Hadley Town (part 6 of 16)

After Philip's escape from Pocasset, Plymouth Colony was nearly free from the ravages of Indians for six or seven months; and excepting those slain at Mendon, July 14, some at Lancaster, Aug. 22, and two others, the Indians killed none in Massachusetts, east of Brookfield, in 1675, nor until February, 1676. The hostile Indians were gathered together in the region about Connecticut

Pritchard, is erroneously Joseph or John, and Corp. Coy's is by mistake John. The Hampshire records and Pynchon accounts prove that the former was William and the latter Richard.

Warner and his sons and some others came to Hadley. Mr. John Younglove, who had been preaching at Brookfield, came to Hadley, perhaps before 167J.

The troops under Captains Lothrop, Beers, and Watts, and the Connecticut Indians, explored the country up Swift River, Connecticut River and elsewhere for some days, without meeting an enemy. Some of our Norwottuck Indians went forth with them. Major Pynchon wrote to Secretary Allyn of Connecticut, in the night of Aug. 22d, and stated that Capt. Watts had returned to Hadley, and the Bay forces to Quabaug; that nothing had been done, except the burning of about 50 wigwams found empty: that our Indians that went out were suspected of being treacherous; and that the enemy was supposed to be at Paquayag. Major Pynchon wished to have Capt. Watts remain longer, and make discovery of the enemy at Paquayag, but he and the Connecticut Indians soon returned to Hartford; he left ten men at Deerfield. A guard of 20 men had been sent to Northfield. Captains Lothrop and Beers came to Hadley about the 23d of August.

Mr. Stoddard's Letter. Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, wrote the following letter to the Rev. Increase Mather, dated Sept. 15, 1675, which is copied from Mather's " Brief History of the War with the Indians in New England," printed in 1676. Mr. Stoddard sent to Connecticut, the "Reasons alleged for demanding the arms of the Indians of Northampton and Hadley," more e,\tended than those in his letter to Mr. Mather, and extracts are made from the former.

I received yours, wherein among other things, you desire an account of the passages of our war with the Indians. I shaU, in answer to your desire, relate the most remarkable passages. The people here having many causes of jealousy of the unfaithfulness of our Indians, presented the same before the committees of the militia, whereupon it was thought meet to desire of them the surrendry of their arms, and by persuasion obtained about nine and twenty. But about three days after, they being desirous to go forth with some forces from Hartford, both Indians and English, and some from the Bay, in pursuit of Philip, their arms were delivered to them again; but a while after their return, jealousies still increasing, there was a general desire in the people of these three towns, that they should be again disarmed, and such things as these were presented to the council here, as inducing thereunto: - [Reasons for disarming the Indians, i. The Indians were wont in former years, to apply for ground to plant on, in the winter and beginning of spring. This year they desired not ground to plant on till planting time. 2. Many went to Quabaug to our enemies. 3. Wappaye told Deac. Goodman of Hadley, before the war broke out, that there would be war between the Indians and English this summer. 4. Before tidings of the war in Plymouth colony had been received, our Indians, who in all times of danger and war, had been wont to seek shelter by crowding into our homelots, as near our houses as possible, and begging house-room for their stuff and themselves, now, on a sudden, plucked up their wigwams, and took away the goods they had laid up in our houses. 5. They shot bullets at our men five several times, in diverse places, - one at John Clary as he was passing by the fort in the road, between Northampton and Hatfield. 6. After men were killed at

QuabauR, they made eleven triumphing shouts, as their manner is when they have slain their enemies. 7. An Indian woman told the English that two of Philip's men were come to the fort. 8. A Frenchman going towards Quabaug, saw three Indians, who told him they were coming to Norwottuck to persuade the Indians to join in the war. 9. When our Indians went out with the army, all were dissatisfied with their behavior, and Joshua, son of Uncas, said our Indians made fools of the English. 10. The sachems of the Connecticut Indians advised us to disarm them. 11. When they were with our army, near Potetipaog, they said they must not fight against their mothers, brothers and cousins, (for Quabaug Indians are related to them.) 12. Their carriage was surly and insolent. 13. A squaw counselled goodwife Wright to get into town with her children, and said she durst not tell her news, for the Indians would cut off her head. Wappawy confessed that he and several of our Indians had been with Philip.] Other things too many to enumerate were presented, and the council saw cause to demand their arms, August 24th. They made some objections but were fully answered. The sachem left the council, to try whether he could persuade the Indians, promising however to bring in his own, [arms.] In the afternoon, the council sent to the fort for their answer; they told the messenger that some Indians were abroad in the meadows, and they were not willing to deliver up their arms without their consent, but in the morning they should have their answer. The messenger was desired to go again to them in the evening, to confer with them, to try whether he could persuade them, and coming to the other side of the river, wished some of them to come over; they bid him come over to them, and bid him kiss . Whereupon Captains Lothrop and Beers,* with whom the thing was left, intended to take their arms by force, and at midnight sent over to our officers, to draw as nigh the fort as they could without being perceived, and they would do the like on Hatfield side, and so at break of day come upon them, but before they came, the Indians were fled, having killed an old sachem who was not willing to go with them. The captains resolved to follow them, and pursued a great pace after them, with about an hundred men, having sent back a part of ours for a guard of the town. They intended to parley with the Indians, but on a sudden the Indians let fly about forty guns at them and were soon answered by a volley from our men; about forty ran down into the swamp after them, poured in shot upon them, made them throw down much of their luggage, and after a while, our men, after the Indian manner, got behind trees and watched their opportunities to make shots at them. The fight continued about three hours; we lost six men upon the ground, though one was shot in the back by our own men; a seventh died of his wound coming home, and two died the next night, nine in all, of nine several towns, every one of these towns lost a man.-J- Of the Indians, as we hear since by a squaw that was taken, and by three cliildren that came to our town from them the day after, there were slain twenty-sij.J An Indian and a squaw both own that our Indians received wompam from Philip in the spring. After this fight we heard no more of them till the first of September, when they shot down a garrison soldier of

Lothrop and Beers were in Hadley. The messenger had been sent on that side, and the river was between him and the fort. The captains sent over at midnight, "to our officers," that is, the Northampton officers. Captains L. and B. crossed the river from Hadley into Hatfield and marched down towards the fort, while the Northampton men marched up to it. The fort was about half way between the two villages.

-j-The nine persons slain in this first fight near Cormecticut River, were: - Azariah Dickinson of Hadley, son of Nathaniel D.; Samuel Mason of Northampton, only son of Thomas M.; Richard Fellows of Hatfield, son of Richard F., deceased; James Levens, John Plummet, Mark Pitman, Joseph Person, Matthew Scales, William Cluff, from six eastern towns.

Menowniet, a half Narraganset and half Mohegan Indian, was in this engagement; he affirmed that no Indians were killed, in this fight. This testimony is not to be relied on, but is as worthy of credit as many things more favorable to the English, which the Indians "owned."

Pocomptuck,* that was looking after his horse, and ran violently up into the town, many people having scarcely time enough to get into the garrisons. That day, they burnt most of their houses and bams, the garrisons not being strong enough to sally out upon them, but killed two of their men from the forts. The next day [Sept. 2d] they set upon several men that were gone out of the fort at Squakheag; they slew eight of our men, not above one of them being slain that we know of, but made no attempt upon the fort. The next day [Sept. 3,] this onset being unknown, Capt. Beers set forth [from Hadley,] with about thirty-six men and some carts to fetch o£F the garrison at Squakheag, and coming within three miles of the place, the next morning [Sept. 4th,] were set upon by a great number of Indians from the side of a swamp, where was a hot dispute for some time. They having lost their Captain and some others, resolved at last to fly, and going to take horse, lost several men more, I think about twelve; the most that escaped got to Hadley that evening; next morning another came in, and at night another that had been taken by the Indians, and loosed from his bonds by a Natick Indian; he tells that the Indians were all drunk that night, that they mourned much for the loss of a great captain, that the English had killed twenty-five of their men. Six days after, another soldier came in, who had been lost ever since the fight, and was almost famished, and so lost his understanding that he knew not what day the fight was on.-|-

On the 5th of September, [Sunday] Major Treat set forth for Squakheag with above an hundred men; next day coming nigh Squakheag, his men were much daunted to see the heads of Capt. Beers' soldiers upon poles by the wayside.J After they were come to Squakheag, some were fired upon by about fourteen Indians, Major Treat was struck upon the thigh, but not harmed. Coming to the fort, he concluded forthwith to bring off the garrison; so they came away the same night, [Sept. 6th] leaving the cattle there, and the dead bodies unburied, since which, seventeen of their cattle came a great part of the way themselves, and have since been fetched into Hadley.§

Upon the 12th of this month, [Sunday] the Indians made an assault upon twenty-two men of Pocomptuck, that were going from one garrison to the other to meeting, in the afternoon, made a great volley of shot at them, but killed not one man; they escaped to the garrison whither they were going, only one man, running to the other garrison, was taken

was James Eggleston of Windsor, left at Deerfield by Capt. Watts. Menowniet was in this attack. He said the Indians were about 60, and that they killed one Englishman.

note in Mather says the men fought till their powder and shot were spent; and the Indians killed above twenty and only thirteen escaped. A cart with some ammunition fell into the hands of the enemy. According to Hubbard, Capt. Beers went up with supplies for the garrison; and they were set upon "very near to the town" out of the bushes, by a swamp side, and Capt. Beers and about 20 of his men were slain.

