UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES UMVERSn Y ol CALIIOKNI4 AT LOS ANGELES ^ LDBRARY 616« 5 x^* The Connecticut River and the Valley of the Connecticut Three Hundred and Fifty Miles from Mountain to Sea Historical and Descriptive By Edwin M. Bacon Author of " Walks and Rides in the Country round about Boston," " Historic Pilgrimages in New England," "Literary Pilgrimages in New England," etc. Illustrated G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London XTbe 1knicherbocl?er press 1911 Copyright, 1906 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Published, August, 1906 Reprinted, January, 1907 ; April, ign Ube ftniclietbocltec preee, t^ew X^rk 2S n i I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO Lindsay Swift OF THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, MASTER OF AMERICANA, WHOM IT HAS BEEN MY RARE FORTUNE TO KNOW AS HISTORICAL GUIDE AND AS FRIEND. iu I HISTORICAL Prefatory Note THE story of the Connecticut River and the Valley of the Connecticut is so mingled with the history of the country, and particularly of the formative periods, that in the proper telling of it much of history must also be related. Accordingly in the following pages there will be found blended with descriptions of the longest river in New Eng- land and one of the fairest valleys in the country, narra- tions of Indian and colonial wars ; of the establishment or evolution of democratic government ; of the pioneer devel- opment of internal improvements and of industries ; of the planting and upbuilding of many and varied institutions of learning, colleges, academies, and schools, for higher edu- cation — more than on any other river in the world — and withal of the growth and unfolding of the genuine American character. In the study of my subject, besides consulting the various histories, colonial, state, county, and town, bearing upon it, historical monographs, family papers, diaries, and contemporary narrative, I have gone, so far as they were accessible, to original authorities. As a re- sult of this research new readings of popular history have vi Prefatory Note been made necessary in several instances, and some cher- ished old legends which have become fixed in literature as historical facts, have perforce been relegated to their right- ful places. It is none the less, however, a story full to its last chapter of interest and inspiration, with much of romance, of stirring incident, of thrilling adventure, of the exhibition of heroism, devotion, faith, energy, broad enterprise, large-mindedness, and the true American spirit. E. M. B. Boston, Mass. Contents I. HISTORICAL PAOB I. Dutch Discovkbt and First Occupation ... 1 Adriaen Block on the River in 1614 — First of European Navigators to Enter and Explore it — His Sixty-mile Cruise up the Stream in an American Built Yacht — Story of Block and his Voyage along the New England Coast — Action by the States General on his Dis- coveries — The "Figurative Map" — A Remarkable Coincidence — The Dutch alone Established on the River for nearly Eighteen Years — The first Rapier Thrust between the Dutch and the Eng- lish. II. English Occupation ....... 14 First Move by the Plymouth Men in 1633 — Banished River Sachems in Plymouth and Boston — Edward Winslow's Preliminary Explo- ration — Disingenuousness of the Bay Colony Leaders — Their Pros- pecting Parties in the River Region — Exchange of Letters as to Dutch and English Rights — Affairs Shaping for a Pretty Quar- rel—The Dutch "House of Hope"— The "Lords and Gentle- men's " Patent — Entry of the Pilgrims — Ignoring the Dutchmen's Challenge — Van Twiller's formidable Protest. III. The Pioneer River Settlements . . . . 24 Puritans from the Bay Colony Entering in 1635 — Beginnings of Wethersfield and Windsor — Intrusion on the Plymouth Meadows — Governor Bradford's Ineffectual Protest — The Dream of a "New Plymouth" Dispelled — John Winthrop, the Younger, Governor for the " Lords and Gentlemen" — Lodgment at the River's Mouth — Coming of Hooker and his Congregation in 1636 — The Old Connec- ticut Path, The Second Connecticut Trail, and the Bay Path as traced to-day — Beginnings of Hartford and Springfield — Secession of River Towns. viii Contents PAGE IV. A SiGxiFicANT Chapter of Colonial History 38 The Political Motive that Inspired the Dispersion from the Bay Colony to the Valley — Democracy versus Theocracy — Thomas Hooker and John Cotton, Spokesman for the Differing Parties — The Hookerites' Petition in the Bay General Court — Winthrop's Report of the Un- recorded Proceedings — Alleged and Real Reasons for Removal — Provisional Grovemment for the Valley Plantations — The Independ- ent Establishment — Hooker's epoch-making Sermon — The firat Written Constitution — -True Birth of American Democracy" — Hooker's Illuminating Letter : a Colonial Classic. V. The Fall of the House of Hope .... 56 Troubled Life of the Dutch among their English Neighbors — Petty Aggressions on Both Sides — De Vries's Observations in 1639 — His Dinner-table Talk with Governor Haynes — A Pleasant Episode of his Visit — Commander Provoost's Strenuous Five years — A Dramatic Scene at the Fort — Diplomatic Gysbert op Dyck — Peter Stuyvesant at Hartford — The Hartford Treaty of 1660 — A brief "Happy Peace" — Captain John Underbill upon the Scene — He seizes the House of Hope — End of Dutch Occupation. VI. Saybrook Fort 67 The Saybrook Plantation for Important Colonists who never came — The Questioned Story of the Embarkation of Cromwell and Hampden — Beginnings by George Fenwick — Lion Gardiner's grim Humor — John Winthrop the Younger : A Remarkable Personage — Fenwick's Home on Saybrook Point — Lady Fenwick — John Higginson, the Chaplain — Lady Fenwick's lonely Tomb — The sec- ond Saybrook Fort, Scene of an Adventure of Andros in 1676 — Beginnings of Yale College at Saybrook — The " Saybrook Plat- form" — First Book Printed in Connecticut. VII. Early Perils of Colonial Life .... 80 The River Settlements of the Colonial Period — Confined to the Lower Valley for a Century — The First Settlers completely environed by Savages — The Various Tribes and their Seats — The Dominating Pequots — Covert Attacks upon the Settlers — Massacre of Captains Stone and Norton with their Ship's Crew — The Killing of John Old- ham off Block Island — Avenged by Captain John Gallop — The " Earliest Sea-Fight of the Nation " — A Graphic Colonial Sea-Story. VIII. The Pequot Wars 91 First Expedition from the Bay Colony under Endicott — Lion Gardi- ner's Practical Advice — Plot to Destroy the River Settlements Contents ix PAGE — Tragedies on the River — The Connecticut Colony's Campaign — The "Army" drawn from the Three River Towns — Major John Mason, the Myles Standish of the Colony — Hooker's Godspeed at the Embarkation — Scene on the down-river Voyage — Debate of the Captains at Saybrook Fort — Mason's Master-Stroke — The March in the Enemy's Country — Burning of Mystic Fort — End of the Pequots. IX. Philip's "War in the Valley 113 The Direful Conflict of 1675-1676 Centering in the Massachusetts Reach — Philip of the Wampanoags — The frontier River Towns — Hadley the MiUtary Headquarters — Gathering of the Colonial forces — The "Regicide" Goffe perhaps a Secret Observer of the Spectacle— The apocryphal Tale of the " Angel of Deliverance " — First Assault upon Deerfield — Northfield Destiroyed — Fatal March of Captain Beers toward Northfield — The Ambuscade on " Beers's Plain" — Ghastly Sight meeting the Gaze of a Relief Force — A Sunday Attack upon Deerfield. X. The Battle of Bloody Brook ..... 126 Slaughter of the " Flower of Essex " at South Deerfield while Convoy- ing a Provision Train — The Sudden Attack from Ambush by a Swarm of Braves — Many of Captain Lothrop's Men idly gath- ering Grapes by the Brookside when the Warwhoop rang out — Desperate After-fight by Captain Moseley — Memorials of the Battle — The Legend of "King Philip's Chair" — Destruction of Deer- field. XI. The Burning of Springfield 132 With Pledges of Fidelity the Agawam Indians concoct a '* Horrible Plot " — Bands of Philip's Warriors secretly admitted to the Indian Fort on the Outskirts of the Town — A Night Alarm — Early Morn- ing Attack upon Messengers riding out to Reconnoitre — The full Pack soon upon the Village — The People crowding the Garrison House — A wild Scene of Havoc.with the Town in Flames — Major Pynchon's Forced March from Hadley to its Relief — Grave After- events. XII. The Rising of the Narragansetts , . . 142 Canonchet drawn into Philip's War — Flight of his Tribe toward the Valley — Ravages of Frontier Towns on the Way — The great Indian Rendezvous about Northfield — Attacks upon Northampton, Hatfield, and Longmeadow — Death of Canonchet : A Hero of his Race — The Great Falls Fight : An English Victory followed by a Disastrous Rout — A Chaplain's Experience — Final Attacks upon Hatfield and Hadley — End of Philip's War — Death of Phillip deserted and betrayed — Results of the War to the Colonists. X Contents PAGB XIII The Sack of Dkerfield 164 The Settlement, again the Outpost, repeatedly raided in the early French and Indian "Wars — The first Captives marched to Canada from Deerfield and Hatfield — Knightly Quest of two Hatfield Men — Bootless raid of Baron de Saint-Castin — Motive of de Vaudreuil's Expedition resulting in the Sack — Deerfield as it appeared before the Onset — Completeness of the Surprise by De Rouville's Army — The Palisades scaled over Snowdrifts — Scene at the Parsonage — Siege of the Benoni Stebbins House — Start of one hundred and twelve Captives for Canada. XIV. The " Redeemed Captive's " Story . . . 180 Journey of the Deerfield Band as described by Parson Williams — His last Walk with his Wife — Their tender Parting — The Gentle Lady soon Slain — Her Grave in the Old Deerfield Burying-ground — Other Captives Killed on the Hard March — The Minister's Faith in the Practical Value of Prayer — The first Sunday out : Service of Sermon and Song — Canadian Experiences — The Minister's Wrest- lings with the " Papists" — Fate of his Children — A Daughter be- comes a Chief's Wife — The "Lost Dauphin of France." XV. Upper River Settlement ..... 198 Northfield the Outpost in 1714 — Fort Dummer at the present Brattle- borough the Pioneer Upper Valley Town — The "Equivalent Lands" — " Number 4 " at the present Charlestown — Father Rale's War — Gray Lock — Scouting-parties of River Men — Chronicles of their bold Adventures up the Valley — Schemes for new Townships — The " Indian Road " — Six Up-river Town Grants — The Massachu- setts-New Hampshire Boundary Dispute — The Old French War — Abandonment of the new Plantations — Heroic Defence of " Number 4 " — Story of a Remarkable Siege. XVI. The "New Hampshire Grants" . . . .220 Governor Benning Wentworth's great Scheme of Colonization — Col- lision with New York over his Grants for Townships on the present Vermont Side of the River — Captain Symes's Plan for laying out the Coos Country killed by Indian Threats — A great Powwow at "Number 4" — Captain Powers's Exploring Expedition — Inter- ruption of Wentworth's Scheme by the Outbreak of the last French and Indian War — Settlers again fall back on the Fortified Places — The River Frontiers now Established. XVII. The Last French War in the Valley . . 227 " Number 4 " and the Charlestown Settlement constantly Imperilled — Capture of the Johnson Family the Morning after a Neighborhood Contents xi PAOK Party — Mrs. Johnson's graphic " Narrative " of their March to Canada and After Experiences — On the Second Day out she gives Birth to a Daughter — Fortunes of the Willard Family — The John- sons after their Return from Captivity: a Remarkable Record — Attacks on the Lovrer Frontiers — The gallant " Kilburn Fight " at Walpole — Cutting out the "Crown Point Road" from "Num- ber 4 " — Exploits of Robert Rogers's Rangers. XVIII. The War of the Grants 252 Land-Fever following the Conquest of Canada — Prospecting in the rich Upper Valley — Winter Surveys for Tiers of Towns on both Sides of the River — Great Activity of Wentworth's Grants-Mill — Whole- sale Issue of Charters — Form of these Instruments — The Gauntlet again Thrown Down to New York — Sharp Tilts between the Gov- ernors — The King's Order declaring the River the Boundary Line — Conflicts with New York Officers and Courts over West Side Titles — Rise of the "Green Mountain Boys." XIX. Dartmouth College and " New Connecticut " . 258 Rival Schemes of State-Making — College Party versus Bennington Party — Germ of the College Party : Wheelock's Fixture of Dart- mouth in the Upper Valley — Character of the Pioneer Settlements here — The College District the Political Centre — " Dresden " and College Hall — Secession of East Side Towns — Notable State Papers by the Dresden Statesmen — Erection of the State of New Connecticut at Westminster — Substitution of Vermont for New Connecticut — The Constitutional Convention at Windsor — Ver- mont Launched "amidst the Tumults of War" — Short-Lived Union with East-Side Towns. XX. The Play for a State 280 The College Party's Strategic Moves — New Hampshire extending Ju- risdiction over Vermont's Territory — Clashes in West Side River Towns between Vermont Officers and "Yorkers" — Ethan Allen and his " Green Mountain Boys " on the Scene — A Trial in West- minster Court-House — Congress and the Contesting Interests — New Combinations in the Valley — Ira Allen's clever Capture of a Convention — East-side Towns again united with Vermont — Dis- turbances in River border Towns — Final Move of the Bennington- ians — Passing of the College Party. xii Contents 11. ROMANCES OF NAVIGATION PAGE XXI. An Early Colonial Highway .... 