Wyoming County
Tunkhannock, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Formed on April 4, 1842 out of Luzerne County. The name, honoring the Wyoming Valley, is derived from an Indian word meaning "extensive meadows." County seat of Tunkhannock was settled 1790; incorporated 1841. Sullivan's March passed through in August 1779.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Formed in 1842 from Luzerne County, Wyoming County takes its name from an Indigenous word for extensive meadows, describing the broad Wyoming Valley. Tunkhannock, settled in 1790, became the county seat. Decades before the county existed, General Sullivan's army marched through this country in August 1779 during the Revolution's campaign against the Iroquois.
Why it matters
The county's Native-derived name and the path of Sullivan's expedition together mark this valley as ground where Revolutionary warfare and Indigenous history are inseparably joined.
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Related events
- · Sullivan Expedition
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sullivan's March
Tunkhannock, PA · est. 1947
In the summer of 1779, General John Sullivan led thousands of Continental soldiers up the Susquehanna Valley in a scorched-earth campaign ordered by George Washington against the Iroquois Confederacy, allies of the British. On August 3, that army made its third camp above Fort Wyoming here by the river as it pushed north toward Tioga. The march devastated Iroquois towns and croplands, breaking the power of the Six Nations on the New York–Pennsylvania frontier.
Sullivan Expedition Against the Iroquois Indians, 1779 - Tunkhannock (PLAQUE)
Tunkhannock, PA · est. 1929
In the summer of 1779, at the height of the American Revolution, General John Sullivan led a punishing campaign up the Susquehanna Valley against the Iroquois nations allied with the British. This plaque marks a waypoint on that march from Wyoming to Teaoga, where on August 3 the army camped on the lowlands between here and the river. The relentless expedition burned Iroquois towns and crops, breaking the military power of the Six Nations in the region.
Sullivan's March
Exeter Township, PA · est. 1947
During the Revolution's Sullivan Expedition of 1779, General John Sullivan's Continental army moved north up the Susquehanna from Fort Wyoming at Wilkes-Barre toward Tioga. On August 1–2 the troops encamped on the lowland across the river here — the second stop on a grueling march through frontier country. The campaign was Washington's answer to raids on the frontier, aimed at the Iroquois Confederacy allied with the British.
Sullivan's March
Meshoppen Township, PA · est. 1947
On August 4, 1779, General John Sullivan's Continental army made its fourth encampment on the lowland here as it marched from Fort Wyoming toward Tioga Point. The column was part of a coordinated Revolutionary War campaign against the Iroquois Confederacy, whose warriors had raided settlements along the frontier. The soldiers' northward advance up the Susquehanna would culminate in the destruction of dozens of Native towns.