The swampy ravine south of the village of Northfield, where the Indians were in ambush, and Beers's Plain, across which the soldiers retreated, to their horses, are well known at this day. Men now living have found bones and bullets near where the fighting took place.

Mr. Russell, in his list, reports only sixteen slain at Squakeag, Sept. 4, and gives the names of eleven, viz., Capt. Richard Beers, John Chenary, Ephraim Child, Benjamin Crackbone, Robert Pepper, George Lyruss, John Gatchell, James Miller, John Wilson, Joseph Dickinson [of Northfield], William Markham, Jr. [of Hadley, an only son; he was with a team.] Robert Pepper, erroneously numbered among the slain, was taken, and was with the Indians when Mrs. Rowlandson was a captive. Capt. Beers was from Watertown, and was in the Pequot war 38 years before. His widow died June 19, 1706, aged 92.

jHubbard says one man, if not more, was found with a chain hooked into his under jaw, and so hung upon the bough of a tree. It was feared that he was hung up alive.

§Cattle often fled from the Indians and sought the protection of the English. When Major Willard came near Brookfield, the cattle which had been frightened away by the yells and firing of the Indians, fell into his rear and followed him and his company into the village. In this and later Indian wars, the people were always alarmed, when the cattle ran furiously out of the woods to the village.

alive.* The Indians took up their rendezvous on an hill-f in the meadow, burnt two more houses, killed many horses, and carried away horse-loads of beef and pork to the hill. The next day, we persuaded some of our inhabitants to go volunteers, and sent to Hadley to do the like, who going up with some of Capt. Lothrop's soldiers, joined themselves to the garrison at Pocomptuck, and on Tuesday [Sept. 14th,] very early went out to assauk the Indians, but they were all fled. Last night Capt. Mosely and his men came into Hadley, and this night we e:ipect more forces from Hartford. Ijf the Lord give not sudden check to these Indians, it is to be feared that most of the Indians in the country will rise.

I desire you would speak to the governor, that there may be some thorough care for a Reformation. I am sensible there are many difficulties therein; many sins are grown so in fashion, that it becomes a question whether they be sins or not. I desire you would especially mention oppression, that intolerable pride in clothes and hair;^ the toleration of so many taverns, especially in Boston, and suffering home-dwellers to lie tippling in them. Let me hear soon from you. The Lord bless you and your labors. Forget us not at the throne of grace." [A small part of the letter is omitted.]

The Norwottucks and Pocomtucks. - The fight between the Norwottuck Indians and their pursuers happened "about ten miles above Hatfield, at a place called Sugar Loaf Hill," according to Hubbard; "at a swamp beyond Hatfield," according to Mr. Russell of Hadley. The place is now unknown. These Indians left their native valley, in the night succeeding August 24th, and never dwelt in it again. No doubt there were some among them, especially females like the one that informed goodwife Wright of her danger, who were favorable to the English, and left the fort with heavy hearts. The kindly greeting and the friendly " netop "§ between them and the English, were now at an end.

Their number when they fled may have been between 200 and 225, with 50 or 55 fighting men. They manifested more spirit and energy in the war than they had been supposed to possess, and this may be said of some other tribes.

The Norwottucks united with the Pocomtucks not long after the fight of Aug. 25. Hubbard says the Deerfield Indians withdrew from the English and joined the hostile Indians, but no circumstances are given relative to their defection. Both tribes may have united in the assault upon Deerfield, Sept. 1st. They were the only enemies on the west side of the Connecticut for some time.

The tidings of the fight of August 25th reached Hartford the same day, and the next day, the Council sent up George Graves and twenty men, " to assist the plantations of Norwottog."

§This Indian word was handed down by our ancestors, and it was not uncommon , 40 years ago, to hear two intimate friends called "great netops."

On the 31st, Major Talcott was again sent up to consult with Major Pynchon. On the 3d of September, Major Treat came up with men from the counties of Fairfield, New Haven and Hartford. He marched to Nonhfield and brought down the garrison and inhabitants, and then returned to Hartford, Sept. 9, leaving some of his forces in garrison, in three or four towns. Capt. Appleton of Ipswich was here.

After Major Treat left Northfield, Sept. 6, the Indians destroyed this small village. This was the second place in Hampshire county that was laid waste.* It had been settled only two or three years, but contained nearly as many families as Brookfield. Most of them were from Northampton. They had no minister nor meeting-house, but William Janes, a competent person, used to pray and exhort in pleasant weather, under a broad-spreading tree.

The Nipmucks and Wampanoags, whom the English captains had long sought after in vain, first showed themselves upon Connecticut River on the first day of September, and made an attack upon Hadley. As our river Indians were engaged the same day at Deerfield, these must have been the Indians who came from the east. And it can hardly be doubted that they killed the eight men at Northfield, Sept. 2d, attacked Capt. Beers, Sept. 4, and fired upon Major Treat, Sept. 6. They exulted in their successes, and after Northfield was deserted, lived upon the good things which the English had left. They seem not to have crossed the river and united with the river Indians, until about the middle of September.

The interesting events that took place in Hadley, on Wednesday, the first of September, 1675, have been but imperfectly disclosed. It was necessary at the time, and long after, to throw a veil over the transactions of that day, which has been, and can be, only partially removed. In the house of the Rev. John Russell had long been concealed two men, who were worthy of respect and honor, viz., Generals Edward Whalley and William Goffe. They had been conspicuous in the revolutions of England, and had been instrumental in bringing a guilty king, Charles I, to the block. They were of course odious to all who believed in

*The eight men slain at Northfield, Sept. 2d, were: - Ser?. Samuel Wright, Ebenezer Janes, Jonathan Janes, Ebenezer Parsons, Nathaniel Curtis, Benjamin Dunwich, Thomas Scott, John Peck. The first five were from Northampton, and all but Sergt. Wright were young men.

the divine right of kings, and after the restoration of Charles II, were pursued and hunted by the minions of royalty. Mr. Russell, who feared not to do what he thought to be right, received them into his house in 1664, where they remained hidden from the world, and even from the people of Hadley. A few persons were in the secret in that town and elsewhere. Had their place of residence been discovered by their enemies, they and Mr. Russell and others would have been exposed to destruction. Whalley was superannuated in 1675, but Goffe was still capable of service.

The fight at Hadley, is thus concisely noticed by Mather.* On the first of September, " one of the churches in Boston was seeking the face of God by fasting and prayer before him. Also that very day, the church in Hadley was before the Lord in the same way, but were driven from the holy service they were attending, by a most sudden and violent alarm, which routed them the whole day after." This was all that Mather dared to publish in 1676; and Hubbard does not even allude to the fight.f Nothing more appeared in print until Governor Hutchinson published his History of Massachusetts in 1760, in which the following notice of Goffe's heroic act appeared in a note.

"The town of Hadley was alarmed by the Indians in 1675, in the time of public worship, and the people were in the utmost confusion.| Suddenly a grave, elderly person appeared in the midst of them. In his mien and dress he differed from the rest of the people. He not only encouraged them to defend themselves, but put himself at their head, rallied, instructed and led them on to encounter the enemy, who by this means were repulsed. As suddenly the dehverer of Hadley disappeared. The people were left in consternation, utterly unable to account for this strange phenomenon. It is not probable that they were ever able to explain it. If Goffe had been then discovered, it must have come to the knowledge of those persons, who declare by their letters that they never knew what became of him."

This attack was on the first of September, according to Hutchinson. He says this anecdote of GolFe was handed down through Governor Leverett's family. Gov. L. was at Hadley while the judges were there. §

-j-Hoyt, in his Antiquarian Researches, expresses an opinion that September first is an erroneous date, because Hubbard did not mention any attack upon Hadley, at that time. Hubbard had good reasons for his silence. Hoyt had not seen Mather's History.

§Traditions are to be very cautiously received, but this seems to be entitled to credit. Gov. Hutchinson's father was born before Philip's war, and must have been well acquainted with the Leverett family. The widow of Gov. Leverett died in 1704, only seven years before Gov, H. was bom.

President Stiles, in his History of three of the Judges of Charles I, published in 1794, thus relates the story of the angel that appeared at Hadley.

"Though told with some variation in different parts of New England, the true story of the angel is this. That pious congregation were observing a fast at Hadley, on occasion of the war; and being at public worship in the meeting-house there, on a fast day, September I, 1675, were suddenly surrounded and surprised by a body of Indians. It was the usage in the frontier towns, and even at New Haven, in those Indian wars, for a select number of the congregation to go armed to public worship. It was so at Hadley at this time. The people immediately took to their arms, but were thrown into great consternation and confusion. Had Hadley been taken, the discovery of the Judges had been inevitable. Suddenly, and in the midst of the people there appeared a man of very venerable aspect, and different from the inhabitants in his apparel, who took the command, arranged, and ordered them in the best military manner, and under his direction they repelled and routed the Indians, and the town was saved. He immediately vanished, and the inhabitants could not account for the phenomenon, but by considering that person as an Angel sent of God upon that special occasion for their deliverance; and for some time after said and believed that they had been delivered and saved by an Angel. Nor did they know or conceive otherwise till fifteen or twenty years after, when it at length became known at Hadley that the two Judges had been secreted there; which probably they did not know till after Mr. Russell's death, in 1692. This story, however, of the Angel at Hadley, was before this universally diffused thro' New-England by means of the memorable Indian war of 1675. The mystery was unriddled after the revolution, [in England in 1688,] when it became not so very dangerous to have it known that the Judges had received an asylum here, and that Goffe was actually in Hadley at that time. The Angel was certainly General Goffe, for Whalley was superannuated in 1675.*"

Capt. Samuel Mosely came to Hadley with a company of about sixty Bay soldiers, on the 14th of September, and soon after went up to Deerfield. On the 15th or i6th. Major Treat arrived at Northampton with more Connecticut troops. Capt. John Mason, of Norwich, was ordered to lead a company of Mohegans and Pequots up to Norwottuck and other plantations. Capt. Lothrop's head-quarters were at Hadley.

