There had always been tensions between the settlers and natives, with some attacks, especially in the "Fair Play" area. This became more serious in the winter of 1777–78, when two settlers were killed by Native Americans in separate incidents, and then two Native Americans in a party of nine were killed by Colonel John Henry Antes and his men in a skirmish. Later a party of Native American raiders who had plundered along Buffalo Creek, near Lewisburg in Union County, were stopped near modern Jersey Shore in Lycoming County and their booty was recovered.