303 The River an important Thoroughfare through Colony Times — The first White Man's Craft on its Waters — Dutch and English Trad- ing Ships — William Pynchon the first River Merchant — Pros- perous TraflSc in Furs, Skins, and Hemp — The earliest Flatboats operating between the Falls — Seventeenth Century Shipbuilding — River-built Ships sent out on long Foreign Voyages — The Rig of the Flatboat as developed by Colonial Builders — System of Up-River Transportation in the latter Colonial Period — Lumber Rafts — Early Ferries. XXII. Locks and Canals 310 The first River in the Country to be Improved by Canals — The Initial Charter issued by Vermont in 1791 — F'.rst Work in the Massachu- setts Reach — Locking of South Hadley Falls in 1795 — A Remark- able Achievement for that Day — Unique Features of the Construc- tion — The System as Developed Northward — Wells River Village Head of Navigation — River Life then Animated and Bustling — Improved Types of Freight-Boats — Schemes for Extending the System with great Rival Projects — Final crushing Competition of the Railroads. XXIII. Steamboats and Steamboating .... 326 Connecticut Valley Inventors of the Steamboat — Claims of John Fitch and Samuel Morey to Priority over Fulton — Morey's tiny Steamer on the River — First Steamboats in Regular Service — Gallant Efforts for Steamboat Navigation to the Upper Valley — Triiunphant Progress of the Pioneer " Bamet" up to Bellows Falls — The "Ledyard's" Achievement in Reaching Wells River — A Song of Triumph by a Local Bard — The last Fated Up-River Enter- prise — Steamboating on the Lower Reaches — Dickens's Voyage in the " Massachusetts " — End of Passenger Service above Hartford. III. TOPOGRAPHY OF RIVER AND VALLEY XXIV. "The Beautiful River" 345 Winding down its Luxurious Valley 360 Miles to the Sea — Almost a Continuous Succession of Delightful Scenery — The River's Highland Foimtains — The four Upper Connecticut Lakes — Topography of the Valley — The bounding Summits — The River's Tributaries — Historic Streams entering from Each Side — The Terrace System — \ Contents xiii PAGE Charming Intervals with deep-spreading Meadows — The Panorama in Detail from the Headwaters to Long Island Sound — Fossil Foot- prints of the Lower Valley. XXV. Along the Upper Valley ..... 367 The Romantic Region about the Connecticut Lakes — Pioneer Upper Settlements — Story of a Forest State of the Eighteen-Twenties and Thirties — At the Valley's Head — Upper Coos Towns — Old Trail from Canada to Maine — The Country of the Fifteen-Miles Falls — Lower Coos Towns — About the Great and Little Ox-Bows — Dartmouth College and its Surroundings — Between White River Junction and "Old Number 4" — Historic Towns of the Lower Reaches to the Massachusetts Line. XXVI. The Massachusetts Reach 392 Northfield's attractive Seat at (its Head — The Dwight L. Moody Institutions — Landmarks of the Indian Wars — Clarke's Island and its Spectre Pirate — Rural Hill Towns below Northfield — Beautiful Greenfield — Turner's Falls — Historic Deerfield — Rare Deerfield Old Str^Sl and its Landmarks — Picturesque Sunderland and Whately — Old Hatfield and Hadley — The Russell Parsonage and the "Regicides" — "Elm Valley": a fine Type of the Colo- nial Farm-seat. XXVII. Cities of the Massachusetts Reach . . 406 Northampton, the "Meadow City" — Its Crop of Exceptional Men — The Dwights and the Whitneys — Sites of Jonathan Edwards's Home and Pulpit — Scenes of the Ely Insurrection and of Shays's Rebellion — Smith College — An Educational Centre — Movmts Tom and Holyoke — Holyoke, the " Paper City " — Its great Hy- draulic Works — Chicopee and its Notable Manufactures — Spring- field, the " Queen City " — Beauty of its Setting — Its choice Insti- tutions — The United States Arsenal — Scene of the Overthrow of Shays's Rebellion. XXVIII. The Lower Valley 430 Enfield and Suffield at the Connecticut State Line — Windsor Locks and Warehouse Point — Site of Pynchon's Warehouse of 1636 — Ancient Windsor to-day and its Landmarks — Charms of the East- Side Windsors — A Romance of the Colony — Roger Wolcott and his Homestead — Birthplace of Jonathan Edwards — Timothy Ed- wards and his remarkable Family — Modem Hartford : Yet a " Gallant Towne " — Its Historic and Literary Landmarks — Trinity College. xiv Contents PAoa XXIX. Haetpobd to the Sea 448 Down the River by Steamboat — Old Dutch Point — Wethersfield back from the Meadows — The Glastonburys — Rocky Hill and Cromwell — Portland and Middletown at the Great Bend — The College City — Wesleyan University and Berkeley Divinity School — John Fiske in Middletown — The Straits — The Chatham Hills — Historic Mines — " The Governor's Gold Ring " — The Lymes and the Had- dams — The Field Family — Brainard the Missionary to the Indians — Essex — At the River's Mouth. Illustrations View of the Connecticut River between Thetford, Vermont, and Lyme, New Hampshire . Frontispiece A Dutch Yacht of the Early 17TH Century, Yacht of the East India Company, 1630 . page Near Moodus ...... A Typical River Boat .... Quiet LiFii; by the River's Side . Dutch Point, Hartford. Near the Site of the Dutch "House OF Hope" .... Lady Fenwick's Tomb, Old Saybrook First Site of Yale College, Old Saybrook. High Street, Middletown .... A View on the Lower River Banks A Seaward Look across the Marshes, Saybrook The Heart of Old Saybrook .... A River Fishing Camp — Camp Wopowog, Near East Haddam ...... Sturgeon Fishing ...... Salmon River, East Haddam, Idling to the Connec ticut ........ Salmon River, "By mossy bank and darkly waving wood" Tree-clad Rocky Point ...... 6 20 36 50 66 74 78 82 98 no 112 116 118 124 130 148 xvi Illustrations PAGE Door of the "Ensign Sheldon House," with its "Hatchet-Hewn Face." Relic of the Sack of Deerfield. February, 1703/4 .... 164 The "Redeemed Captive's" Son, Stephen Williams, Minister of Longmeadow for Sixty-six Years (1716-1782) . ...... 180 White River Junction, and West Lebanon, New Hampshire Side ....... 186 White River Junction and Lebanon Bridge, at High Water 188 The Great Ox Bow, Newbury, Vermont Side . . 202 Site of the Historic Fort "No. 4" of the French and Indian Wars, Charlestown ..... 210 A River Island — Chase's Island, Looking North . 220 An Island View, near Hanover .... 224 Windsor Bridge, Windsor, Mount Ascutney in the Distance ........ 230 Pine Grove on the River's Bank, near Hanover 234 View from Kilburn Peak, near Bellows Falls, Look- ing South — Kilburn Peak Side at the Left . . 244 The Bend — Two Miles North of Hanover . . 252 Eleazar Wheelock (1711-1779), Founder of Dart- mouth College ....... 258 From an old painting. John Wheelock (i 754-181 7), Son of Eleazar Wheelock, Second President of Dartmouth College . . 264 Dartmouth College in 1790 ..... 300 From a print in the Massachusetts Magazine, 1800. A Typical Chain Ferry ...... 308 Seal of the Proprietors of Locks and Canals. Show- ing the Contrivance First Used at South Hadley for Passing Boats ...... 312 Illustrations Remains op the Old Olcott Falls Locks, New Hamp- shire Side. Two Miles North of White River Junction ........ Olcott Falls Dam of To-day, Olcott The Modern Olcott — "Wilder's" . . . . Entrance of the Enfield Canal at Windsor Locks The River between Fairlee and Orford. Scene of the Trials of Morey's First Steamboat, 1792-93 Middle Haddam Landing Rock Landing ..... East Haddam Upper Landing Deep River Landing .... Modern Steamboating on the River — ^The ' Line" ...... Hartford Fountains of the River. The Upper Connecticut Lake ......... Fountains of the River. First, or Connecticut, Lake — Mount Magalloway at the Left McIndoe's — Below the Fifteen-Miles Falls Bellows Falls Dam ....... At the Head of the Massachusetts Reach — North- field: THE DwiGHT L. Moody Institutions on the Left Bank .... The Straits — Below Middletown Looking toward the Straits The Promontory — Above Saybrook A Logmen's Houseboat Breaking up a Log Jam XVll PAGB 316 330 332 334 336 338 340 346 350 356 358 360 362 364 366 368 370 xviii Illustrations PAGE Junction of the Ammonoosuc, Wells River, and the Connecticut — ^Woodsville.New Hampshire Side . 372 The Little Ox Bow — Haverhill, New Hampshire Side 374 Dartmouth College Bridge. Between Norwich, Vermont Side, and the College Town . . . 376 Dartmouth College — The Campus .... 378 Dartmouth College— Dartmouth Hall . . . 380 Dartmouth College — The College Inn and the College Club, from the Campus .... 382 Dartmouth College — Looking down from the Tower IN THE College Park ...... 384 John Ledyard, the Traveller ..... 386 "One of the most romantic and original manifestations of the Dartmouth spirit." Dartmouth College — The Rollins Chapel . . . 388 Suspension Bridge, near Brattleborough . . 390 Deerfield Old Street, 1671-1906 .... 394 Looking down from Sugarloaf, South Deerfield — Sunderland across the River .... 398 "Elm Valley" — The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Home- stead, Hadley ....... 402 "One of the finest types of the Colonial Farm Seat in the Valley." Round Hill, Northampton, in the Eighteen-thirties 404 (The period of Cogswell and Bancroft's Round Hill School for Boys here.) From an old print. Jonathan Edwards ....... 406 From a portrait of 1740, the most authentic portrait existing. Wife of Jonathan Edwards ..... 406 From a portrait of 1740. Illustrations xix PAGE The Jonathan Edwards Elm, Northampton: in Front OF THE Whitney House on the Site of the House OF Jonathan Edwards. The Whitney Family Grouped about the Tree ..... 408 Smith College — College Hall ..... 410 From photographs by Miss Katherine E. McClellan, Northampton. Smith College — The Students' Building . . .412 Smith College — Seelye Hall . . . . .414 From photographs by Miss Katherine E. McClellan, Northampton. Smith College — View across the Campus . . . 416 Smith College Commencement, 1905, Ivy Day . . 418 From a photograph by Miss Katherine E. McClellan, Northampton. The Railroad up Mount Tom ..... 420 The Dam at Holyoke . . . . . .422 Holyoke. Looking North from the City Hall . . 424 City Library and Art Museum, Springfield . . 426 The Springfield Home of George Bancroft . . 428 A Connecticut Valley Tobacco Farm . . .432 The Connecticut State Capitol and Bushnell Park, Hartford ........ 438 Main Street, Hartford ...... 440 Old State House, Hartford, and City Hall. Place of the Sitting of the Hartford Convention during THE War of 1812 ....... 442 The Charter Oak, Hartford ..... 444 Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch, Hartford . 446 The Portland Quarry ...... 44S XX Illustrations PAGS Wesleyan University — "College Row" . . . 450 Wesleyan University — North College. Destroyed BY Fire March I, 1906 ..... 452 Wesleyan University — Wilbur Fisk Hall . . 454 Wesleyan University — Orange Judd Hall op Natural Science ........ 45^ Wesleyan University — Scott Laboratory op Physics 458 Wesleyan University — Memorial Chapel . . . 460 Saybrook Lighthouse at the River's Mouth . . 