A large quantity of grain at Deerfield had been thrashed and teams and drivers provided to convey the grain and other articles to Hadley. Capt. Lothrop and his company were to guard them, and they commenced their march on Saturday, Sept. l8th. The eastern Indians had crossed to the west side of the river and united with the others; and they had watched the movements of the English without being discovered. The succeeding account is from Mather. ,

"September 18, Captain Lothrop, a godly and courageous commander, with abou seventy men, were sent to be as a guard to some that were coming from Deerfield with cart laden with goods and provisions, to be removed to Hadley for security. But as they wer coming, the Indians lurked in the swamps and muhitudes of them made a sudden and frightful assault.* They seized upon the carts and goods, (many of the soldiers having been so foolish and secure as to put their arms in the carts, and step aside to gather grapes, which proved dear and deadly grapes to them,) killed Capt. Lothrop and above three score of his men, stripped them of their clothes, and so left them to lie weltering in their own blood. Capt. Mosely, who was gone out [from Deerfield] to range the woods, hearing the guns, hastened to their help, but before he could come, the other captain and his men were slain, as hath been expressed. Nevertheless he gave the Indians battle; they were in such numbers as that he and his company were in extreme danger. In the nick of time, Major Treat"!' ^'''^ above an hundred men, and three score of Uncas his Indians, came in to succor those that were so beset with the enemy, whereupon the enemy presently retreated and night coming on, there was no pursuing of them. In this fight but few of Capt. Mosely's men were slain.J How many Indians were killed is uncertain; it being their manner to draw away their dead men as fast as they are killed, if possibly they can do it. I am informed that some of the Indians have reported that they lost ninety-sii men that day, and that they had above forty wounded, many of whom died afterwards.§ However, this was a black and fatal day, wherein there were eight persons made widows and six and twenty children made fatherless, all in one little plantation, and in one day;|| and above sixty persons buried in one dreadful grave."

Hubbard ascribes this great defeat to a wrong notion of Capt. Lothrop, that it was best to fight Indians in their own way, by skulking behind trees.** Hoyt thinks they wanted circumspection on the previous march, and that destruction was unavoidable, after they fell into an ambuscade. Hubbard says Lothrop's company were "the very flower of the county of Essex, none of which were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." Capt. Lothrop was from Beverly, and left a widow but no children.

*The place of this assault was near Muddy brook, a small stream, which now crosses the highway in the village of South Deerfield. It was called Muddy brook before and after this disaster; and has since often been named Bloody brook.

jAccording to Mr. Russell's list, he lost three men, viz., Peter Barron, John Gates and another. According to Hubbard, he had two men killed and eight or nine wounded.

John, a Nipmuck sagamore, told James Quannapohit, that he lost only one man in the fight with Capt. Lothrop, and one with Capt. Beers; and that the other Indians lost but two men. These Indian stories cannot be confided in. The Indian report about the loss of 96 men deserves not the least credit.

||This "little plantation" was Deerfield, and seven of the husbands and fathers that were slain, were Samuel Hinsdale, who left 6 children; John Allen, 2 or 3 children; Joseph Gillet, 6 children; John Allen, 2 or 3 children; Joshua Carter, 2 or 3 children; Zebadiah Williams, 2 children; Philip Barsham, children. The eighth may have been Robert Hinsdale the father of the other Hinsdales, or John Hinsdale.

**Hubbard remarks of Indian fighting: - "The Indians durst not look an Englishman in the face in an open field, nor ever yet were known to kill any man with their guns, unless when they could lie in wait for him in an ambush, or behind some shelter, taking aim undiscovered." He might have concluded from this Indian mode of warfare, that the English would ordinarily kill very few Indians.

A postscript to a letter from the Council of Massachusetts to Richard Smith in the Narraganset country, dated Sept. 22, 1675, gives a short account of the first reports of this sad disaster : -

"This morning, was received sad intelligence from Hadley; that upon Saturday last, Capt. Lothrop with about sixty men, being appointed to conduct from Deerfield to Hadley with carriages and cattle, they were surprised by abundance of Indians that lay in ambushment and received a dreadful blow; insomuch that above forty of Capt. Lothrop's men with himself were slain. Capt. Mosely being not far off, engaged with the Indians and fought several hours and lost eleven men;* others also were slain that belonged to the carriages, [carts,] so that the next day they buried sixty-four men in all. The Indians were judged to be near five hundred."

Accounts differ as to the number of English slain. The "List of men slain in the county of Hampshire" made out by Rev. Mr. Russell, of Hadley, says seventy-one men were slain at Muddy Brook bridge, the i8th of September.f This statement is more to be depended on than any other. It includes all the teamsters that were killed.

It may be doubted whether the soldiers and teamsters under Capt. Lothrop were more than eighty. About fifty-four of the soldiers, and seventeen of the teamsters, were slain. Above sixty were buried in one grave, - probably the sixty-four mentioned in the letter sent to Boston. Some of the teamsters may have been buried in the towns below.

The number of Indians engaged, according to the first report sent to Boston, was "near five hundred." This is undoubtedly too high an estimate, but other accounts swelled the number to seven or eight hundred, and even to twelve hundred. If the

Names of Deerfield Teamsters and a few others. - Robert Hinsdale and his three sons, Samuel Hinsdale, Barnabas Hinsdale, and John Hinsdale; Joseph GiUet, John Allen, Joshua Carter, John Barnard, James Tufts, Jonathan Plympton, Philip Barsham, Thomas Wells, Wilham Smead, (Jr.,) Zebadiah Williams, Eliakim Marshal], James Mudge, George Cole, 17.

Eleven or twelve of these seventeen were Deerfield teamsters and perhaps more. John Barnard, a teamster, was a son of Francis Barnard of Hadley. Thomas Wells, Eliakim Marshall, James Mudge and George Cole are placed with the teamsters by Mr. Russell; but mav not have belonged to Deerfield.

Several men that were with Capt. Lothrop escaped, seven or eight according to Hubbard. Some of their names appear on petitions to the General Court. A few belonged to Suffolk county. James Bennet from Boston, a resident in Northampton, was slain.

In two or three days after Capt. Lothrop's defeat, the garrison and inhabitants of Deerfield abandoned the place, and a third village in Hampshire county was given up to desolation. Deerfield was a recent, but thriving village, containing more than twenty families, and having a minister, Mr. Samuel Mather, afterwards of Windsor. The surviving inhabitants retired to Hatfield and other places. In a petition to the General Court in 1678, of the "remnant of Deerfield's poor inhabitants," scattered into several towns, they say truly, that "their houses are burnt, their estates wasted, and the ablest of their inhabitants killed, and their plantation become a wilderness, a dwelling place for owls," &c.

The Commissioners of the New England Colonies met at Boston in September. They ordered that Massachusetts should complete their soldiers already in Hampshire to 300, and Connecticut theirs to 200. These were not to be fixed in garrisons, but to be employed for a field army, to pursue the enemy, &c.

About the first of October, Capt. Samuel Appleton and Capt. Joseph Sill had each a company at Hadley, and Capt. Samuel Mosely at Hatfield. On the 4th of October, Lieut. Phinehas Upham was sent up with 30 men, and Capt. Jonathan Poole, of Reading, was here a few days after. The Pequots, Mohegans, and some friendly Nipmucks called Wabaquassucks, returned to Hartford, Sept. 23d, but some Connecticut troops remained.

Secretary Rawson wrote, Sept. 30: - "the slaughter in your parts has much dampened many spirits for the war. Some men escape away from the press, and others hide away after they are impressed."

"We are endeavoring to discover the enemy, and daily send out scouts, but little is effected. Our English are somewhat awk and fearful in scouting and spying, though we do the best we can. We have no Indian friends here to help us. We find the Indians have their scouts out. Two days ago two Englishmen at Northampton, being gone out in the morning to cut wood, and but a little from the house, were both shot down dead, having two bullets

About the 26th of September, Major Pynchon's farm-house and barns, on the west side of the river, with all the grain and hay, were set on fire by a few Indians, and consumed.f - Major P. thought himself not fitted to be commander of all the troops sent into the county, and he requested to be discharged, before the middle of September, and the request was urgently repeated. On the 4th of October, the Council appointed Capt. Samuel Appleton, of Ipswich, commander in chief of the united forces, and he took the command on the 12th of October.

