On Thursday, July 4, 2019, the Luzerne County Historical Society and the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment will host a re-enactment of the Capitulation after the Battle of Wyoming at 1:30 and 3 p.m. and an open house from noon to 4:00 p.m. at the Society’s Denison House, 35 Denison Street, Forty Fort, PA. Admission is free for everyone. The re-enactment and open house will follow the annual ceremony commemorating the Battle of Wyoming at the Wyoming Monument on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming, PA.

At the Wyoming Monument ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m., the Luzerne County Historical Society will be selling books, DVDs and notecards related to the history of the Battle of Wyoming, the monument and local history. The Society and the Wyoming Commemorative Association will also have copies of the ceremony’s proceedings from the early 1900s through early 2000s available for sale. Cash, checks and credit cards are accepted.

The Battle of Wyoming took place during the Revolutionary War on July 3, 1778. The British worked with members of the Native American Seneca tribe on this campaign. The Americans, led by Zebulon Butler (1731-1795) and Nathan Denison (1740-1809), reportedly suffered more than 200 casualties in the battle out of their force of approximately 375. Nathan Denison negotiated the capitulation to the British, which will be re-enacted on July 4th at the Denison House at 1:30 and 3 p.m. Although the Battle of Wyoming was a British victory, it led George Washington (1732-1799) to send a counter-offensive in 1779, which was successful in removing Native Americans from the Susquehanna, Mohawk and Allegheny valleys.

The 24th Connecticut Regiment of Militia was originally established by the Connecticut Legislature in May 1775. The Continental Congress established two independent companies of the regiment in August 1776. Nathan Denison (1740-1809) held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel

and was promoted to Colonel in 1777 when the two independent companies left the Wyoming Valley to join General Washington at Morristown, New Jersey. Over the course of the next two years, the regiment fought in battles at Millstone, Bound Brook, Germantown, Brandywine, Fort Mifflin and White Marsh. After spending a harsh winter at Valley Forge, the companies fought at the Battle of Monmouth. They were released in 1778 to return to the Wyoming Valley, but arrived too late to be of help at the Battle of Wyoming on July 3, 1778. The Regiment was then sent on the Hartley Expedition in September 1778 and were with General Sullivan’s march into the Finger Lakes region of New York during the summer of 1779.

Nathan Denison was one of the first forty shareholders in the Susquehanna Company to settle five new towns in the Wyoming Valley in February 1769. Denison became a popular leader of the pioneer settlers from Connecticut. He served as a Justice of the Peace and colonel of the local militia.

The Denison House is open for tours on Sundays through September 29, 2019, from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free for LCHS members; $5 for non-member adults and $3 for non-member children. For more information, email info@luzernehistory.org or call 570-823-6244 x3.

The LCHS Museum and Bishop Library, both on South Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre, will be closed on Thursday, July 4, 2019.