947
Forty Fort took its name from the forty Connecticut pioneers who came to the Wyoming Valley in 1769 and began the stockade the next year. It is remembered above all for the aftermath of July 3, 1778, when its surrender to a British, Loyalist, and Native force under Major John Butler was followed by the Wyoming Massacre, one of the war's bloodiest frontier episodes. The killing of settlers and prisoners shocked the young nation and hardened resolve against the Iroquois allies of the Crown.