462 Map op the Connecticut River .... at end The Connecticut River I 2/637 Dutch Discovery and First Occupation Adriaen Block on the River in 1614 — First of European Navigators to Enter and Explore it — His Sixty-mile Cruise up the Stream in an American Built Yacht — Story of Block and his Voyage along the New England Coast — Action by the States General on his Discoveries — The "Figurative Map'* — A Remarkable Coincidence — The Dutch alone Established on the River for nearly Eighteen Years — The first Rapier Thrust between the] Dutch and the English. IN the year 1614 Adiiaen Block, Dutch navigator, came first of all Europeans upon the Connecticut and explored its lower waters for sixty miles in an American built "yacht." That was six years before the advent of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and before a single enduring settlement of white men had been effected on the North Atlantic coast. The native Indians called the stream Quinni-tukq-^t, or Qiioneh-ta-cut, the "Long Tidal River." Block, perceiving a strong downward current a short dis- tance above its mouth, named it De Yersche Riviere, the "Freshwater River." Block's name held with the Dutch who came after him so long as they remained about the River. The English adopted that of Connecticut, a form evolved from the more euphonious and significant Indian name. Unkind and partisan historians have sought to rob the 2 Connecticut River Dutch of the credit of the River's first discovery and its opening to civilization. Some have belittled Block's achievement by dwelling upon the unfruitful discoveries, or reputed discoveries, of earlier navigators. Some insist that Estevan Gomez, the Portuguese navigator in the ser- vice of Spain, was the true discoverer, when he skirted the coast from Labrador to Florida in 1525. Others are dis- posed to credit its discovery to Giovanni de Verrazzano, the Florentine corsair, commanding the first North Ameri- can expedition sent out by the king of France, who sailed the coast from North Carolina to Newfoundland two years before Gomez, and discovered New York, Block Island, and Narragansett Bay. But it is not at all clear that either of these mariners even sighted this River. Verrazzano appar- ently was quite ignorant of its existence, for he passed Long Island on the sea side. In his letter to the king (the genuineness of which is no longer questioned by most authorities) he records no incident of his voyage between New York and Narragansett Bay. His first mention is of Block Island, to which he gave the name of " Luisa," in compliment to the King's "illustrious mother," Louise of Saxony. As for Gomez, there is little or nothing substan- tial of record concerning his voyage. Indeed, Professor George Dexter, most thorough of investigators, has shown that it is impossible to determine with certainty in what direction Gomez explored the American coast. His ex- plorations were of no value whatever with respect to our River. While these and perhaps other navigators may have coasted in its neighborhood, it remained virtually unknown to Europeans and untouched by European craft till Block, imder the Dutch flag, turned his prow into its placid waters. Just as to the Dutch, and Henry Hudson sailing under Dutch Discovery and First Occupation 3 their patronage, belongs the credit of the practical dis- covery and opening of the great river of New York, so to the Dutch and Adriaen Block is due the honor of the dis- covery and occupation of the great river of New England, an achievement as important in its way in the consequences that followed. That the Dutch were unable long to hold the River after the English pushed in is no justification for filching from them the laurels that they fairly won. Nor was the successful elbowing of them from the fertile lands and the River's trade, by virtue of conflicting claims, warrant for the assumption that they, albeit the first comers, were the interlopers. While it is apparent that the rich intervals of the Valley were lovelier in the Dutchman's eye for the profitable beaver-skins to be gathered here than as the " home and inheritance of his race," he had doubtless come to stay. It is doubtless as true that when the Englishman had once got the " smell of the excellence and conveni- ence of the River," he was bound to possess it whether or no, quieting his conscience with the reflection that it were *' a sin to leave uncultivated so valuable a land which could produce such excellent com." True, too, that the fixed settlement of communities, the establishment of the town, and the organization of government came with the Eng- lish. But let the Dutch have the credit which is justly theirs for discovering and opening the way ; and not the less for carrying themselves on the whole with patience and discretion when their stolid eyes witnessed the pressing of their more rapid competitors upon their preserves. Adriaen Block was no ordinary mariner. He had made a previous voyage from Holland to Manhattan in or about 1612, in company with another worthy Dutch captain, Hendrich Christiaensen. That was a venture planned by 4 Connecticut River Christiaensen for observation and trade about Hudson's River. Cbristiaensen had been in the neighborhood of Manhattan the previous year, when returning from a voy- age to the West Indies, and had then determined that his next adventure should be to this region. Thus it was that the scheme with Block was projected. The two comrades came out in a ship presumably chartered by themselves. They remained at Manhattan only long enough, apparently, to take on a cargo of furs and two " passengers." The passengers were natives, sons of " the chiefs there," whom they captured or had enticed to their vessel. Back in Holland the reports which they made of the riches of the new country, with the exhibition of the two Indians, — Orson and Valentine the dusky natives were called, — " added fresh impetus to the awakened enterprise of the Dutch merchants." For now, with the United Netherlands just emerged as an independent nation, the Dutch were leading in maritime commerce. Three merchants of Am- sterdam, one of them Hans Horgers, a director of the East India Company, which had fitted out the "Half Moon" for Hudson in 1609, were quickest to act. Two vessels, the " Fortune " and the " Tiger," were equipped, and, placed respectively mider the commands of Christiaen- sen and Block, were despatched forthwith for traffic and exploration in the new region. This was the voyage, begun in the summer of 1613, that brought Block to his discoveries. Other Dutch mer- chants almost immediately joined in the adventure, and close upon the "Fortune" and the "Tiger" three more ships were sent out under venturesome captains. These Dutch mariners were all exploring this region at the same time with Christiaensen and Block. Had not Block's " Tiger " met with disaster, the course Dutch Discovery and First Occupation 5 of our history might have been changed. Certainly a different story would have been told. Block was at Man- hattan making ready to return to Holland with a full cargo of peltry on board his ship when she suddenly caught fire and was entirely destroyed. Her loss was his opportunity. He at once set about the building of a new craft from the fine ship's timber then abundant on Manhattan. Winter approaching he and his companions put up some rude huts for shelter near the southern point of the island. These were probably the first white men's habitations in New York. The work on the new ship occupied the winter, during which the Dutchmen were generously supplied with food " and all kinds of necessities " by the friendly native savages. In the spring the vessel was ready for launching. She took the water with the name of Onrmst, — the " Restless," — a fitting title, as it proved, for the animated career in store for her. Her measurements were thus of record: thirty-eight feet keel, forty-four and a haK feet upper length, eleven and a half feet wide ; and about eight casts or sixteen tons burthen. Such was the little craft that has sailed into history as the " first American-built yacht." But the " Virginia of Sagadahoc," that " pretty pinnace " of thirty tons, built by the unhappy Popham Colony and launched on the Kenne- bec of Maine six years earlier, should not be ignored. The " Virginia," to be sure, had no such brilliant record as the " Restless. ' ' Her emplojnnent was not in gallant adventure, but in the dismal task of conveying a freight of disheart- ened colonists back to Europe upon the abandonment of an ill-advised settlement. Yet she was the pioneer American yacht, the forerunner of the great ship-building interests on the Kennebec, and should have the head place in the line. The " Restless " has glory sufficient as the " pioneer 6 Connecticut River vessel launched by white men on the waters " of commer- cial New York ; the first of American build to sail through Long Island Sound, around Cape Cod, and up Massachu- setts Bay, when no white man's plantation was an^^where in the region; and the first of all craft of white men to enter and explore " The Beautiful River." It was a spring day, one of those fragrant days which bloom upon Manhattan in the vernal season, it is pleasant to fancy, when Block embarked with his crew in his " Restless " and pointed her nose eastward. Sailing boldly through the whirlpool of Hell Gate, the first European pilot to make this perilous strait, and giving it its expres- sive name, he entered the Sound, — the "Great Bay" as he termed it. Cautiously skirting the northern shore, he passed the group of islands off Norwalk, which he called the " Archipelagos." Farther along he discovered the Housatonic, the '* river from over the mountains," as its Indian name is said to imply, which enters the Sound at the present Stratford. This he described as a " bow-shot wide," and named it the "River of Roodenberg" or Red HiUs. Passing by the bay at the head of which New Haven lies, he coursed on till he came to " the mouth of a large river running up northerly into the land." Observing here but few natives about the shores, he turned from the " Great Bay " and ventured the unknown stream. So it happened that this River was discovered and its exploration begun by a Dutchman in an American-built yacht. Block, as he sailed up the River, made careful notes of stream and shore. He found the water at the entrance "very shallow," and soon observed the fresh downward current which suggested his name for the River. Follow- Dutch Discovery and First Occupation 7 ing the winding course, now between greening meadows, now past hilly banks, again by fertile intervals, by forest- fringed shores and through the narrow pass, the explorer saw little of human life till a point which he reckoned as about forty-five miles above the mouth was reached : the first principal bend at the present Middletown. Here In- dians became numerous, and he marked their lodges on both sides for a considerable distance up the stream, and learned that they were of the " nation called Seguins," one of the largest of the River tribes. Farther along, at about the present Hartford, and above, he came to " the country of the Nawaas," where "the natives plant maize." At a point on the east side, where is now South Windsor, be- tween the two tributaries, the Podunk and Scantic Rivers, was their fortified village. This was palisaded or paled about for defence against the intruding Pequots, the com- mon enemy of the River tribes, and originally of the Mo- hican nation of the Hudson River country, who, driven from their old homes by the Mohawks, had invaded Con- necticut and planted themselves in seized territory on the Sound shores west of the Thames River. At this village Block made a landing and had " parley" with the curious people, whom he found friendly and com- municative. From them he learned of another nation of savages dwelling "within the land," presumably about the lakes west of the far upper parts of the River, who navi- gated it in " canoes made of bark," and brought down rich peltry: very practical information to carry back to the trading merchants in Holland. Reembarking, our intrepid mariner continued up stream without further incident, so far as his relation indicates, till he reached the Enfield Rapids, through which he could not pass. Here, therefore, his exploration ended, and putting his ship about he re- 8 Connecticut River turned to the Sound, after exploring practically the entire length of the River in the present state of Connecticut. He never saw the River again. His voyage continued down the Sound eastward with a succession of important discoveries. He took note, first, of the Thames River, to which he gave the name of " River of the Siccanomos." Here he found the Pequots — Pequatos he termed them — in possession of the country. Observing land across the Sound and making for it, he discovered it to be the eastern extremity of Long Island. He was thus the first to determine the insular character of that great strip of territory. The point, now Montauk, was named " Visscher's Hoeck." Sailing then northeast- ward he came upon Block Island, Verrazzano's discovery of nearly a century before. Upon this his own name was bestowed, and it remains the sole memorial of his exploits. Next, following Verrazzano's track, he explored Narragan- sett Bay. Point Judith he named Wapanoos Point, from the Indian tribe whom he found dwelling along the west- em shore of the bay, and described as " strong of limb " but of "moderate size." Rhode Island he called " Roodt Eijlandt " from its " reddish appearance," through the prev- alence of red clay on parts of it. Still onward, he " ran across " the mouth of Buzzard's Bay, by Cutty hunk, where Bartholomew Gosnold had attempted a plantation twelve years before. Thence he sailed by Martha's Vineyard, and, southward, by No Man's Land, naming the latter " Hen- drick Christiaensen's Island," in compliment to his brother mariner ; passed through Nantucket Sound ; explored the shores of Cape Cod ; coasted Cape Cod Bay ; glanced per- haps toward Plymouth Harbor; and, entering Massachu- setts Bay, explored its primeval shores as far north as Nahant Bay, — the "Pye Bay" of the Dutch navigators. Dutch Discovery and First Occupation 9 About Nahant he found dwelling " a numerous people." They were ''• extremely good looking," but " shy of Chris- tians," and it required " some address " to approach them, — fit forerunners of the latter-day summer dwellers on this choice rocky peninsula reaching out into the sea, which rare " Tom Appleton " of the dead and gone " Bos- ton wits" so artfully renamed "Cold Roast Boston." Salem, also. Block may have approached, for on the Dutch map afterward made in accordance with his narrative its harbor is set down as " Count Hendrick's Bay." This