On the 28th of August, the Council of Connecticut advised Maj. Pynchon not to disarm the Springfield Indians, but to take hostages of them. This advice appears to have been followed, and the hostages were kept at Hanford. The Indians continued to profess friendship for the English, but at length roused by the victories of the Indians up the river, rather than excited by the arts of Philip, they determined to aid in the work of destroying the English towns. Their principal fort on the east side of the river was at Longhill, towards Longmeadow. Their chief was commonly named Wequogon, an old sachem, who, with his wife Awonusk, sold Hockanum and a part of South Hadley to the people of Hadley in 1662. Hubbard says the sachem of the Springfield Indians was father of the Hadley sachem, | and on this account, he supposes the former was more easily persuaded to join with the Hadley Indians.

Major Pynchon, who spent much of his time at Hadley, the head-quarters for this county, learning that a body of Indians had been in the vicinity of Hadley mill, called off all the soldiers stationed at Springfield, on the 4th of October, intending to have his forces go against the enemy that night or the next day. On the same day, Oct. 4th, Toto, a Windsor Indian, informed the people of Windsor or Hartford of a plot of the Indians, to burn Springfield and massacre the inhabitants the next day. An express was sent up to Springfield; and from that place a post was dispatched to Major Pynchon at Hadley, where he arrived

*On the 28th of September, Praisever Turner and his man, Uzackaby Shackspeer, were killed at Northampton. Some have imagined that the latter was a relative of Shakspeare. Maj. Pynchon calls him an Englishman, but the first name does not appear to be English. Praisever Turner's house and lot were within a few rods of the present residence of the writer of this volume, on Elm street.

Jl have seen no evidence that Wetjuogon was the father of Sancumachu, the principal sachem of Hadley. Perhaps Sancumachu had married a daughter of Wequogon.

some time in the night. He brought tidings that five hundred of Philip's and other Indians were in Springfield fort, ready to fall upon the town the next day. Another post was sent to Major Treat, who was at Westfield. Major Pynchon marched for Springfield the next morning, Tuesday, Oct. 5th, with Capt. Appleton and Capt. Sill and about 190 soldiers. The following extracts from letters, written near the time, will tell the sad story of the desolation at Springfield.

The Lord will have us lie in the dust before him. It is the Lord and blessed be his holy name. We came to a lamentable and woeful sight: the town in flames, not a house nor barn standing except old Goodman Branch's, till we came to my house, and then Mr. Glover's, John Hitchcock's, and Goodman Stewart's burnt down with barns, com and all they had. A few standing about the meeting house, and then from Merrick downwards all burnt except two garrison houses at the lower end of the town; my grist mill and corn mill burnt down, with some other houses and bams I had let out to tenants. All Mr. Glover's library burnt with all his com, so that he hath none to live on, as well as myself and many more. They tell me 32 houses and the bams belonging to them, are burnt and all the livelihood of the owners. The Lord shew mercy to us. Sir, I pray acquaint our Honored Governor with this dispensation of God. I know not how to write. The Lord in mercy speak to my heart and to all our hearts is the real desire of.

John Pynchon

The light of another day hath turned our yesterday's fears into certainties and bitter lamentation for the distresses and calamities of our brethren and friends at Springfield whose habitations have now become an heap. The enclosed from the Honored Major will give you such account of it as is with us to make. We have little more to add, only that the houses standing are about 13. Two men and one woman slain, viz. Lt. Cooper who was going towards the fort to treat with the Indians that the day before professed great friendship, being with 3 or 4 more just about a quarter of a mile out of town, was shot so as he fell off his horse, but got up again and rode to the end of the town, where he was shot again and died. The other man was Thomas Miller of Springfield. There appeared not according to their estimate above 100 Indians, of whom their own were the chief.* Their old sachem Wequogon (in whom as much confidence was put as in any of their Indians) was ring-leader in word and deed. Another of their principal men cried out to them and told them he was one that burnt Quabaug, and now would make them like to it. They were gone ere Major Pynchon came in with his forces which was about 2 or 3 of the clock. They signified their sense of his approach by their whoops and watchwords and were presently gone. Maj. Treat was got down from Westfield, some hours

*The information in these lines from Mr. Russell derived from Springfield people, proves beyond a doubt the falsity of the mmors about Philip's Indians being at Springfield. Wequogon and the Springfield Indians could form daring plots, and execute them. A few other Indians may have assisted them, but Wequogon was "ring-leader in word and deed." The three and five hundred Indians of the rumors are here, on good authority, reduced to a hundred or less.

sooner on the west side of the river, whose coming being perceived, 5 men went out of town and although pursued by 20 Indians, carried over a boat which was filled with men, but the Indians standing on the river's hmk shot at them and shot one through the neck (who is not like to recover.) They durst not adventure to pass the river, till Maj. Pynchon was come in and the Indians gone. Our army had prepared all things in readiness to go forth on Monday at night, (which was the occasion of calling forth those from Springfield) against a considerable party discovered 5 or 6 miles from Hadley. But the three alarms we met with and the tidings from Springfield wholly dissappointed it.

Our town of Hadley is now like to drink next (if mercy prevent not) of this bitter cup; we are but about 50 families and now left solitary. We desire to repose our confidence in the eternal and living God who is the refuge of his people, and to stand ready to do and suffer his will in all things. To his grace I commend you.

Our wounded men are greatly distressed for want of medicines. Those by sea not yet come at us; those expected by Capt. Waite left at Roibury."

I desired Mr. Russell to give you an account of the sore stroke upon poor distressed Springfield, which I hope will excuse my late doing of it. On the 4th of October our soldiers which were at Springfield I had called all off, leaving none to secure the town because the Commissioners' order was so strict. That night a post was sent to us that 500 Indians were about Springfield intending to destroy it the 5th of October. With about 200 of our soldiers I marched down to Springfield where we found all in flames, about 30 dwelling houses burnt down and 14 or 25 bams, my corn mill, saw mill and other buildings.* Generally men's hay and com are burnt and many men whose houses stand had their goods burnt in other houses which they had carried them to. Lt. Cooper and two more slain and 4 persons wounded.f That the town did not utterly perish is cause of great thankfulness. As soon as said forces appeared the Indians all drew off, so that we saw none of them. We sent out scouts that night and the next day but discovered none. Our endeavors here are to secure the houses and com that are left. Our people are under great discouragement and talk of leaving the place. We need your orders and directions about it. How to have provisions, I mean bread, for want of a mill, is difficult. The soldiers here already complain on that account, although we have flesh enough. Many of the inhabitants have no houses, which fills and throngs up every room of those that have, together with the soldiers; indeed it is very uncomfortable living here. But I resolve to attend what God calls me to and to stick to it as long as I can. I hope God will make up in himself what is wanting in the creature, to me, and to us all.

To speak my thouchts - all these towns ought to be garrisoned, as I have formerly hinted, To go out after the Indians in the swamps and thickets is to hazard all our men, unless we know where they keep; which is altogether unknown to us.

We are in great hazard, if we do but stir out for wood, to be shot down by some skulking Indians. Mr. Glover had all his books burnt; not so much as a bible saved - a great loss, for he had some choice books and many."

*Capt. Appleton states in a letter of Oct. 12, that about 33 houses and 25 bams were bimit, and about 15 houses left unburnt, in the town-plat. On the west side of the river, and in the outskirts on the east side, about 60 houses were standing, and much com in and about them.

fThose killed at Springfield, Oct. 5, were Lieut. Thomas Cooper, Thomas Miller, and Pentecost Matthews, wife of John Matthews. Those monally wounded were Nathaniel Browne, and Edmund Pringridays. These died a few days after.

Connecticut sent up forty-three Indians from Farmington, Hartford and Wethersfield, Oct. 6, but they effected nothing! On the 8th, upon a report that there were hostile Indians* near Hanford, Major Treat and a part of his soldiers were recalled. He returned to Hampshire about ten days after.

Capt. Appleton took the command of the forces, and came from Springfield to Hadley, Oct. lath.f He intended to March up to Squakeag on the 15th, but reports that the Indians were above Hatfield, drew him and his troops to that side of the river on the 15th, and again on the i6th. In a letter of the 17th, he says, "we have wearied ourselves with a tedious night and morning's march, without making any discovery of the enemy."

The Springfield Squaw. - Capt. Appleton, in a letter to Gov. Leverett, dated at Hadley, Oct. 16, relates that a letter from Major Pynchon informs him of an old Indian squaw, taken at Springfield, who tells that the Indians who came to Springfield were 270; and that the enemy in all are 600. They keep at CoassetjJ a place supposed to be about 50 miles above Hadley.

"We are told by an Indian that was taken at Springfield, that the Indians intend to set upon these three towns in one day, The body that waits to do this exploit is about 600 Indians, as we are informed by the aforesaid Indian; and further we are informed that they are making a fort some 60 miles above this place, up in the woods.

Pray sir, be pleased to present my humble service to your lady, and all the rest of your family. I make no question but the enemy will make an attempt within a short time upon these towns. Having nothing else worthy of your reading, I remain sir,

Capt. Mosely wrote on the margin of this letter: - "This aforesaid Indian was ordered to be tourne in peeces by dogs, and shee was so dealt withall."

after, there was a rumor that Philip with 400 men was to fall upon Norwich Oct. 15, and soldiers were ordered to that place. Men were strangely deluded respecting Philip.

Appleton reckoned the distance from Springfield to Hadley, "near 30 miles." In judging of distances in the woods, the miles of most men were too many.

Capt. Appleton, in his letter of Oct. 12, trusted that by the prayers of God's people, "our Israel may in his time, prevail against this cursed Amalek; against whom I believe the Lord will have war forever, until he have destroyed him."

