Battle of Wyoming

Battle of Wyoming
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Painting of the battle by Alonzo Chappel (1858)
Date July 3, 1778 Location Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania Result British-Iroquois victory
Belligerents
Great Britain Iroquois	United States
Commanders and leaders
John Butler Sayenqueraghta Cornplanter	Zebulon Butler Nathan Denisson George Dorrance
Strength
110 provincials 464 Indigenous	360 regulars, militia and irregulars
Casualties and losses
3 killed 8 wounded	302 killed 5 captured

The Battle of Wyoming, also known as the Wyoming Massacre, was a military engagement during the American Revolutionary War between Patriot militia and a force of Loyalist soldiers and Indigenous warriors. The battle took place in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania on July 3, 1778 in what is now Luzerne County. The result was an overwhelming defeat for the Americans. The battle is often referred to as the "Wyoming Massacre" because of the roughly 300 Patriot casualties, many of whom were killed by the Seneca and Cayuga as they fled the battlefield or after they had been taken prisoner.

Widespread looting and burning of buildings occurred throughout the Wyoming Valley subsequent to the battle, but non-combatants were not harmed.^[1][2][3] Most of the inhabitants fled across the Pocono Mountains to Stroudsburg and Easton or down the Susquehanna River to Sunbury.

Within weeks, a widely distributed but highly inaccurate newspaper report claimed that hundreds of women and children had been massacred. This false version of events was accepted as proven fact by many writers for decades afterwards but has been thoroughly discredited.^[4][5]