was the extent of Block's adventure, to which the stock histories give scant attention. Going back to Cape Cod, he there fell in with the " Fortune," Christiaensen, apparently, having been exploring northward from Man- hattan. Comparing notes, the comrades determined to re- turn at once to Holland and report upon their discoveries. So Block turned his " Restless " over to Cornells Hendrick- sen, a companion of Christiaensen, and the two captains set sail on the " Fortune " for home. At Amsterdam Block appears to have told his story so well that the merchant traders took instant action to secure the benefits of his exploration. They organized the Amsterdam Trading Company ; caused a " Figurative Map " to be prepared from Block's data, if not under his personal supervision; promptly laid this map with an account of the discoveries before the States General ; and on the strength of the documentary evidence asked for a trading license in accordance with an ordinance passed a few months before, offering to " whosoever should . . . dis- cover any new passages, havens, lands, or places," the exclu- sive right of navigating the same for four voyages. The charter for the four voyages was duly executed, their High 10 Connecticut River Mightinesses giving the company a monopoly of trade in the region described for a period of three years. This in- strument bore date of October 11, 1614, and in it appeared for the first time the term " New Netherland " as the offi- cial designation of the " unoccupied region of America lying between Virginia and Canada." The sea coast of New Netherland was declared to extend from the fortieth to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, the Dutch discoveries being defined as lying between these latitudes. On the " Figurative Map " the English possessions under the gen- eral term of Virginia are represented as extending south- ward of the fortieth degree, and the French Canada and Acadia northward of the forty-fifth degree. The interme- diate region, which the Dutch now claimed. Block and the other Dutch navigators described correctly as then " inhab- ited only by aboriginal savage tribes," and yet " unoccupied by any Christian prince or state." This was the first Dutch charter, obtained upon the report of the discoverer and first navigator of our River. Although the intermediate region was included in the general English claim long set up to vast parts of North America in right of discovery by the Cabots, and although part of it was covered by King James's first Virginia pa- tents of 1606, possession by colonization, held by all to be requisite to complete title by discovery, had not been ac- complished within it, the settlement at Jamestown being below the fortieth degree. It is true that at the same time that Block was exploring our River and down the coast, Captain John Smith, with colonization in view, was taking his observations up the coast between Penobscot Bay and Cape Cod. It was certainly a remarkable coincidence, quite a romance of history, that almost at the very moment that the Figurative Map with Block's description was be- Dutch Discovery and First Occupation 11 fore the States General at the Hague, Smith's map with the story of his adventures was engaging Prince Charles at London ; and that the names of New Netherland and New England should be applied simultaneously to over- lapping territories, neither body at the time being aware of what the other was doing. But had the statesmen at the Hague been cognizant of the proceedings at London, they might, as Brodhead (History of New York) says, " justly have considered the territory which they now form- ally named New Netherland as a ' vacuum domicilium ' fairly open to Dutch enterprise and occupation." Subse- quently, however, the New Netherland bounds were more closely defined as between " South Bay," or the Delaware, on the south, and " Pye Bay," or Nahant, on the north. Thus matters remained till 1620, when James of England granted his sweeping Great Patent for New England in America, which embraced all the region extending from the fortieth to the forty-eighth degree of latitude, and be- tween the Atlantic and the Pacific, and so absorbed the territory of the French Acadia and the Dutch New Nether- land. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company received their charter from the States General with power to " col- onize, govern, and defend " New Netherland. Then the trouble began. With the issue of the charter of 1614 Adriaen Block disappears from our story. He was named with the other ship-captains in the employ of the Amsterdam merchants for the four voyages authorized ; but he did not return to American waters. Lambrecht van Tweenhuysen, one of the joint owners of the lost " Tiger," having become con- cerned in the Northern Company, chartered earlier in 1614 for the whale fishery in the Arctic Ocean and for the 12 Connecticut River exploration of a new passage to China, prevailed upon him to take command of some ships for this business. That he sailed for the Arctic Ocean early in 1615 is the last fact concerning him which history records. And what of the '"Restless"? Skipper Hendricksen sailed her in further exploration of the coasts. In 1616 she explored the Delaware and the adjacent shores from that river's mouth to the upper waters, discovering the Schuylkill and other streams. She was also engaged in traffic with the Delaware Indians in sealskins and sables ; but she does not appear again on our River, and her ultimate fate is unknown. The Amsterdam ships coming out under the charter of 1614 were soon here trading in peltry with the River In- dians, as well as cruising about Manhattan and the Hudson. Others in the service of the West India Company followed, enjoying a profitable trade. As a ride these Dutch traders treated the natives decently and kept their good will. But Jacob Eelkens, commissary at Fort Orange, smirched the record by a treacherous act. While here in the sum- mer of 1622, trading with the Sequins, he invited their confiding chief to his ship, and when the savage was en- joying Eelkens' hospitality he was seized, and held captive till a handsome ransom in wampum was paid over. This performance so incensed the River tribes that they cut off all dealings with the Dutch till they heard that Eelkens had been removed from his post ; as he fortunately was soon after. For nearly eighteen years after Block's entry Dutch ships only visited the River and cultivated the profitable Indian trade. Neither Pilgrim nor Puritan vessel appeared in its waters till 1631. It was unknown to the Plymouth Dutch Discovery and First Occupation 13 men till the Dutch at Manhattan told them of it and in- vited them hither. " Seeing them seated in a barren quar- ter" on the Plymouth sands, the Dutch commended the region to them " for a fine place both for plantation and trade/' and "wished them to make use of it." This was about the year 1627, when messages of " friendly kindness and good neighborhood " were passing between New Am- sterdam and New Plymouth. The Pilgrims' " hands " "'being full otherAvise" at that time they expressed their thanks for the invitation, and let the matter pass. But at the outset, in these exchanges of courtesies, Bradford was politely cautioning the Dutch against settling or trading within the limits of the patent of New England, while Minuit was as politely asserting their right and liberty under the authority of the States General to settle and trade where they were. These were the first rapier thrusts, sharp, though given with delicacy on both sides, which opened the struggle for supremacy on our River, in which the English finally triumphed. II English Occupation First Move by the Pljrmouth Men in 1633 — Banished River Sachems in Plymouth and Boston — Edward Winslow's Preliminary Exploration — Disingenu- ousness of the Bay Colony Leaders — Their Prospecting Parties in the River Region — Exchange of Letters as to Dutch and English Rights — Affairs Shaping for a Pretty Quarrel — The Dutch "House of Hope" — The "Lords and Gentlemen's" Patent — Entry of the Pilgrims — Ignoring the Dutchmen's Challenge — Van Twiller's formidable Protest. THE Pilgrims of Plymouth were the first English to plant on the River, coming in 1633, six years after the Dutch had invited them to the region. Long before, however, the Dutch had repented that invitation, and now, having strengthened their preserves, were fortifying them- selves against English intrusion. The Pilgrims began seriously to consider the move in 1631, after a visit from some of the River sachems who had been banished from their country by the conquering Pequots, and were seeking English aid to their restoration. These sachems appeared in Plymouth early that year and urged the colony to set up a trading house on their territory, promising ''much trade" and other advantages. Their proposition was heard with attention, but no assurance of acceptance was then given. Accordingly the sachems next went up to Boston and solicited the Puritans of the Bay Colony " in like sort." Thus the Bay men first heard of the nature of the rich region. Of their interview Winthrop makes note in his Journal under date of April 4, 1631. The ambassadors appeared 14 English Occupation 15 in Boston in state. The chief, the sagamore ''Wahgin- nacut," as Winthrop spells him, was supported by two east- em chiefs friendly to the colonists, and '* divers of their san- nops." The sagamore expressed his desire to have some Englishmen "come plant" in his "very fruitful country," and offered to " find them corn and give them yearly eighteen skins of beaver." He asked to have some men sent back with his party to look over the country for them- selves. Winthrop and the council listened interestedly, but like the Pilgrim leaders were non-committal. The gov- ernor entertained his savage guests at dinner, and treated them handsomely, but he found it impracticable just then to send any representatives to the River. It was not till after their departure that the governor discovered that "the said sagamore" was "a very treacherous man and at war with the Pekoath [Pequot], a far greater sagamore." So Winthrop apparently dismissed " the incident" as closed, just as the Indians fancied Bradford had done. But the picture of the "very fruitful lands" and the prospect of a bountiful trade ready for profitable harvest were pleasing to the commercial minds of both colonies ; and both bided their time. Meanwhile investigations were quietly made through their own agents. In the summer or early autumn follow- ing the visit of the sachems, Edward Winslow sailed into the River with a Pilgrim crew on a voyage of exploration. So impressed was he with the smiling shores that he straight- way "pitched upon a place for a house." The Dutch as yet had only a rude palisaded trading post on the River banks, at the point where Hartford now stands. From the fact that there appeared to be no evidence of colonization, coupled with the general claim of the English to the re- gion, Winslow was afterward assmned to have been the \ /- \^ 1<5 Connecticut River true discoverer of the River. It was the dictum of the commissioners of the United Colonies, in their declaration against the Dutch in 1653, that "Mr. Winslow discovered the Fresh River when the Dutch had neither trading house nor any pretence to a foot of land there." After this opening voyage Pilgrim ships frequented the River and trade with the natives was pursued by them " not without profit." So matters continued through about a year and a half, or till the summer of 1633, when the Pil- grims had at last become ready to adopt the repeatedly re- newed plan of the banished sachems. They were the more speedily moved to this course by reports of the activity of the Dutch in preparations to head the English off the River. From a Plymouth trading pinnace returned from Manhat- tan it was learned that the Dutch had already procured an Indian title to strengthen their claim, and were about to build a fort to defend it. A proposal was now made by Plymouth to the Bay men that the two colonies should jointly engage in the trading establishment, and Winslow and Bradford made a pilgrim- age to Boston to confer with them upon the matter. The negotiations failed, however, the Bay men advancing vari- ous weak objections, and displaying a timidity which must have surprised their humbler brethren at the time, but which after events appeared sufficiently to explain. Let Bradford's and Winthrop's versions of this conference be given in their own words : Bradford's. "A time of meeting -was appointed at the Massa- chusetts and some of the chief here were appointed to treat with them, and went accordingly ; but they [the Bay men] cast many fears of danger &c., loss and the like, which was perceived to be the main obstacles, though they alleged they were not provided of trading goods. But those here [the Plymouth men] offered at present to put in sufficient for both, provided they would become engaged for English Occupation 17 the half, and prepare against the next year. They confessed more could not be offered, but