Lieutenant Colonel Butler and the surviving Continental soldiers left the Wyoming Valley on the morning of July 4 rather than being taken as prisoners of war. That afternoon, Colonel Denison surrendered Forty Fort along with what remained of the militia. Major Butler paroled them on their promise to take no part in further hostilities, and gave his assurance that "the lives of the inhabitants [would be] preserved entire and unharmed." None of the valley's inhabitants were killed after the capitulation, but many did have their personal effects plundered by Butler's Indigenous allies. In the days that followed, houses and barns throughout the Wyoming Valley were looted and burned. Mills were destroyed and livestock was driven off. The inhabitants of the valley fled, either east through the Great Swamp and the Pocono Mountains to Fort Penn (Stroudsburg) or Easton, or by rafting down the Susquehanna to
Fort Augusta (Sunbury). In his report, Major Butler wrote: But what gives me the sincerest satisfaction is that I can, with great truth, assure you that in the destruction of the settlement not a single person was hurt except such as were in arms, to these, in truth, the Indians gave no quarter.
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur, who was in the Wyoming Valley a few weeks after the battle, wrote: "Happily these fierce people, satisfied with the death of those who had opposed them in arms, treated the defenceless ones, the woman and children, with a degree of humanity almost hitherto unparalleled". At the time of the battle a company of militia led by Captain Jeremiah Blanchard and Lieutenant Timothy Keyes held
Pittston Fort, on the east side of the Susquehanna River several miles upstream from Forty Fort. The fort was surrendered on July 4, 1778, one day after the battle, and was partially burned a few days later. Pittston Fort was reoccupied, restored and strengthened in 1780. It remained in use until after the end of the war. According to one source, Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance was captured in the battle. Since he was an officer of prominence, dressed in a new uniform, with new sword and equipment, he had been spared death under the belief that more could be obtained for his ransom than could be made from his slaughter. On the morning of the 4th, his captors were escorting Dorrance to Forty Fort when he became exhausted and was unable to proceed farther. His captors killed him, one taking his scalp and sword, the other his coat and
tricorne. They later went through the fort showing off this clothing and took particular pains to exhibit themselves to Mrs. Dorrance, "who sat grieving over the fate of her husband." Major Butler reported "one Indian killed, two Rangers and eight Indians wounded." He claimed that his force had burned 1,000 houses, and drove off 1,000 cattle as well as many sheep and hogs.
Richard Cartwright, Major Butler's civilian secretary, recorded in his journal: "seven wounded, two of who died of their wounds." Butler and his forces departed the valley on July 8, and returned to Tioga Point. Later that month Butler returned to Fort Niagara while the Rangers, under the command of Captain
William Caldwell proceeded to Onaquaga. In the aftermath of the battle, the settlers who had fled the Wyoming Valley spread harrowing stories and rumors about the American defeat that contributed to a general panic across the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania. Some American newspapers picked up on these stories and went even further, producing unsubstantiated accounts about the burning of women, children, and wounded soldiers inside Forty Fort on the day after the battle. The American public was outraged by such reports of a massacre and other atrocities. Many saw it as just one more reason to support American independence. In early August 1778, Lieutenant Colonel Butler returned to the Wyoming Valley with the Westmoreland Independent Company and a company of militia. In late August they were joined by a detachment from
Hartley's Additional Continental Regiment. Some of the settlers who had fled in early July also began to return. In September the Westmoreland Independent Company and Hartley's Additional Continental Regiment participated in a counter-raid commanded by Colonel
Thomas Hartley that destroyed a number of abandoned Delaware villages in the vicinity of Tioga Point. Afterwards the Independent Company and a company of Hartley's Regiment garrisoned the rebuilt Fort Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre). In October 1778, a burial party recovered the scattered remains of the fallen. According to one source, 60 Patriot bodies were found on the battlefield and another 36 along the line of retreat. Years later they were exhumed and reburied in a common grave when the Wyoming Monument was built. The Battle of Wyoming and the Cherry Valley Massacre encouraged American military leaders to strike back against the Iroquois. In the late summer of 1779, the
Sullivan Expedition, commissioned by General
George Washington, methodically destroyed 40 Iroquois villages and an enormous quantity of stored corn and vegetables throughout the
Finger Lakes region. The Iroquois struggled to recover from the damage inflicted by Sullivan's soldiers, and many died of starvation that winter, however, they continued to raid frontier settlements until the end of the war. ==Legacy==