JCowas was the Indian name of a pine tree, and there were several pine regions, or Cowassets, near Connecticut River. The one here mentioned may have been in the present town of Vernon, Vermont, or a little above.

Here is a short record of a most cruel and barbarous deed - "ordered" too by the English, and done within the good old county of Hampshire, on the lovely border of the Connecticut, among civilized and Christian people.

The squawr, whose story Capt. Appleton derived from Major Pynchon's letter, is unquestionably the same that is noticed by Capt. Mosely. When, where, and by whose order, this savage and brutal act was performed, we are left to conjecture. Her crime is not mentioned.

War is always horrid; and deeds unusually atrocious done by one party, too often provoke the other to acts equally outrageous. The excessive cruelty and atrocity of the Indians, their burnings, massacres and tortures, exasperated the English and sometimes led Christian men to act like merciless barbarians.*

On Tuesday, the 19th of October, the onset which had been apprehended, fell upon Hatfield. No letters relative to this attack have been preserved. The following account is from Hubbard.

"The enemy growing very confident by the late successes, came with all their fury the 19th of October upon Hatfield, hoping no less than to do the like mischief to them, they had newly done to Springfield: But according to the good providence of Almighty God, Major Treat was newly returned to North-Hampton, Captain Mosely and Captain Poole were then garrisoning the said Hatfield, and Capt. Appleton for the like end quartering at Hadley, when on a sudden 7 or 800 of the enemy came upon the town in all quarters, having first killed or taken two or three of the scouts belonging to the town, and seven more belonging to Capt. Mosely 's company: But they were so well entertained on all hands where they attempted to break in upon the town, that they found it too hot for them. Major Appleton with great courage defending one end of the town, and Capt. Mosely as stoutly maintaining the middle, and Capt. Poole the other end; that they were by the resolution of the English instantly beaten off, without doing much harm. Capt. Appleton's Serjeant was mortally wounded just by his side, another bullet passing through his own hair, by that whisper telling him that death was very near, but did him no other harm. Night coming on, it could not be discerned what loss the enemy sustained, divers were seen to fall, some run through a small river, others cast their guns into the water, it being their manner to venture as much to recover the dead bodies of their friends, as to defend them when alive.

At last after the burning of some few bams, with some other buildings, the enemy hasted away as fast as they came on, leaving the English to bless God who had so mercifully delivered them from the fury of their merciless foes."

The Letters from a Merchant of Boston to his friend in London, give more particulars of the loss of the scouts. The Indians made great fires north of Hatfield, to attract the English, and then came and lay in the bushes by the wayside, about two miles

*A man in Windsor, in a letter to Boston, Oct. 21, 1675, eJ^pressed an opinion, that "if an Indian worthy of death, were baited by our fiercest dogs, it would be a terror!" He may have supposed that the dogs would thus be excited to hunt and attack Indians. He made no allusion to any such baiting in Hampshire county.

from the village. About noon, ten horsemen were sent out to scout, and as they were passing the Indians in ambush, nine were shot down and one escaped to Hatfield.* The Indians came in, and attempted to burn the village, about four o'clock.

The great body of the Indians withdrew from this part of the country after their defeat at Hatfield, Oct. 19. A few straggling Indians remained and did some mischief. They burnt four or five houses and two or three barns in Northampton, in the outskirts of the town, the latter part of October; and soon after, on the 29th of the same month, they killed Joseph Baker, his son Joseph, and Thomas Salmon who were at work in a meadow.f The Indians intended to burn Northampton mill, but it was too well guarded. On the 27th of October, the Indians killed three Springfield men, in Westfield, viz., John Dumbleton, Jr., who went to the Westfield mill, and William Brooks, Jr. and John Brooks, who went to Westfield to look for iron ore; they also burnt two houses and one barn in Westfield.

On the 30th of October at night, messengers from Hatfield informed Capt. Appleton that many tracks of Indians had been discovered, and that their cattle came running violently into town. He went over, and on the first of November, "went about 10 or 12 miles into the woods, searching the chestnut mountains, where the enemy was thought to be, but found him not." On the 4th of November, Capt. Appleton and Major Treat ranged the woods towards Deerfield, but discovered no Indians. The next day, they searched the woods about Northampton, and found no enemy. The Indians had almost taken a man and boy in Northampton meadow.

*It was supposed for some months, that the nine missing scouts were all slain, but two of them were taken towards Albany, and were redeemed by some gentlemen at Albany, and arrived at New York, Feb. 25, 1676. They related that nine scouts [they had forgotten one] were sent out from Hatfield and that in passing a swamp, the Indians who lay hid, killed five, and took three, and one escaped. The Indians afterwards killed one of the three, having cut a hole below his stomach and pulled out his bowels. One of the two belonged to Boston. - [Letter from New York in the Connecticut Archives.]

Mr. Russell's list contains the names of ten persons slain at Hatfield on the 19th of October, viz., Freegrace Norton, Capt. Appleton 's sergeant, who was mortally wounded in the fight and died at the house of Lieut. Samuel Smith in Hadley soon after; and nine scouts, viz., Thomas Meekins, Jr. of Hatfield, Nathaniel Collins, servant of Thomas Meekins; Richard Stone, Samuel Clarke, John Pocock, Thomas Warner, Abram Quiddington, William Olverton, John Petts. The two taken and not slain are included.

Roberts, a wounded soldier, died in Northampton, soon after the Bakers and Salmon were killed, and Mr. Russell places him with them.

ation from his head-quarters at Hadley, Nov. 12, 1675, to the inhabitants of Springfield, Westfield, Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield, ordering "that no person shall remove from or desert any of these towns, so long as forces are continued here for their defence, without liberty under the hand of the commander in chief; nor shall any go out of the towns without a pass under the hand of the commander in chief."

Major Treat and the Connecticut troops went homeward Nov. 19, and Capt. Appleton departed four or five days after. Many of the soldiers from both colonies were dragoons with long arms, and their horses were kept in the Hampshire towns. Capt. Appleton left a small garrison in each of the five Hampshire towns, viz., 39 men at Springfield, to be commanded by Maj. Pynchon; 29 at Westfield, under Capt. Aaron Cooke; 26 at Northampton, under Lieut. William Clarke; 30 at Hadley, under Capt. Jonathan Poole; and 36 at Hatfield, under Lieut. William Allis. He appointed a Council of War for the security of these three towns, consisting of the commission officers of Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield, Lieut. David Wilton of Northampton, Deac. Peter Tilton of Hadley, and Serg. Isaac Graves of Hatfield; Capt. Jonathan Poole to be president of the said Council.

Almost all the force of the enemy was directed against this county from Sept. i to Oct. 19. The villages were all open to attacks, no palisade having been erected around any of them. The buildings called garrison houses were but slightly fortified. The soldiers were unused to war, and their trainings and European military exercises were of little avail in Indian warfare. It is not marvellous that the Indians did so much damage. The number of men slain in Hampshire county in 1675, according to Mr. Russell's report, was 145. Of these, about 43 or 44 were inhabitants of the county, and above 100 were from other towns in the colony. Men from most of the towns in Massacuhsetts, moistened the soil of Hampshire with their blood. More English than Indians were killed in 1675. Only one English female was slain in Hampshire, and no child, in that year. The 145* men were slain at the following times and places: -

"Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people > sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those that suck the breasts. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, where is their God ? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people."

Not a little of the destruction upon Connecticut River was the work of the Deerfield, Hadley and Northampton, and Springfield Indians. These tribes may have had near 150 fighting men, and perhaps some of the Waranokes, or Westfield Indians, were with them. The manuscript accounts and printed histories of this war, are silent respecting the conduct and fate of the Waranoke Indians. It is not known that Westfield was injured by them. That village, though apparently much exposed to attack, was not assailed by any considerable body of Indians. The damage which they received was from small parties. It may be conjectured that some of the Waranokes joined the Springfield Indians, and it is believed that a number of them removed, after the commencement of the war, to the vicinity of Hudson's River.

The Indian warriors in and about Hampshire county, were not more than six hundred at any time, and most of them were Nipmucks. The war was commenced by Philip's young men, but in this county it was not Philip's war; it was the Nipmuck war.

The people of Hampshire generally passed a quiet but rather gloomy winter. The thoughts of the past and the apprehensions for the future, gave them heavy hearts. They however escaped the sufferings and afflictions of other parts of New England, occasioned by the Narraganset war, undertaken in the midst of winter. In December and most of January, the cold was severe and the snow deep. In January, the snow was " mid-thigh deep," north of Brookfield.* There seems to have been no direct communication between the Hampshire towns and Boston during the winter. The deep snow, the destruction of Brookfield, and especially the fear of Indians, stopped all traveling in that direction. Sergeant John Ayres no longer remained to greet the weary traveler at his rustic but comfortable ordinary, on the hill in Brookfield. Hartford had intercourse with Boston through the Narraganset country, where the troops were.

Though some families had removed, most of the dwellinghouses were crowded in all those villages. Many houses had been destroyed besides those at Springfield. Every town had to entertain soldiers, and the upper villages had families from Deerfield, Northfield and Brookfield. The people of Hampshire were able to supply all with food.