thanked them, and told them they had no mind to it. They [the Plymouth men] then answered they hoped it would be no offence unto them [the Bay men] if themselves went on without them, if they saw it meet. They said there was no rea- son they should ; and thus this treaty broke off." WisrTHEOp's. [July 12, 1633.] " Mr. Edward Winslow, gov- ernor of Plimouth, and Mr. Bradford came into the bay, and went away the 18th. They came partly to confer about joining in a trade to Connecticut for beaver and hemp. There was a motion to set up a trading house there to prevent the Dutch, who were about to build one ; but in regard the place was not lit for plantation, there being three or four thousand warlike Indians, and the river not to be gone into but by smaller pinnaces, having a bar affording but six feet at high water, and for that no vessels can get in for seven months in the year, partly by reason of the ice, and then the violent stream etc., we thought not fit to meddle with it." So the Plymouth men went in alone. While, however, they were making their preparations, only a few weeks after the Boston conference, two Bay colony expeditions into the River country were under way. In August Winthrop's "Blessing of the Bay" (the first ship built in Massachu- setts) slipped out of Boston harbor on a trading voyage to Long Island Sound, purposing also to take in the River ; and about the same time John Oldham with two compan- ions set out overland on a prospecting expedition to the Val- ley. The " Blessing " duly entered the River, and thus was the first Puritan vessel to venture its waters. Thence she proceeded to Manhattan, and presented a "commission" from the governor of Massachusetts to the director of New Netherland, desiring the Dutch to " forbear " building on the River, for " the King of England had granted the river and country of the Connecticut to his own subjects." The company were " very kindly entertained " and " had some 18 Connecticut River beaver and other things for such commodities as they put off," while the director (now Wouter Van Twiller, the suc- cessor of Minuit) wrote his reply to the Bay governor. It was a letter " very courteous & respectful as it had been to a very honorable person," but very definite. The direc- tor " signified that the Lords the States had also granted the same parts to the West India Company & therefore requested that the English would forbear the same till the matter were decided between the King of England and the said Lords," so that the two colonies might live "as good neighbors in these heathenish countries." The "Blessing" was back in Boston with her report on the second of Octo- ber. Oldham and his companions had abeady returned with pleasant accounts of their experience and observations. They had penetrated to a point on the River about where Springfield now is, and had visited a sachem who had " used them kindly" and given them some beaver. With this information the Bay men rested till the next year. Then, when the Plymouth men had successfully cleared the way, men from the Bay calmly proceeded to occupy the River where the Plymouth men had planted, and afterward "little better than thrust" them "out." These were the after-events which explain the reluctance of the Bay leaders to join the Pilgrims in the proposed partner- ship, and which led to the unwelcome conclusion so deli- cately expressed by Savage in his note to the entry in Winthrop's Journal of July, 1633, before quoted: "I am constrained to remark that the reasons in the text assigned . . . look to me more like pretexts than real motives. Some disingenuousness, I fear, may be imputed to our council in stating difficulties to deter our brethren of the humble community of Plimouth from extending their limits to so advantageous a situation." Bradford's terser English Occupation 19 comment is that they had a " hankering mind after it" for themselves. Before the Pl3rmouth men started in affairs about the River had shaped themselves for a pretty quarrel. The Dutch had fortified their position with an Indian deed of lands on either side of the River, which they had procured in June from "Tattoebum," the Pequot sachem who held the terri- tory by conquest ; giving in payment for the lands this job lot of articles : "1 piece of duffel 27 ells long, 6 axes, 6 ket- tles, 18 knives, one sword blade, 1 pr. of shears, some toys, and a musket." They had taken formal possession of the mouth of the River at Saybrook Point, an officer of the Dutch West India Company, Hans den Sluys, in token there- of affixing the arms of the States General to a tree. They had completed their trading house and redoubt where their palisaded post had been, had mounted two cannon, run up the Dutch flag, and given the structure the trustful name of the "House of Hope." So much the Dutch had accomplished since the early summer under the energetic orders of Wouter Van Twiller, acting under instructions from the home company. Mean- while in England a movement was developing which was soon to bring a new disturbing factor into the region. In the previous year (March, 1631-2), certain " Lords and Gen- tlemen" obtained the grant of a great territory extending from Point Judith to New York and west to the Pacific, and reaching back from the New England coast over Con- necticut and a part of Massachusetts ; and steps were now taking to plant on the River under this charter. This was the instrument, referred to in the histories as the "Old Pa- tent of Connecticut," in which Robert, Earl of Warwick, conveyed the rights to the tract in question, which he had 20 Connecticut River received from the Plymoutii Company in England, to a " syn- dicate" composed of Lord Say and Sele, Lord Brooke, Lord Rich (the two latter of the family of Warwick), Sir Richard Saltonstall, John Pym, and John Hampden, the great com- moner. It was brought about through Sir Richard Salton- stall of the Bay Colony, and resulted directly from the roseate accounts of our River and its fertile lands which Sir Richard, returning to England in 1631, had given to his friends there. The Dutch West India Company early be- came aware of this grant, — perhaps from Minuit, who was detained in England at the time, while on his homeward journey after his recall, — and the activity of Van T wilier was due as much, ^^robably, to a desire to get the Dutch preserves here in readiness for defence against the English Lords and Gentlemen as against the Plymouth Pilgrims. The Plymouth leaders equipped a "great new bark" for their voyage of occupation, and put the expedition in charge of Lieutenant William Holmes, a resolute man, with an equally resolute crew. In the hold of the vessel was stored the frame of a small house that had been prepared, with "boards to cover and finish it," and other things necessary for its quick erection as against hostile attacks. A goodly store of provisions was also put in. With the ship's company were taken several River Indians, among them " Altarbaenhoot " or " Netawanute," sachem of the territory whither they were bound, whom the Pequot "Tat- toebum" had exiled, and whom they proposed to restore to his domain. From him the Plymouth leaders had prev- iously acquired the lands they were to occupy. The expedition sailed from Plymouth early in October and reached the River without incident. So also without incident they made the entrance and proceeded up stream 73 O O English Occupation 21 to the point where stood the new Dutch " House of Hope," with Jacob Van Curler and a small force in charge. As they came alongside the fort the " drum-beats resounded from the walls, and the cannoniers stood with lighted matches beside the two guns, under the banner of New Netherland." The Dutch commander challenged, with the^ demand "what they intended and whither they would go." The Pilgrim skipper responded, "Up the River to trade." Van Curler bade them "strike and stay," or he would order the gun- ners to fire. Holmes retorted that they w^ere under com- mission from the governor of Plymouth to go up the River to the place for which they were bound, and " go they would." The Dutchmen might shoot, but they must obey their orders and proceed. They would molest no one, but they woidd go on. And so they did go on, while the Dutchmen "threatened them hard" but "shot not." Arriving at their destination, at a point just below the mouth of the Tunxis, they landed, quickly "clapt up" their house, and unloaded their provisions. This accomplished, the bark departed to return to Plymouth, and the little band left to establish the plantation proceeded to make themselves as comfortable as possible. With a palisade erected about their house they were soon in condition to defend themselves against the Dutch if further opposed, but more especially against the greater danger of the Pequot enemies of the sachems whom they reinstated. Thus began the first English plantation on the River, which became Windsor. The Dutch made only one more warlike demonstration against these virile " Plymoutheans," and this was deferred for some months. First a formal protest was made with an order to quit. Upon receiving Van Curler's report. Van Twiller at once forwarded to him a notification which 22 Connecticut River was successfully served upon Holmes before the departure of the bark. It was a formidable document, but less dan- gerous than bullets to both interests : " The Director and Council of Nieuw Netherland hereby give notice to Mr. Holmes, lieut and trader acting on behalf of the Eng- lish governor of Plymouth, at present in the service of that nation, that he depart forthwith, with all his people and houses, from the lands lying on the Fresh River, continually traded upon by our nation, and at present occupied by a fort, which lands have been pur- chased from the Indians and paid for. And in case of refusal, we hereby protest against all loss and interest which the Privileged West India Company may sustain. " Given at Fort Amsterdam in Nieuw Netherland, this XX Vth Octob. 1633." A written answer was requested from Holmes, but he declined to give it. He would only say that he was here "in the name of the King of England whose servant he was," and here " he would remain." All this Van Twiller reported to his superiors in Holland, and asked for further instructions. While he was awaiting them a strategic move was attempted to establish a connection with the tribe liv- ing above the Plymouth settling place, about where West- field, Massachusetts, now is, and head off their trade. Thus were repeated the tactics of the Plymoutheans in planting themselves above the Dutch. But the move failed through the breaking out of the smallpox among these Indians with great virulence and dreadful mortality. The Dutchmen sent on the mission most wretchedly spent the early winter months in the midst of this havoc. Finally getting away in February, they were kindly taken in at the Plymouth House on their return journey, "being almost spent with hunger and cold," and here were " refreshed divers days." For this good Sama- ritan act those at the House of Hope were most grateful. English Occupation 23 But when at length, in the following summer, Van Twil- ler's instructions had come out, the hostile attitude was resumed. Then the final demonstration was made. A force of " about seventy men " was sent from Manhattan to dislodge the intruders. The troops approached the English " in a warlike manner, with colors displayed." But " seeing them strengthened," and that " it would cost blood " to make an attack, the Dutch commander " came to a parley" instead. Then he withdrew his force "without offering any vio- lence"; and the Plymoutheans were left in peace. Ill The Pioneer River Settlements Puritans from the Bay Colony Entering in 1635 — Beginnings of Wethersfield and Windsor — Intnision on the Plymouth Meadows — Governor Brad- ford's Ineffectual Protest — The Dream of a " New Plymouth " Dispelled — John "Winthrop, the Younger, Governor for the "Lords and Gentlemen " — Lodgment at the River's Mouth — Coming of Hooker and his Congregation in 1636 — The Old Connecticut Path, The Second Connecticut Trail, and the Bay Path as traced to-day — Beginnings of Hartford and Springfield — Secession of River Tovnis. THE year 1635 was a year of events in the Lower Valley. Now the Bay Puritans began to appear in considerable numbers. First came prospectors seeking the sightliest spots for plantation. By July the agent at the Plymouth Trading House, Jonathan Brewster, report- ed that Massachusetts men were "coming almost daily, some by water and some by land." Following the pros- pectors, groups and companies prepared to settle arrived. Earliest among these were folk from Watertown and Dorchester, with a few from Cambridge, then New Towne. Early in November a band of sixty arrived, men, women and little children. They had travelled overland by a compass, a hundred miles through the wilderness, making the autumn journey of two weeks on foot and driving their live-stock, cattle, horses, and swine, before them. Around by water their household goods were brought, in barks from Boston, with provisions