Book excerpt: The Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania is an area rich in history, none of which is more fascinating than in its origin. Settled not by the people of Pennsylvania, but rather of Connecticut due to conflicting land grants, it produced a titanic struggle between the Yankee settlers and Indians, British, Tories, and Pennamites, which stretched from the French and Indian War to well past the Revolutionary War. In these years many battles were fought, much blood was spilled; some say no area in America suffered more in proportion to population. Brother did turn against brother, and father did turn against son. Still, the settler stood fast, possessed by a spirit which in turn would conquer the American west. The Wyoming Valley did not sit on the fringes of the frontier but some sixty miles beyond it. These early pioneers carved out a settlement in the heart of a wilderness staunchly contested by people on all sides. Not only did they have to contend with the Indian threat, but with Pennsylvanians wishing to rid their northern borders of the Yankee intruders, and latter on when their firm support of the revolution became known, with the British Empire. Burned out, attacked from all sides, racked with betrayal from within their own numbers they stood fast in the face of impossible odds. Their spirit is a testament to the indomitable spirit of America. Their story is one of America. Read and discover within their struggle against the scalping knife and British Empire a great story, one that should never be forgotten, one that defines the American spirit.