Pennamite–Yankee Wars

Grants to Connecticut and Pennsylvania

Claims on the Wyoming Valley were disputed from the start. The Dutch regarded the Susquehanna River as the border between New Netherland and the British-controlled Colony of Virginia. King Charles II rejected all Dutch claims in North America and granted the land to the Connecticut Colony in 1662, two years before his country's conquest of New Netherland and its conversion into the Province of New York. In 1681, Charles II included the same territory in his grant of the Province of Pennsylvania to William Penn.

The charter of each colony assigned the territory to the colony, creating overlapping land claims. In the 17th century, fierce resistance by the Susquehannock people repelled Anglo settlement, rendering the debate academic. By the mid-18th century, the double grant became problematic for settlers from each colony seeking new lands. Thomas Paine mentioned the conflict in his pro-independence pamphlet Common Sense as evidence that continental matters could be sensibly regulated only by a Continental government.

Both colonies purchased the same land by independent treaties with the Iroquoian-speaking nations. Connecticut sent settlers to the area in 1754, but colonization was delayed by the Seven Years' War. When Britain defeated France, France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain. In 1768, the Iroquois Confederacy repudiated their sale to Connecticut's Susquehanna Company and sold the land to the Penns.

In 1769, Yankee settlers from Connecticut founded Wilkes-Barre. Armed bands of Pennamites tried to expel them without success from 1769 to 1770, starting the First Pennamite War. This was followed by the Second Pennamite War in 1775. After the American Revolutionary War, settlers erupted in the Third Pennamite War in 1784.

Connecticut's claim was confirmed by King George III in 1771. In 1773, more settlers from Connecticut erected a new town named Westmoreland. In December 1775, the Pennsylvanians refused to leave; the militia of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, forced them out at gunpoint.

Resolution

Even after the American Revolution, the fight over the land continued. In 1782, the Continental Congress reversed the king’s earlier decision and backed Pennsylvania’s claim—the only time Congress settled a state dispute under the Articles of Confederation. Pennsylvania tried to evict the Yankee settlers in 1784, sparking the Third Pennamite War. Connecticut and Vermont sent reinforcements to help the settlers.

General John Armstrong, working with Pennsylvania representative Alexander Patterson, arranged a truce by guaranteeing fair treatment and safety. But once the Yankees laid down their arms, Armstrong took them captive. This betrayal turned public opinion in favor of the Yankees, and Patterson was removed. Tensions lingered until 1788, when the Pennsylvania Legislature validated the land titles.

The conflict finally ended in 1799, with the Wyoming Valley falling under Pennsylvania’s control. Yankee settlers who already lived there became Pennsylvanians with legal ownership of their land.