for the first winter. Before the winter had set in three English plantations were established, and a fourth had been ventured, where 24 The Pioneer River Settlements 25 but one had been at break of summer. Below the Dutch "House of Hope" a new Watertown had been begun by the Watertown group where now is Wethersfield. Above the Dutchmen, at Windsor, were the Plymouth folk and the settlers from Dorchester cheek by jowl. On the Plymouth Great Meadow the Dorchester leaders were beginning a new Dorchester, ignoring the Pilgrims' claims to the territory, just as the Plymouth men had ignored the claims of the Dutch. Unmindful of protest, they were proposing to allow the Pl3rmouth House one share only " as to a single family " in the distribution of lands. On the same Great Meadow the fourth plantation had been attempted as a foothold under the ''Lords and Gentlemen's" patent. This was an undertaking of the " Stiles party," sent out from England by Sir Richard Saltonstall at his personal expense. They were a band of twenty men, one or two accompanied by their families. Francis Stiles, their leader, was a master carpenter from London. He had been instructed to " im- pale" grounds for cattle, and to prepare a house against the coming of Sir Richard, who never came. The Dorches- ter prospectors, returning from a view of lands farther up the River toward Enfield Rapids, and finding them here about to begin their work, nipped the scheme in the bud. Saltonstall' s right in the premises vv^as denied, and Stiles curtly ordered to " keep hands off." So Stiles prudently ''stayed his hands," and reported back to Sir Richard. A small part of his company returned to England in his ves- sel, which was wrecked on the voyage, but her passengers were saved. He and the others who remained took up lands assigned them in a corner of the Dorchester bailiwick. Brewster promptly reported home to Plymouth the intrusion of the Dorchester men, and Governor Bradford as promptly entered his protest against these "doings and 26 Connecticut River proceedings." ' They were not only intrusions into the " riglits and possessions " of the Plymouth Colony, he con- tended, but were attempts " in effect to thrust them all out"; as it ultimately proved. Brewster early " perceived the minds" of the intruders from their servants' talk, but treated them from the beginning considerately. The first lot of prospectors "had well nigh starved had it not been for this house for want of victuals," he wrote in one of his reports. A later company he had entertained with marked hospitality. He had supplied them with canoes and guides, and had given room to their goods in the Plymouth House. He had even been so generous as to go with them to the Dutch fort, notwithstanding the strained relations between the two houses, to see if he could " procure some of them to have quiet settling" in its vicinage. The Dutch "did peremptorily withstand them ": quite naturally, we should say, under the circumstances. Writing before the arrival of the main company, Brewster expressed the hope that their leaders would " hear reason," and rehearsed the chief points of the argument : that the Pilgrims were here first, that they had entered with great " difficulty and danger both in regard of the Dutch and Indians," that they had bought the land, had since held here a " chargeable posses- sion," and had kept the Dutch from further encroaching, " which would else before this day have possessed all and kept out all others." These considerations he trusted would stop them. But they did not even check them. Winslow went up from Plymouth to Boston and there had a conference with the Dorchester leaders without avail. Negotiations with the Bay magistrates were also fruitless. " Many were the letters and passages" that followed, says Bradford, between the aggrieved and the aggressors. His summary of the The Pioneer River Settlements 27 correspondence, disclosing on the one side a curious mixture of piety and greed, is interesting reading. The Dorchester men started out with the assumption of title to the lands they coveted through an act of Provi- dence. " God in his providence," they wrote, cast them on this identical spot, " and, as we conceive, in a fair way of providence, tendered it to us as a meet place to receive our body now upon removal." The Plymouth men met this sophistry with the blunt retort : " Whereas you say God in his providence cast you &c., we told you before and (upon this occasion) must now tell you still that our mind is otherwise, and that you cast rather a partial, if not a covet- ous eye upon that which is your neighbors and not yours ; and in so doing your way could not be fair unto it. Look that you abuse not God's providence in such allegations." At this the Dorchester men took another tack : " Now, albeit we at first judged the place so free that we might with God's good leave take and use it, without just offence to any man, it being the Lord's waste, and for the present altogether void of inhabitants, that indeed, minded [of] the employment thereof to the right end for which land was created, Gen. 1: 28, . . . therefore did we make some weak beginnings in that good work in the place aforesaid." This reasoning the Plymouth men easily overset with the reply : " K it was the Lord's waste it was themselves [the Plymouth men] that found it so and not they [the Dorches- ter men]; and have since bought it of the right owners and maintained a chargeable possession upon it all this while, as themselves could not but know. And because of present engagements and other hindrances which lay at present upon them [the Plymouth Colony] must it therefore be lawful for them [the Dorchester men] to go and take it from them?" The hope of the Plymouth Colony to leave 28 Connecticut River the " barren place where they were by necessity cast," and make a new Plymouth in Connecticut is then frankly stated, and it is pertinently asked, " Why should they [the Dorchester men] (because they were more ready and able at present) go and deprive them [the Plymouth folk] of that which they had with charge and hazard provided and in- tended to remove to?" That the Plymouth men had the best of the argument must be admitted ; but the Dorchester men had the power. So the old familiar story was repeated, as it is still repeated over and over in our modern days, in which Might, with many pious reflections and pratings of high intentions, overthrows Right and struts off proudly locking arms with Virtue. The Plymouth men would make no forcible resist- ance. That was " far from their thoughts : to live in contin- ual contention with their friends and brethren would be un- comfortable, and too heavy a burden to bear." Accordingly, for the sake of peace, " though they conceived they suffered much in this thing," they finally concluded to give up the contest and to enter into treaty as to terms for the release of the territory seized. Before undertaking to bargain, however, they insisted that the Dorchester men must ac- knowledge their right to the territory, else "they would never treat about it." This easy point being freely yielded, with the abandonment of the providential title to the lands as "God's waste," a conclusion was reached "after much ado." The Plymouth House was to be retained by the Ply- mouth men with a sixteenth part of all the territory that they had bought from the Indians : the Dorchester men to have the remainder, reserving a moiety for " those of New Town " who were coming in, and paying Plymouth "accord- ing to proportion what had been disbursed to the Indians." Thus, Bradford recorded, " was the controversy ended. The Pioneer River Settlements 29 but the unkindness not so soon forgotten." The dream of an ultimate abandonment of their "barren place" on the Massachusetts coast for a second New Plymouth in the sweet and fertile region of the Connecticut was forever dispelled from the Pilgrim mind. The hurt was slow in healing. When later two shallops bound from Massachu- setts to the River with goods and supplies for the settlers were wrecked on the Plymouth shore, one after the other, and their cargoes in each case strewn along the beaches, were carefully gathered and preserved for their owners by the kindly Plymouth folk, the good Bradford wrote down in his history : " Such crosses they met in their beginnings ; which some imputed as a correction from God for their intrusion (to the wrong of others) into the place. But I dare not be bold with God's judgment in this kind." While these settlements were becoming established up the River on either side of the Dutch post, steps were tak- ing by stronger agents than Stiles of the '" Lords and Gen- tlemen " to secure the River's mouth. On the 6th of October, 1635, there arrived at Boston the ship "Abigail" from England, bringing among her passengers three men of note representing directly or indirectly the " Lords and Gentlemen." These were John Winthrop, Jr., Governor Winthrop's eldest and ablest son, who had been back in England for a twelvemonth ; young Sir Harry Vane ; and the Rev. Hugh Peter. The latter had joined the younger Winthrop and Sir Harry by boarding the ship in the Downs, after an escape from Holland, where, as the non- conforming minister of the English church at Rotterdam, he was being persecuted by the English ambassador. The younger Winthrop bore a commission from the " Lords and Gentlemen," dated July 15, naming him as " governor of 30 Connecticut River the River Connecticut with the places adjoining thereunto, for and during the space of one whole year after arrival there,'" with " full power to do and execute any such lawful act and thing ... as to the dignity or office of a governor doth or may appertain." By preliminary articles he en- gaged to repair to the River with " all convenient speed," and to abide there " for the best advancement of the com- pany's service." This governor's first duty was to engage, upon his arrival at Massachusetts Bay, a force of at least fifty " able men," and to despatch them to erect a fortification at the River's entrance and to build houses. The first houses were to be for their own needs. After these were up more substantial ones were to be erected within the fort, proper "to receive men of quality" who were expected later to come out and make a noble plantation; but who never came. Winthrop the younger was provided with four hundred pounds to meet first expenses ; and a few men and some ammunition for his service came out in the " Abi- gail " with him. Haste being necessary because of reported intentions of the Dutch, he did not wait to gather the full complement of fifty men, but hurried off a force of twenty, under one Lieutenant Gibbons and Sergeant Willard, to occupy Say brook Point and begin the works. Four days later a " norsey " — a North Sea bark — arrived at Boston bringing Lieutenant Lion Gardiner with a dozen men and " provisions of all sorts " for building a fortification. Lion Gardiner was a Scotchman, an accomplished engineer and master of fortification, who had been with the Prince of Orange in the Low Countries. At Rotterdam, " through the persuasion of Mr. John Davenport [afterward founder of New Haven], Mr. Hugh Peter and other well affected Englishmen," he had made an agreement with Mr. Peter The Pioneer River Settlements 31 to enter the '" Lords and Gentlemen's " service for a hun- dred pounds per annum ; and he had been despatched in the " norsey " just after Winthrop the younger had sailed. The energetic soldier tarried in Boston only long enough to report to the company's governor. Arriving at Say- brook Point he proceeded at once to plan and erect the English fort, taking for its site the spot where two years before Hans den Sluys had affixed the Dutch arms to a tree. In March of the following spring, Winthrop the younger himself arrived, and the formal occupation was completed. At these strenuous proceedings above and below their post the Dutchmen were looking out doubtless with aston- ished eyes and flushed faces. While the Saybrook fort was building an attempt was made to dislodge the English, but it met inglorious failure. The ship sent out from Manhat- tan for this purpose found two pieces of cannon already mounted on the unfinished structure and ready for action. Confronted by these guns, the Dutch craft, without a dem- onstration, tacked about and silently sailed back whence she came. Coincident with the beginnings at Saybrook Point, Sir Harry Vane, the younger Wintln-op, and Hugh Peter were at Boston treating with the Bay Colony men, principally the Dorchester leaders, who were moving upon the River, in an endeavor to come to a mutual understanding. Their demands were made with studied courtesy, for they were evidently desirous not to antagonize the new settlements. They asked that the planters should either entirely give place to the Lords and Gentlemen upon full satisfaction for their outlay, or make sufficient room for the patentees. Putting these demands in writing they addressed them to "Our Loving and most respected Friends . . . engaged in 32 Connecticut River the business of Connecticut