James B. Miller

A Page in Time: a Narrative of the Wyoming Valley 1778 James B. Miller

A young boy finds himself sitting in a huddled fort some eighty miles from the nearest friendly settlement after a horrible battle has wiped out almost every able-bodied man defending their settlement along the Susquehanna River. Nearly four hundred brave souls marched out the fort to meet the invading hordes of British and Indians striking them from the north, but barely thirty return,most of them wounded and terrified. Many mothers immediately mourn for all they have lost in one fleeting half-hour of battle. Many stumble along trance-like in the crowded fort, praying and wringing their hands, crying, oh, my dear husband has fallen, what is to be become of us now!?! But the carnage after the battle has just begun. All through the night the huddled settlers listen to the cries of their poor wounded being tortured by by the conquering hordes. All listen, watching shadows dancing around the great fires speckling the fields to the north. Many cries echo through the fort, and through the huddled settler's souls. After a restless night, they look to the rising sun with mixed feelings, fearing it to be their turn, for the garrison of old men, young boys, and wounded soldiers,will be no match for the victors, now gathering outside the gates of the fort. Many years after the battle a young boy now sits safe and sound by his warm hearth, fearing the great advances and changes may cloud people's vision to the past, and is intent on doing something about it. Thus, he takes pen in hand to scratch out his memories of days past, and hopes to capture the spirit of the days, praying it not be lost in the growing hubbub of modern life. Once more this narrative is based on fact, for the young boy is Moses Brown, and anscestor of the author himself. Carefully researched and based on fact,all people portrayed in the pages actually lived and the places and events are real, it provides a look into the past through the eyes of one whom lived through it.