Chapter Xv

Indian war of 1675 and 1676 - chiefly 1676 - Fortifications - Indians in the winter - War with the Narragansets - Destruction of Lancaster - Mrs. Rowlandson taken - Troops march to Miller's River and thence to Hadley - Northampton assaulted - Ambuscade near Longmeadow - Three men slain at Hockanum - Scheme to bring the five Hampshire towns into one - The Falls fight, above Deerfield - Attack on Hatfield - Major Talcott arrives from Norwich and Quabaug - Hadley assaulted - Expedition of Major Talcott and Capt. Henchman up the river - Indians flee to the Housatonnuc and are defeated by Major Talcott - War supposed to be at an end - Persons killed and captured at Hatfield and Deerfield in 1677 - Recovery of the captives.

Fortifications. - In the latter part of autumn and in the ensuing winter, the people of Hampshire constructed about their plantations, a palisade or palisado. It consisted of rows of pales, stakes or posts about ten feet in length, having two feet in the ground and eight feet above the ground.* These posts were made by splitting sticks of timber into two or more pieces, and hewing off the edges of the cleft-pieces so that no part should be less than two or three inches in thickness. These were set close together in the earth, and were probably fastened to a piece of wood near the top. Many of the rails of fences were used for

*Such were the directions of the town of Hadley when the east side fortification was rebuilt, in 1679. Possibly the palisades of 1676 were not of the same height. Hubbard says the cleft wood of the palisades was about eight feet long; meaning, I suppose, the part above the surface of the earth. There was something called a breast-work in Hadley in 1676 and 1677, and men were to maintain the said breast-work "five feet and a half in height, with the pales or out-works thereto." Flankers are mentioned in 1678.

palisades. These fortifications which would have been a very inadequate defense against an attack by Europeans, were a suflBcient barrier against the assaults of the Indians. Hubbard says, "although they did in the spring break through the palisades at Northampton, yet as soon as they began to be repulsed, they saw themselves like wolves in a pound, that they could not fly away at their pleasure, so as they never adventured to break through afterward upon any of the towns so secured."

The first vote of Hadley as a town, relating to the fortification, was on the nth of February, 1676. It was not then completed. It was a palisade fence crossing the homelots, in the rear of the buildings, on both sides of the street and crossing the street some rods from each end. The two sides of the palisade were each almost a mile in length and the two ends near forty rods each. There were strong gates at the ends, and at the highways on the sides. There was little danger of an attack on the western or meadow side of the street, and the fortification on that side was not so strongly made as the other. Men might not make outlets for themselves or cattle through the palisade. Each man, in order to get upon his own homelot, was under the necessity of going round through a gate, and then crossing other lots until he came to his own, or passing round still farther, to the rear of his lot. - Four or five houses at the north end, on the street running north-easterly, were not included in the fortification; and also apparently the house belonging to John Russell, senior, at the south end on the east side.

The town was divided into three or four "squadrons," in reference to the military watch and other matters. Each squadron had one or two commanders. There was also a fortification committee.

Feb. II, 1676. The town voted that the passage to Fort Meadow and that to the corn-mill should be cleared of all brush and bushes, that passing to each place might be as secure as possible. All were to work according to their heads and estates. They also voted that every houselot should be cleared of all brush and bushes which might harbor an enemy, by the 19th instant.

A large body of the Indians wintered near Ware River, north of Brookfield; others on the west side of the Connecticut, above Northfield, and some, including Philip, in the vicinity of Hoosac River, north-east of Albany. A few may have retired to the Narraganset country.

York to Connecticut, Jan. 6, 1676, that Philip and 4 or 500 north Indians* were come within 40 or 50 miles of Albany, northerly. The Council of Connecticut desired Gov. Andros to stir up the Mohawks against these Indians; and to restrain the Dutch, who sold arms and ammunition to the enemy.f Gov. Andros made an uncourteous reply, Jan. 20, suggesting that they wished to involve him in a war with this "bloody crew."

James Quannapohit,| a Christian Natick Indian, who was sent forth as a spy, with another named Job, arrived at Wenimesset or Menimesset, north of Brookfield, January 4, 1676, where he found, as he judged, about 300 Nipmuck fighting-men, and twice as many women and children. He was there informed that Philip was within a half day's journey of Albany; that the Springfield, Hadley and Northampton Indians had their winter quaners, some at Squakeag, and some with Sancumachu towards Albany, this side of Philip.

Philip and the other Indians left their winter quarters near the end of February, and returned to Connecticut River. Mrs. Rowlandson, on the 9th of March, 1676, crossed the river some miles above Northfield, and found on the west side§ "a numerous crew of pagans," and Philip among them.

War with the Narragansets in Rhode Island. - The commissioners of the tJnited Colonies, on the 2d of November, 1675, determined to carry on a war against the Narragansets, and agreed that a thousand men should be raised, viz., in Massachusetts, 527, Plymouth, 158, and Connecticut, 315. This was the proportion of each colony in all this war.

On Sunday, the 19th of December, when the weather was cold and the snow deep, the brave men from the three colonies took the formidable fort of the Narragansets, and burnt hundreds of their wigwams. But it was a dearly bought victory; 80 of the EngHsh were slain or died of their wounds, and 138 more were wounded. - The Indians fought stoutly, and lost some hundreds of men, women and children. The confession of Indians, as to their loss, was as usual, a fruitful source of exaggeration. - Another thousand men were ordered, and a large part of them left

Dutch traders at Albany sold ammunition to the Hudson's River Indians, who purchased it for the New England Indians, and the latter in this way, obtained a supply.

Wickford on the 28th of January, and pursued the Narragansets north-westerly into the Nipmuck country, and killed and took about seventy.* - A sudden thawf carried off the snow before this pursuit, and the Indians procured ground-nuts for food.

Gookin, in 1674, estimated the fighting-men of the Narragansets at one thousand. Ninigret, one of their chiefs, and his men, withdrew from the rest, and did not engage in the war. The fighting-men of the hostile Narragansets, at the close of the winter, may have been 400 or 500. The English had in the spring of 1676, more open enemies than at any time in 1675, - perhaps 1000 men, or more.

The Nipmucks at Wenimesset informed James Quannapohit that they should fall upon Lancaster, Medfield, Groton, Marlborough and Sudbury, and fixed upon the day to attack Lancaster. James left them Jan. 20, and on the 24th, his Relation was written at Boston. Yet his information was not sufficiently heeded, and these places were all attacked and almost destroyed by the Indians. These assaults were made when Philip was far distant, except the last.

On the loth of February, the Nipmucks from Wenimesset, aided by some Narragansets lately come to them, assaulted Lancaster, killed or captured about 42 persons, and burnt most of the buildings. The place was abandoned by the English in a few weeks. Mrs. Rowlandson,t the wife of the minister, and her children, were among the captives. The number of Indians in this expedition, according to Job, one of the Indian spies, who left Wenimesset after they set out for Lancaster, was about 400. §

On the 8th of February, the Commissioners of the United Colonies ordered 600 dragoons, or troopers with long firearms, to be raised; to rendezvous at Quabaug. || The dragoons of Massachusetts, under Major Thomas Savage of Boston, with six Christian Indians, and those of Connecticut under Major Treat, united at Quabaug, about the 2d or 3d of March; they marched to Wenimesset, but the Indians had information of the expedition

{She published an account of her captivity and sufferings, after her return, which has been read by thousands of every succeeding generation.

§Gookin, confiding in Job's estimate, says "about four hundred." Yet this number has been strangely increased to 1500 in later times. It has also been represented that Philip and his Indians were among them. A perusal of Mrs. Rowlandson's book should have corrected this error.

and had left the place. The dragoons pursued those that had gone towards Paquayag, and came to Miller's River at Paquayag, on the 6th of March, after the Indians had all passed over on rafts, and were advancing towards Squakeag. The English did not cross the river,* but turned and came to Hadley, where they arrived about the 8th of March.

Major Savage had four companies in Hampshire, under Captains Mosely, Whipple, Gillam and Turner. Captain William Turnerf came from Marlborough, Feb. 29th, with 89 foot soldiers. He left II men at Quabaug,t March 4th, and came to Hadley with 78 men, before Major Savage arrived. He was stationed at Northampton.

The expedition of the Massachusetts and Connecticut troops to Wenimesset and Paquayag, drove a body of Indians to Squakeag (Northfield,) where they came March 7th, and Mrs. Rowlandson with them. They went up the river some miles and crossed to the west side, March 9th, where were Philip§ and many Indians. Says Mrs. Rowlandson: - "Now the Indians gathered their forces to go against Northampton. Over night, one went about yelling and hooting to give notice of the design. Whereupon they went to boiling ground-nuts, and parching com as many as had it, for their provision, and in the morning, away they went." They assailed Northampton, March 14th, were repulsed and returned without much booty. They evidently did not know that there were two or three companies of soldiers in the town.

