William Tharp, author of several books on the Battle of Wyoming, was the featured speaker at the 143rd commorative service of the Battle and Massacre of Wyoming at the Wyoming Monument on Saturday morning. Flanking Tharp are Luzerne County Judge Jennifer Rogers, left, and Rev. Dr. Martha Jordan.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Recreators representing the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment, a unit that was raised in the Wyoming Valley during the Revolutionary War, are seen on the grounds of the Wyoming Monument during Saturday’s ceremony.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Tom Havrilak, left, of the Assumpta Council 3987, of the Knights of Columbus, Kingston, chats with Jim Davenport, and his son six-year-old Luke amid wreaths at the Wyoming Monument on Saturday. The Davenports are five and six times the great grandson of Samuel Ransom, Sr., who was killed at the Battle of Wyoming in 1778.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Once a year the vault door of the Wyoming Monument is opened to the public. Chris McKenny, of Plymouth, took the opportunity to go inside Saturday, as seen here.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Sherry Emershaw, left, of the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment recreation group, kneels beside two new friends, Lyla Seamans, 5, center, and Evelyn Szydlowski, 4, prior to the commencement of the 143rd Commemorative Service of the Battle and Massacre of Wyoming at the Wyoming Monument Saturday morning in Wyoming Borough.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
WYOMING — Exactly 243 years to the day upon which over 300 American soldiers were killed in battle, the Wyoming Monument and Wyoming Commemorative Associations held its annual service in remembrance of the Battle of Wyoming.
A large crowd returned to the corner of Wyoming Avenue and Monument Avenue to honor those killed in the battle, commonly referred to as the “Wyoming Massacre,” a year after COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the commemorative service for only the second time in its history.
“It’s so good to see you all again,” said Wyoming Monument Association president Marcella Starr. “We weren’t sure if we would be able to hold our service this year and, if so, what restrictions would be in place.”
Saturday’s service was the 143rd annual commemoration of the battle, which took place in parts of modern-day Wyoming and Exeter on July 3, 1778. The gathering is a tradition that goes back to 1878 — the centennial of the Battle of Wyoming. It has been canceled only twice since then: In the wake of the 1972 Agnes flood, and in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Wyoming Valley Band provided the soundtrack to much of the afternoon, opening the ceremony with a half-hour set of battle hymns and processional music, and scoring the presentation and retirement of the standards, which were conducted by the 1st Battalion, 109th Field Artillery.
Men, women and children dressed in their finest red, white and blue — including a number of period-appropriate outfits and a full group dressed to recreate a militia regiment from the American Revolution — turned out for the service, which included the dedication of numerous floral tributes donated by local organizations and descendants of those who lost their lives in the Battle of Wyoming.
As is tradition, the door to the vault inside the Wyoming Monument was opened for the service, allowing spectators the chance to look inside the vault and check out the small American flag located within.
Judge Jennifer Rogers of the Luzerne County Court Common Pleas opened the ceremony by recounting her own ties to the area, including a great-grandfather, a Wyoming resident who was among the original group of troops that made up the Pennsylvania State Police, the first state police agency in the country.
“I am honored to be here in Wyoming for this momentous occasion,” Rogers said.
The floral tribute, over 50 floral dedications in all, were brought up the center aisle of the large crowd and brought over to the monument, where they were arranged around the base.
Starr began her remarks by promising the crowd that they “would be home in time for dinner,” before thanking all the people who dedicated their time and money to ensuring that not only would the ceremony go off without a hitch, but that the monument itself would be cleaned up and looking as pristine as ever for the occasion.
Additional words were offered by the president of the Wyoming Commemorative Association, Frank E.P. Conyngham, who joked that he would “rather follow Don Rickles” than have to speak after Starr.
After everyone had said their piece, Rogers turned the mic over to the ceremony’s guest speaker, historian William Tharp.
Tharp, who lives in the Richmond, Va. area and serves as a historical interpreter at St. John’s Church in Richmond, discovered the Battle of Wyoming while doing some research for his Master’s thesis.
“I was looking into some of the areas where the Mohawk tribe occupied, and I found Wyoming while I was researching,” Tharp said. He went on to complete his thesis with a focus on the Battle of Wyoming and its impact on public memory and patriotism in America.
His speech Saturday, entitled “Rally ’Round Wyoming: The Battle of Wyoming and Propaganda War in Early America,” was a deep dive into how the atrocities committed at the Battle of Wyoming fueled propaganda campaigns waged by local newspapers and others to further empower the campaign for revolution.
“Rhetoric and representation mattered in the American Revolution,” he said. “It was as much a war of words as it was a war of action.”
Tharp went on to explain how, in the days following the battle, settlers fled eastward and spread the news of how the patriots had been massacred at the hands of the British.
In turn, local papers used the horrors to bolster their views of separation and independence from the British throne. This way, the Battle of Wyoming played an important role in the cause even if it wasn’t a successful outcome for the patriots.
This memory of the battle would be invoked again during the War of 1812, according to Tharp, in which he said that “the memory of Wyoming was used to start a national dialogue.”
Toward the end of his remarks, Tharp mentioned that his speech and his thesis, while focused on wartime in the 18th and 19th centuries, still bears importance today.
“Stories about the Battle of Wyoming mattered then, and they matter now,” he said. “It brought Americans together then, and in this divided time, let’s rally together once more.”