Plantation." They called for "punctual and plain answers " to these direct queries : " (1) Whether they do acknowledge the right and claims of the said persons of quality, and in testimony thereof will and do submit to the counsel and direction of their present governor, Mr. John Winthrop, the younger, established by commission from them to those parts. (2) Under what right and pretense they have lately taken up their plan- tations within the precinct before mentioned, and what government they intend to live under, because the said country is out of the Massachusetts patent." " Our truly respected brethren" were desired to take these propositions into their " serious and Christian consideration," that their "loving resolutions" might promptly be returned to England. Their "loving resolutions" do not seem to have been forthcoming in documentary form. Nor is there record of any dh-ect replies, formal or otherwise, to these definite queries. Perhaps they were adroitly evaded if not deliber- ately ignored. At all events the settlers went on as before, continuing their allegiance for the time to the Bay Colony government. In February, 1635-6, came Saltonstall's pro- test from England against the treatment of his Stiles party at Windsor, and this also was without result. The protest was couched with the same carefulness that characterized the demands of the company's representatives in Boston. It was conveyed in a letter to " good Mr. Winthrop," the younger, rather than as an official communication, lest it should "breed some jealousies in the people and so distaste them with our government." A desire to cultivate the new settlements as a nucleus of their proposed colony is evident in all the moves of the Lords and Gentlemen. After the receipt of Saltonstall's letter, Winthrop the younger went The Pioneer River Settlements 33 up to Windsor and endeavored unsuccessfully to adjust the differences. As Sir Richard had written, the Dorchester folk had " carved largely for themselves," and it was plain that they meant to hold what they had carved against all comers. It was fortunate for them, however, and also for the other scattered colonists, that the agents of the Lords and Gentlemen had stai-ted in thus early. For the first winter was a cruel one and the Saybrook fortress was a veritable house of refuge for many of the settlers. As early as the fifteenth of November the River was frozen over, and soon heavy snows came. The late autumn arrivals, some from Cambridge, but the most from Dorchester, had not com- pleted their huts and the shelters for their live stock when severe weather was upon them. Some of the cattle could not be got across the River, and were left to subsist with- out hay in the woods then on the east side. Provisions early became scarce in the settlements. The ships which had started with supplies from Boston were either wrecked or held back by tempestuous storms. So forlorn and wretched became their condition that several bands at- tempted the perilous journey back to Massachusetts Bay. A party of six who sailed for Boston about the middle of November were wrecked off the coast near Plymouth. Mak- ing the shore they wandered for ten days in the wastes of snow. At length, "spent with cold and fatigue," they reached Plymouth, where the kind Pilgrims gave them suc- cor. Another, a party of thirteen (ominous number!), made their way back overland. One of this party was drowned in attempting to cross a frozen stream. The others got through after a painful journey of ten days. But all would have perished had not friendly Indians given them 34 Connecticut River food and shelter along the trail. By early December a com- pany of seventy, women and children among them, came down the River in the desperate hope of meeting their delayed provision-ship. About twenty miles above the mouth they came upon the *' Rebecca," a ship of sixty tons, frozen in the ice, and embarked on her. Soon afterward a warm rain fell which broke the ice and let the ship loose. She set sail with her passengers and proceeded as far as the bar, where she stuck and had to be unladen. The half- starved colonists were received into Saybrook fort and fed and comforted. At length the ship was afloat and reloaded ; and again setting sail she finally reached Boston in safety. Of those who remained in the up River settlements many were obliged to live on acorns, malt, and grain through the winter. With the advance of spring, however, the hardships of the winter were forgotten. As the summer opened, when all was again fair and blooming in the genial Valley, immi- gration was renewed with greater vigor. Many of the disheartened colonists of the winter returned. Then came larger bands and more important personages from the Ba}^ Colony. On the last day of radiant June, Thomas Hooker and his congregation of a himdred started out from Cam- bridge (still New Town), almost depopulating that village when they left. Theirs was the pilgrimage through the wilderness which Trumbull, Palfrey, Bancroft and the rest have depicted in their familiar passages, — all drawn from the same source, — the record in the elder Winthrop's Jour- nal, simple, yet effective, and furnishing full outline for the pictiu-e : — "t/wne 30, 1636. Mr. Hooker, paster of the church of New Town and the [most] of his congregation, went to Connecticut. His wife was carried in a horse-litter ; and they drove one hundred and sixty cattle, and fed of their milk by the way." The Pioneer River Settlements 35 They were a goodly company of fine English stock, splendid material for colonization. Many of them were '' persons of figure who had lived in England in honor, affluence, and delicacy, and were entire strangers to fatigue and danger." Yet '" the people generally carried their packs, arms, and some utensils," with the cheerful spirit of the true pioneer. With Hooker as leader was Samuel Stone, his worthy associate pastor, or the " teacher " of the chmrch. A fortnight was consumed in their toilsome jour- ney of more than a hundred miles. The way lay along the Indian trail " over mountains, through swamps and thick- ets," and across rivers " which were not passable save with great difficulty." This was the Old Connecticut Path, first made known to the Bay Colonists by Indians bringing corn from the Connecticut Valley to Boston. It was the same that the first pioneer, John Oldham, had travelled, that the Water- town band and the Dorchester company had followed. We can trace it to-day through populous cities and towns and rural villages. We may travel parts of it in the sumptuous drawing-room car over the smooth tracks of the modem railroad ; parts by trolley lines on highways and by-ways ; and the greater part by automobile, or in the more pleasurable carriage with the companionship of horses. Starting from Cambridge, it followed the northerly bank of the Charles River to the centre of Waltham ; thence passed through Weston to South Framingham ; thence ran southwesterly to Hopkinton ; then westerly to Grafton ; southerly to Dudley ; across the Connecticut state line to Woodstock, and so on, southwesterly, through the wilder- ness where now are clusters of Connecticut towns, to the River's east bank opposite Hartford. It is not to be con- founded with the historic Bay Path, or with the second 36 Connecticut River Connecticut Trail. The latter was found some years later. Winthrop notes it in his Journal in 1648 as avoiding much of the hill way. It was an upper trail lying all in Massa- chusetts. Starting from Cambridge or Watertown by the Charles River, it left the Old Connecticut Path at Weston, and ran through Sudbury Centre and Stowe to Lancaster, thence through Princeton, the south part of Barre and the north part of New Braintree to West Brookfield, and thence through Warren and Brimfield to Springfield, — traversed now in small parts by the Massachusetts Central, the old Boston and Fitchburg, and the Boston and Albany Rail- roads, as a good railroad map of Massachusetts will show. This trail came early to be called the Bay Path. But the colonial highway thus officially designated was not marked out till a quarter of a century afterward — in 1673. It began at Watertown and ran through South Framingham, Marlborough, and Lancaster to Brookfield, where it struck the old trail to Springfield. Three years before the elder Winthrop makes note of the second Connecticut Trail, Winthrop the younger had travelled most of the course of the Bay Path beyond Sudbury. His was a winter's journey in 1645 from Boston to Springfield, Hartford, Saybrook and New London, and he was accompanied only by a ser- vant. The Hookerites, planting themselves close by the Dutch fort where the first comers from Cambridge were settled, began Hartford, calling it at first Newtown. A month before their arrival William Pynchon, founder of the Mas- sachusetts Roxbury, coming overland with eight compan- ions, had occupied the "Agawam meadows" farther up the River, and begun Springfield, the first east-side settle- ment. o ^ The Pioneer River Settlements 37 Now, or by the close of 1636, the English plantations on the fertile River banks numbered five (if the Plymouth Trading House and the Saybrook military seat may be counted), and embraced an English population approaching a thousand in number. The Dutch were a small com- munity, narrowed to their '' House of Hope " and the " bouwerie " about it. In scarcely more than two years three of the settlements from the Bay Colony — Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, — had seceded from Massachu- setts, and had established the first genuine democracy in America. IV A Significant Chapter of Colonial History. The Political Motive that Inspired the dispersion from the Bay Colony to the Valley — Democracy versus Theocracy — Thomas Hooker and John Cotton, Spokesmen for the Differing Parties — The Hookerites' Petition in the Bay General Court — Winthrop's Report of the Unrecorded Proceedings — Al- leged and Real Reasons for Removal — Provisional Government for the Valley Plantations — The Independent Establishment — Hooker's epoch- making Sermon — The first Written Constitution — " True Birth of Amer- ican Democracy " — Hooker's Illuminating Letter : a Colonial Classic. THE story of the remarkable dispersion from the infant Bay Colony to the Connecticut Valley, with its causes and consequences, has come to be recognized as one of the most significant chapters of the formative period of Ameri- can history. John Fiske counted the secession of the three Connecticut River towns an event " no less memorable than the voyage of the ^ Mayflower,' or the arrival of Winthrop's great colony in Massachusetts Bay." The story has been variously told, the versions varying according to the narrator's point of view. Fiske restates with cleanest cut directness the controlling motive, above the commercial one, that inspired the immigration. This motive arose from a desire of the minority party in the Bay Colony to secularize and broaden the political power of the community, which power the majority or theocratic party would have the monopoly of the few. The commer- cial aims of the chief founders of the Bay Colony were but "a cloak to cover the purpose they had most at heart." Says Fiske : 38 A Significant Chapter of Colonial History 39 " Their purpose was to found a theocratic commonwealth, like that of the children of Israel in the good old days before their fro- ward hearts conceived the desire for a king. There was no thought of throwing off allegiance to the British crown ; but saving such alle- giance, their purpose was to build up a theocratic society according to their own notions. ... In the theocratic state which these leaders were attempting to found, one of the corner-stones, perhaps the chiefest corner-stone, was the restriction of the right of voting and holding civil office to members of the Congregational Church qualified for participation in the Lord's Supper. The ruling party in Massa- chusetts Bay believed that this restriction was necessary in order to guard against hidden -foes and to assure sufficient power to the clergy ; but there were some who felt that the restriction would give to the clergy more power than was likely to be wisely used, and that its tendency was strictly aristocratic. The minority which held these democratic views was more strongly represented in Dorchester, Watertown, and the New Towne than elsewhere. Here, too, the jealousy of encroachments upon local self-government was especially strong. ... It is also a significant fact that in 1633 Watertown and Dorchester led the way in instituting town government by selectmen." Thomas Hooker, that " rich pearl which Europe gave to America," and John Cotton, " the father and glory of Boston," perhaps, as Fiske says, the two most powerful intellects to be found in Massachusetts Bay, became the chief spokesmen for these differing parties. They came out to America on the same ship. Hooker, slipping off from Holland and avoiding the watchmen of the English High Court of Commission who would stop him, boarded the vessel at the Downs. Perhaps their dis- cussion of the