Hadley, March i6, 1675-6. Yours of the l Ith inst. I received. I have improved our time since we came hither in sending forth scouts, but as yet can make no certain discovery of any of the enemy's place of abode. On the 9th inst. they made an assault on some at Westfield and wounded a man; on the 14th instant about break of the day, the enemy fiercely assaulted Northampton in three places at once, and forced within their line or palisadoes, and burnt 5 houses and 5 barns, and killed 4 men and one woman,|| and wounded 6 men more; but being beaten off, marched towards Hatfield, and were seen in several places about the town in considerable companies. I presently sent another Company to strengthen that town. This morning

Rowlandson says, "God did not give them courage or activity to go over after us." She was not well qualified to judge respecting their movements.

j""Capt. Turner, by trade a tailor, for his valor has left behind him an honorable memory." - [Letters from a Boston Merchant.] He was a Baptist as was his lieutenant, Edward Drinker, and both had suffered persecution.

garrison was thus re-established at Brookfield. They found or prepared a building for a garrison house. Provisions for these soldiers were sent from Marlborough on horses. One man managed two horses, and troopers guarded the men and horses. Carts were sent to Lancaster, but not to Brookfield.

about 2 o'clock we were alarmed again from Northampton which was occasioned by some Indians being seen on two sides of ttic town. The towns both of Springfield and Westfield arc in very great fear of the enemy as well as those here. I humbly propose to your honors, whether this way of following the enemy up and down in the woods will best reach your end at this season of the year, in which they have no certain fixed station, but can take advantages against us, and avoid us when they please. As near as we can gather, their aim is at these towns on the river, to destroy them, that so they may plant and fish with less molestation. I have not further to add, but to desire the good Lord to be your all in all and to subscribe myself.

Thomas Savage

Although the Lord hath granted us an interval of quietness this winter, yet since the coming on of the spring, the war here is renewed. On the 14th inst. the enemy to the number of 2000* as judged, made a most sudden and violent irruption upon Northampton, broke their works in 3 places, and had in reason taken the whole town, had not Providence graciously so ordered it, that Maj. Treat was come in with his men the evening before, yet they burnt five houses, and five bams, one within the fortification, slew five persons and wounded five. There are said be found slain about a dozen of the enemy .-|- Above Deerfield a few miles is the great place of their fishing which must be expected to afford them their provisions for the year. We must look to feel their utmost rage. My desire is, we may be willing to do or suffer, to live or die, remain in or be driven out from our habitations, as the Lord our God would have us. Capt. Poole who hath been left here for the government of the soldiers, doth earnestly entreat for liberty to repair to his own very much suffering family, at least for a while. With prayers to the God of all blessing to guide and strengthen and carry you through this day of temptation, I am,

In the latter part of February and in March, small parties of Indians did mischief in Connecticut, and in the lower part of Hampshire county. They wounded William Hills of East Hartford, and killed Henry Denslow of Windsor, Edward Elmer of East Windsor, and John Kirby, Jr. of Middletown.+ On the night of the 26th of March, they burnt most of the buildings in Simsbury, the people having left them. On the evening of March 30, they burnt the house of Goodman Cole in Wallingford.

On Sunday, the 26th of March, some of the people of Longmeadow, men and women with children, ventured to ride to Springfield to attend public worship, in company with several colony troopers. There were 16 or 18 men in all, but some had

letters from a Boston Merchant intimate that they carried off their dead. Menowniet said the Indians had one killed and four wounded.

jBancroft'sremark,that "notadrop of blood was shed on the happy soil of Connecticut" has a few exceptions, and but a few. Besides those slain near Connecticut River, Joseph Rockwell and John Reynolds, Jr. of Norwich, were slain January 28, 1676, and a boy that bad been with them could not be found.

women behind them, and some had children in their arms, and when they were near Pecowsick brook, 7 or 8 Indians in the bushes fired upon the hindmost and killed a man and a maid, wounded others, and took two women with their babes, and retired into a swamp.* Those forward rode some distance towards Springfield, set down the women and maids, and then returned, but could not find the two women and children. A letter from Major Savage, dated at Hadley, March 28, 1676, gives the following account of this affair: -

On the l6th inst. at night, we had advice from Springfield that 8 Indians assaulted l6 or i8 men besides women and children as they were going to meeting from a place they call Longmeadow, and killed a man and a maid, wounded z men, and carried away captive, 2 women and j children. In the night, I sent out i6 horse in pursuit of them, who met with some that were sent from Springfield, and overtook the Indians with the captives, who as soon as they saw the English, killed the z children and sorely wounded the women in the beads with their hatchets, and so ran away into a swamp where they could not follow them. The scouts brought back both the women and the children. One of the women remains still senseless by reason of her wounds and the other is very sensible and rational.

The Indians told the women great stories - that there were 3000 Indians at Deerfield, that two Dutchmen had brought four bushels of powder, &c. The conduct of the men in this onset was much censured. The Council considered it, "as a matter of great shame, humbling to us." Hubbard thought the matter had been misrepresented. One of the women recovered.

About the same time, Pelatiah Morgan was killed on the west side of the river, at Springfield. "On the last snowy day" of the winter, probably in March, Moses Cook and a garrison soldier named Clement Bates, were killed in Westfield. Moses Cook was the only inhabitant of Westfield killed during the war. A house and two barns were burnt in Westfield in the winter by a few Indians.

Men killed at Hockanum. - About the first of April, some inhabitants of Hadley went to Hockanum, to do some work, having a guard of soldiers with them. A party of Indians, lying in wait, killed Deac. Richard Goodman and two of the soldiers, and took Thomas Reed, another soldier.f Mrs. Rowlandson, who was then above Northfield, on the east side of the river, says: - "About

*Sii are said to have been slain or mortally wounded. John Keep, his wife Sarah, and his infant son Jabez, are three of them. The names of the others are not in the Springfield record.

says Deac. Goodman went a little beyond the soldiers, to view his fence, and two soldiers ventured upon the top of a high hill near by, and were shot down before they could return to the others. Men in those days, climbed Holyoke, to take a view of the country.

this time, the Indians came yelping from Hadley, having there killed three Englishmen, and brought one captive, Thomas Reed. They all gathered about the poor man, asking him many questions."

In the spring of 1676, many Indians congregated in the vicinity of Mount Wachuset, north-west of Lancaster, where the access to them was said to be difficult, and the obstacles in the way of assailants formidable. For these or other reasons, the English never attacked their Wachuset holds. On the first of April, the Council at Boston directed Major Savage to leave men under Capt. Turner to assist the Hampshire towns, and to return homewards with the rest. He left Hadley* on the 6th or 7th of April, with four companies under Captains Mosely, Whipple, and Gillam, and Lieut. Drinker. The Council at Boston had desired him, March 20, to visit the Wachuset quarter on his return, but when the troops reached Brookfield, a council was held, and a majority decided not to attack the Nipmucks about Wachuset.

Major Savage left with Capt. Turner, 151 men, who were at the following places on the 7th of April, viz., at Hadley, 51, Northampton, 46, Hatfield, 45, and 9 had been sent to Springfield. There were other soldiers at Springfield and Westfield. Many of the men left by Capt. Appleton, in the preceding November, were still in the Hampshire towns. The Connecticut forces returned home two weeks or more before Maj. Savage departed. The troops were not sufficient to garrison the towns and go against the Indians up the river, and the latter were not molested until the 19th of May. When the fishing season arrived, they came down and established themselves about the falls, above Deerfield; and they planted corn at Squakeag, and even at Deerfield, without being disturbed. Philip left Connecticut River at or above Squakeag, not far from the loth or 12th of April, and arrived at Wachuset about the 17th of April. He was in the same company with Mrs. Rowlandson, some of the way. He never again came to Connecticut River. The river Indians, and some Nipmucks and Narragansets remained.

The Nipmucks and others about Wachuset, issuing thence, assaulted many places which were not assailed the preceding year. A large number of the Narragansets, who had been pur-

*Mr. Samuel Nowel, the minister of the army, wrote to Major Gookin from Hadley, that a Hadley man, with whom the sii Christian Indian guides quartered, allowed them pork and peas enough, but made them'pay for their bread. Mr. Nowel interfered, and bread was allowed. This Hadleyjmanjis not^amed. These^Christian Indians, though true and faithful, were insulted and abused in some places. All Indians were suspected and hated by many.

sued into the Nipmuck country, turned back, and the colonies of Plymouth and Rhode Island felt their fury. The extension of the war in February and March, far beyond its limits in 1675, the destruction of one town after another, and the difficulty of making any successful inroad upon the Indians, made the duties of the government and of the council of war extremely arduous and embarrassing, and some stout hearts were appalled, for a time.

Plan of deserting three Hampshire towns. - The Council formed an injudicious scheme for the protection and security of the people in Hampshire. In a letter to Major Savage, March 20, they urged the necessity of bringing the people of the five towns into two places. "The lesser towns, they say, must gather to the greater ones."* "Some that know those places best, do apprehend that Springfield and Hadley are the fittest places for fortifying and planting." "To remain in such a scattered state is to expose lives and estates to the merciless cruelty of the enemy." They wrote to Major Pynchon the same day, assuring him there was no other way but for all Springfield and Westfield to come together; "it is impossible to hold both towns." "The like advice we have given tt> the other towns, to come in all to Hadley, and fortify it well, and then by united strength, it may be kept, but otherwise all will be lost."

The people of Northampton determined to remain in their own town, and boldly meet the dangers which menaced them. In a letter to the Council, March 28, they say

"We dare not entertain any thought of deserting this plantation. The Lord has wonderfully appeared of late for our preservation, and we fear it would be displeasing unto him, if we should give up into the hands of our enemies, that which the Lord so eminently delivered out of their hands. If we should desert a town of such considerable strength, it may so animate the enemy, and discourage other plantations, as may prove no small prejudice unto the country. Besides there seems to us a great necessity for holding this place, for the relief of those forces that may be improved in following the enemy. There can be no prosecuting of the war in these parts to advantage, unless this and the two neighboring towns be maintained."

