A Very Remarkable Narrative of Luke Swetland (ePub)

"Luke was captured by an Indian raiding party and held captive for nearly a year, escaping, he joined General Sullivan's expedition." -Sunday Dispatch, Aug. 30, 1998

"Luke Swetland...was captured with a neighbor...by the Indians...remained for a considerable period a prisoner at different Seneca villages." -Some Pennsylvania Women During the War of the Revolution (1915)

"Swetland...was kidnapped...following many botched escapes, Swetland successfully fled and returned to his family." -Dark Archives (2020)

"A rescued captive, Luke Swetland, provided the story the American generals desired...listened intently to Swetland's statement." -The Storied Landscape of Iroquoia (2020)

How did this heroic Pennsylvania "rebel" manage to survive nearly a year of captivity by British-allied hostile tribes during the Revolutionary War, enduring both a brutal capture and numerous failed escapes.

In 1780, Luke Swetland (1729-1823) would publish a short 27-page narrative of his brutal capture and life as a captive under the lengthy title "A Very Remarkable Narrative of Luke Swetland: Who Was Taken Captive Four Times in the Space of Fifteen Months, in the Time of the Late Contest Between Great Britain and America."

Swetland lived at Wyoming on the Susquehannah river during the time of the Wyoming Massacre. On June 30, 1778, British (Tory) forces, under the command of Colonel John Butler, arrived in the Wyoming Valley to confront the American settlers. On July 1, the American militia at Fort Wintermute (Wintermoot) and Fort Jenkins (a Patriot stockade in present-day West Pittston) surrendered.

On July 3, the British spotted the Aszmerican militia near Forty Fort. Butler wanted to lure the Americans away from their fortifications. He ordered for Fort Wintermute to be set ablaze. The Patriots, believing it signified a British retreat, advanced rapidly. British soldiers, with the assistance of about 700 Native Americans, ambushed the oncoming American militia in and around the present-day Exeter and Wyoming. In the end, nearly 300 Wyoming Valley settlers were killed in what would be known as the Wyoming Massacre. On July 4, the American colonel, Nathan Denison, agreed to surrender Forty Fort along with several other posts.

About the author:

Pvt. Luke Swetland was born on July 26, 1729 in New London, New London County, Connecticut, and died on June 30, 1823 (aged 93). He was the son of Capt. John Oliver and Sarah (Davis) Treadway Swetland. He was the husband of Hannah (Tiffany) Swetland. They were married April 1, 1762 and lived at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehannah river at the time when it was cut off by the Indians. Hannah died January 8, 1809. Luke died at the home of his grandson, William Swetland in Forty Fort, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Luke served during the Revolutionary War and had been captured by Native Americans allied with the British and Tories.