They suggest that Springfield is not the most convenient place for others to repair to. "The bulk of the town is burnt, most of their land lies remote; they are incapable we fear either to maintain themselves or others." If the Council will allow Northampton 50 soldiers, besides those they had, the town will feed them and pay their wages. This paper is in the hand-writing of Mr. Stoddard, and is signed by Solomon Stoddard, John

The people of Westfield were decidedly and resolutely against a removal to Springfield, and manifested a disposition to go to Connecticut, if they must remove. They believed that Westfield was more secure from the Indians than Springfield, and much better for husbandry. A few extracts follow from a letter to the Council, dated April 3d, written by Rev. Edward Taylor, and signed by Isaac Phelps, David Ashley and Josiah Dewey.

"Springfield on the east side has but few habitations left. Those on the west side are scattered about a mile up and down, some of which are hid with brambles. Most of its tillage ground is a great distance from the town, and not clear from brush; the danger of field employments is double to what ours is. Springfield hath been sorely under the blasting hand of God; it hath but in a lower degree than ordinary answered the labor of the husbandman. - To remove from habitations to none, from fortifications to none, from a compact place to a scattered one, from a place of less danger in the field to one of more, from a place under the ordinary blessing upon our labors to one usually blasted, seems to us such a strange thing that we find not a man amongst us inclining thereto."

Mr. Russell, for himself and others, corresponded with the Council of Connecticut respecting the war, and in regard to drawing the three upper towns into one. The Council, April 27, gave to him many reasons why the Hampshire towns should not be deserted; and they wrote the same day to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, giving similar reasons. They considered the towns up the river as "the principal granary" of Massachusetts.*

On the 28th of March, the Connecticut Council wrote a letter to the Indian sachems up the river, desiring an exchange of captives, and informing them that if they wished to treat, a messenger might come and return safely. A messenger came from the sachems with a writing about the first of May, and the Council sent back a writing, offering to give money for English captives and proposing a meeting at Hadley within 8 days, to treat of peace. No reply was received from the sachems.f

"The soldiers here are in great distress for want of clothing, both linen and woolen. Some has been brought from Quabaug, but not an eighth of what we want. I beseech your honors that my wife may have my wages due, to supply the wants of my family. I should be glad if some better person might be found for this employment, for my weakness of body and often infirmities will hardly suffer me to do my duty as I ought; and it would j-These chiefs were Sucquance, a Narraganset sachem; Wequaquat, a Springfield sachem; Sungumachoe, [Sancumachu,] the Hadley and Nortiampton sachem; and Wanchequit. They were at Suckquackheag [Squakeag.j grieve me to neglect any thing that might be for the good of the country in this day of their distress.* I have sent lists of my soldiers at Boston and at Marlborough, and those left in these three towns on the 7th inst.-j- Hoping your honors will send a speedy supply for the soldiers, and order something for my family, I shall beg the Lord to be your counsellor and guide, and remain your honors' to the utmost of my power.

Will. Turner

There is come into Hadley a young man taken from Springfield at the beginning of last month, who informs that the enemy is drawing up all their forces towards these towns, and their head-quarters are at Deerfield."$

On the 27th of April, Capt. Samuel Holyoke and a few men from Springfield, shot at four Indians near the river. Two died in the river as they supposed, and one was taken, who died of his wounds. He said the Indians had looo fighting-men up the river, and three forts this side of Squakeag.

A letter dated Hadley, April 29, 1676, to the Governor and Council of Mass. written by Rev. John Russell, and signed by him, Capt. William Turner and some others of Hadley, Northampton and Hatfield, (probably committees of militia) noticed the rising spirit of the people.

"It is strange to see how much spirit, (more than formerly,) appears in our men to be out against the enemy. A great part of the inhabitants here, would our committees of militia but permit, would be going forth. They are daQy moving for it, and would fain have liberty to be going forth this night. The enemy is now come so near us that we count we might go forth in the evening and come upon them in the darkness of the same night." [The going forth was three weeks later.]

Yours of May 5th I received on the 14th. The general visitarion by sickness§ which you wrote of hath passed unto us also, most of our people being sorely eiercised therewith: yet hath the Lord hitherto graciously spared lives; and likewise granted abatement of the violence of the disease unto most within three or four days after the first paroxysm. On Saturday last in the evening came in some of our messengers from Boston, signifying the Lord's mercy to us in granting a quiet Election in this troublous time. On the Election

*Here was a true patriot. Some of the rulers of the country which he served so faithfully, had persecuted and imprisoned him. His wife, Mary Turner, in a petition to the Council, for some of his pay, says her husband voluntarily and freely offered himself, and was then in the service of the country, with his son and servants. The Council granted to her £7, April 24. William Turner, Jr. was a soldier at Hadley.

jThis young man was John Gilbert, aged 18, son of Thomas Gilbert of Springfield, deceased. Mrs. Rowlandson found him above Northfield, sick and turned out into the cold. She befriended him and got him to a fire. He escaped from the Indians.

§Mather says that in April and May, "sore and (doubtless) malignant colds prevailed every where." He could not hear of a family in New England that wholly escaped the distemper. Many died.

day, May 3d, Mr. Hoar brought in Mrs. Rowlandsun to Bobton.* Mr. Hoar brought with him a letter subscribed by Philip, the old queen and sundry Sachems, contaming a desire of peace, or rather an overture for a cessation, if they might quietly plant at Mendon, Groton, Quabaug, &c. on which the court called in the Elders to advise.']- By ship from England our information is that the sufferings of Non-Conformists are increased and the aspect of times more threatening than of late years. There hath been ao engagement in the Strait between the French fleet and 40 Dutch ships. The French though much exceeding in number were yet much worsted and broken; many ships taken, 6000 men slain. Peace, so much talked of between the French king and the Emperor with the confederates comes to nothing.J

This morning about sunrise came into Hatfield one Thomas Reede§ a soldier who was taken captive when Deacon Goodman was slain. He relates that they are now planting at Deerfield and have been so these three or four days or more - saith further that they dwell at the falls on both sides of the river - are a considerable number, yet most of them old men and women. He cannot judge that there are on both sides of the river above 60 or 70 fighting-men. They are secure and scornful, boasting of great things they have done and will do. There is Thomas Eames his daughter and child hardly used; one or two belonging to Medfield and I think two children belonging to Lancaster. The night before last they came down to Hatfield upper meadow, and have driven away many horses and cattle, to the number of four score and upwards as they judge. Many of these this man saw in Deerfield meadow, and found the bars put up to keep them in. This being the state of things, we think the Lord calls us to make some trial what may be done against them suddenly, without further delay; and therefore the concurring resolution of men here seems to be to go out against them to-morrow at night so as to be with them, the Lord assisting, before break of day. We need guidance and help from heaven. We humbly beg your prayers, advice, and help if it may be. And therewith committing you to the guidance and blessing of the most High, Remain

Altho' this man speaks of their number as he judgeth yet they may be many more, for we perceive their number varies, and they are going and coming, so that there is no trust to his guess.

After information was obtained from Thomas Reed, who escaped from the Indians about the middle of May, the men of Hampshire and the soldiers abiding with them, determined to

Rowlandson and the party of Indians with whom she lived, left a "Thicket" above Northfield, not far from the 9th or loth of April, and reached Wachuset about the 17th of April. Mr. Hoar came to ransom her April 30, and she left the Indians May 2. Philip seems not to have been a great distance from her when she was in the Thicket; and he was in the same company with her when she came in sight of Wachuset.

{News from Europe was disseminated through the country verbally, and by letters, before newspapers were printed. In this case it was sent from Boston to Hadley, and from Hadley to Hartford.

§It is manifest from Reed's account, that the Indians were not very numerous about the falls. He appears not to refer to those who were at some distance above and below the falls. The Indian story about looo fighting-men deserves not a moment's attention.

assail the Indians at the falls* above Deerfield, with what strength they could raise among themselves. This expedition was a voluntary effort of the people and troops residing in these towns. About 150 or 160 mounted men from Springfield, Westfield, Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield, assembled at Hatfield, May 18, under Capt. WilUam Turner as commander and Capt. Samuel Holyoke of Springfield, and Ensign John Lyman of Northampton. Hadley had two sergeants, John Dickinson and Joseph Kellogg. Rev. Hope Atherton of Hatfield accompanied the troops. Benjamin Wait and Experience Hinsdale were guides. Perhaps about half were inhabitants of these towns; the others were soldiers from eastern towns, stationed in Hampshire. They commenced their march from Hatfield to the falls, about twenty miles, in the evening of Thursday, the iSthf of May. They crossed Deerfield and Green Rivers, and halted a little west of Fall River, about half a mile from the Indian camp at the head of the falls, and left their horses, under a small guard. They then crossed Fall River, climbed up an abrupt hill, and came upon the back of the camp, about day-break.

"They found the Indians all asleep, without having any scouts abroad, so that our soldiers came and put their guns' into their wigwams, before the Indians were aware of them, and did make a great and notable slaughter among them." "Some got out of the wigwams and fought, and killed one of the English; others did enter the river to swim over from the English, but many were shot dead in the waters, others wounded were therein drowned, many got into canoes to paddle away, but the paddlers being shot, the canoes overset with all therein; and the stream being violent and swift near the falls, most that fell overboard were carried upon the falls." "Others of them creeping for shelter under the banks of the great river, were espied by our men and killed with their swords. Captain Holyoke killing five, young and old, with his own hands."J