great principles of government began during the long summer ^'oyage of seven weeks. Such philosophic debates may have constituted their sober pastime, in the intervals between sermons or expositions, — three a day, morning, afternoon, and in the twilight after supper, — with which they and the other minister aboard, Samuel 40 Connecticut River Stone, Hooker's associate, beguiled the two hundred pas- sengers. Maybe John Haynes, a conspicuous figure among the company, soon to become governor of the Bay Colony, then of Connecticut, may have had part in these discus- sions. The ship was the " Griffin," that " noble vessel of three hundred tons burthen," the arrival of which at Boston in September, 1633, with this " glorious triumvirate of ministers," and the choicest freight of emigrants since the coming of Winthrop's fleet, so cheered the colonists here, and " made them to say," as Cotton Mather, the erudite punster, put it in his "Magnolia," that "the God of Heaven had supplied them with what would in some sort answer their three great necessities. Cotton for their Clothing, Hooker for their Fishing, and Stone for their Building." Perhaps Hooker thus early in the controversy intimated his conviction, which afterward at Hartford he so tersely expressed in that memorable phrase, "the foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of the people." And Cotton may have advanced his thesis, later laid down in his letter of 1636 to Lord Say and Sele, " Democracy I do not conceive that ever God did ordain as a fit govern- ment either for church or commonwealth. If the people be governors, who shall be the governed ? " However this may be, these great minds were marshalled against each other in the contentions which after their landing almost immediately arose. But it was most decorously conducted. It was a gentlemanly contest, not a wrangle between poli- ticians for ignoble ends. Both were animated by the lof- tiest motives. It is a sorry mistake to assume that there was rivalry between them. Their souls soared above all rivalries. The presumption that Hooker coveted the pas- torate of the Boston church which went to Cotton is far A Significant Chapter of Colonial History 41 from the mark. His congregation was already here before him, awaiting his coming at Cambridge, or "• New Towne." When he landed from the " Griffin " they " crowded about him with their welcome," and '' with open arms he em- braced them," answering, " now I live if ye stand fast in the Lord." Hooker and Stone had been settled with their congre- gation at "New Towne " a few months before the agitation for removal was begun. It took on at first a plea for more room for farms. In the spring of 1634 the New Towne folk were complaining of " straitness," especially for want of meadow. In May the General Court granted them leave to seek out a new place and promised to confirm it to them, provided their choice were not prejudicial to a plantation already established. Then men were sent out by them to view various sites in regions not remote from Boston. But it was soon apparent that their eyes were fixed on the banks of the distant Connecticut, not surely within the boimds of the Massachusetts patent. In July they des- patched a party of six on Governor Winthrop's " Blessing of the Bay," bound for Manhattan, their avowed object being " to discover Connecticut River, intending to remove their town thither." In September their petition for leave to make this removal was before the General Court at a sitting in New Towne. There is no mention of this matter in the Court records, notwithstanding that it was the main business of the sitting and occupied several days in debate ; that it occasioned an adjournment of the court for " a day of humiliation, to seek the Lord," the assistants and deputies being divided on the vote, the magistrates opposing, and the deputies favoring and refusing to yield to the magistrates ; that it inspired a great sermon from John Cotton for the magistrates' side at 42 Connecticut Riv^er the reopening of the sitting ; and that it resulted finally in the submission of the deputies, and the apparent acquies- cence of the Hookerites in the decision against them. Fortunately Winthrop's invaluable Journal supplies the Court reporter's omission with a succinct account of the proceedings, in which between the lines we read the real motives of the petitioners, and the recognition of them by the magistrates. Many reasons were alleged pro and con : " The principal reasons for this removal were : (1) Their want of accommodation for their cattle, so as they were not able to maintain their ministers, nor could receive any more of their friends to help them ; and here it was alleged by Mr. Hooker as a f imdamental error that towns were set so near to each other. (2) The fi'uitfulness and commodiousness of Connecticut and the danger of having it possessed by others, Dutch or English. (3) The strong bent of their spirits to •^remove thither. " Against these it was said : (1) That in point of conscience they ought not to depart from us being knit to us in one body and bound by oath to seek the welfare of the commonwealth. (2) That in point of state and civil policy we ought not to give them leave to depart, — i, being we were now weak and in danger to be assailed ; 2^ the departure of Mr. Hooker would not only draw many from us, but also divert other friends that would come to us ; 3, we should ex- pose them to evident peril both from the Dutch (who made claim to the same river and had already built a fort there), and from the In- dians, and also from our own state at home who could not endure they should sit down without a patent in any place which our King lays claim imto. (3) They might be accommodated at home by some enlargement which other towns offered. They might remove to Merrimack or any other place within our patent. (4) The removing of a candlestick is a great judgment which is to be avoided. " Upon these and other arguments, the court being divided, it was put to vote : and of the deputies, fifteen were for their departure and ten against it. The governor and two assistants were for it, and the deputy [governor] and all the rest of the assistants were against it (except the secretary who gave no vote), whereupon no record was A Significant Chapter of Colonial History 43 entered, because there were not six assistants in the vote, as the patent requires. Upon this grew a great difference between the gov- ernor and assistants, and the deputies. They would not yield the assistants a negative voice, and the others (considering how dangerous it might be to the commonwealth if they should not keep their strength to balance the greater number of the deputies) thought it safe to stand upon it. " So when they could proceed no farther, the whole court agreed to keep a day of humiliation to seek the Lord, which accordingly was done, in all the congregations, the 18th day of this month ; and the 24th the court again met. Before they began Mr. Cotton preached (being desired by all the court upon Mr. Hooker's instant excuse of his unfitness for that occasion). He took his text out of Hag. ii, 4 etc., out of which he^ laid down the nature and strength (as he termed it) of the magistracy, ministry, and people, viz. — the strength of the magistracy to be their authority ; of the people, their liberty ; and of the ministry, their purity ; and showed how all of these had a negative voice etc., and that yet the ultimate resolution etc. ought to be in the whole body of the people etc. with answer to all objections, and a declaration of the people's duty and right to main- tain their true Uberties against any unjust violence etc., which gave great satisfaction to the company. " And it pleased the Lord so to assist him, and to bless his own ordinance, that the affairs of the court went on cheerfully ; and al- though all were not satisfied about the negative voice to be left to the magistrates, yet no man moved aught about it, and the congre- gation of New Towne came and accepted of such enlargement as had formerly been offered them by Boston and Waltham ; and so the fear of their removal to Connecticut was removed." The governor this year was Thomas Dudley, Winthrop serving as assistant in company with Hooker's friend, John Haynes, William Pynchon of Roxbury, and the younger John Winthrop. Simon Bradstreet was the secretary, who withheld his vote. These constituted the magistrates. Haynes and Pynchon were presumably the two assistants who voted with the governor for the petition. Ludlow, 44 Connecticut River the deputy governor, is supposed to have led the opposing vote of the magistrates. Over the reasons alleged for removal in place of the weighty ones held back, John Fiske makes merry. The men who put forward the plea that they hadn't room enough to pasture their cattle, "must have had to hold their sides to keep from bursting with laughter!" he ex- claims. " Not room enough in Cambridge for five hundred people to feed their cattle ! Why then did they not simply send a swarm into the adjacent territory — into what was by and by to be parcelled out as Lexington and Concord and Acton ? Why flit a hundred miles through the wil- derness and seek an isolated position open to attack from every quarter?" The expression of the " strong bent of their spirits to move thither," with their practical appreciation of the " fruitfulness and the commodiousness " of the River coun- try, more nearly than the other pretexts voiced the real reasons. By the following summer (1635) the aspect of affaks had changed, and it soon had to be acknowledged that the Connecticut move was inevitable, although the light-giving " candlestick " had not yet joined the exodus. At the May election, also held at New Towne, John Haynes of the secular party was chosen governor, with the two Winthrops, Dudley, Pynchon, and Bradstreet among the assistants. Immediately, at the same sitting of the General Court, orders were adopted granting liberty to the inhabitants of Roxbury and Watertown to remove themselves "to any place they shall think meet," not prejudicial to any existing plantation ; with the proviso, however, that they continue still under the Bay government. At the next sitting, in June, similar leave was granted to the Dorchester folk. A Significant Chapter of Colonial History 45 Roger Ludlow had now become as ardent for removal as he had been against it, and he headed the Dorchester emi- gration, as we have seen. His abrupt change of attitude was brought about, it is assumed, through his loss of the governorship in the May election, to which as deputy he was in the direct line. From this moment he was a power- ful Connecticut leader, and became a foremost figure in the infant colony on the River banks. With the order giving the Dorchester people leave to go cognizance was taken of the Massachusetts jurisdiction over the River country. This appears in a grant of three pieces (cannon) to the communities removing " to fortify themselves withal." At the court's September sitting the first step for gov- ernment on the River was taken through an order empower- ing any Bay magistrate to swear a constable for any River plantation. At the same time further provision for defence was made. It was ordered that two drakes and powder and shot be loaned the settlers from the stock of the towns from which the emigration was making. Finally, in the following March (1636) the court provided a provisional government for the plantations. This was a government by commission ; the commis- sioners named to "govern the people of Connecticut for the space of a year now next coming." In the "exempli- fication " of this instrument we see how intimately the Bay men associated themselves in the business with the Lords and Gentlemen, and endeavored to guard their assumed interests in the River : " Whereas, upon some reason and grounds there are to remove from this our commonwealth and body of the Massachusetts in America, divers of our loving friends, neighbours, freemen, and mem- bers of New Towne, Dorchester, Watertown, and other places, who 46 Connecticut River are resolved to transplant themselves and their estates unto the River of Connecticut, there to reside and inhabit, and to this end divers are there already, and divers others shortly to go, we, in this present Court assembled, on the behalf of our said members, and John Winthrop Jun.r Esq.r, Governor, appointed by certain noble personages and men of quality interested in the said river, which [sic] are yet in England, on their behalf, have had a serious consid- eration there[on], and think it meet that where there are a people to nit down and cohabit there will follow, upon occasion, some cause of difference, as also divers misdemeanors, which will require a speedy address ; and in regard of the distance of the place this state and gov- ernment cannot take notice of the same as to apply timely remedy, or to dispense equal justice to them and their affairs as may be desired ; and in regard the said noble personages and men of quality have some- thing engaged themselves and their estates in the planting of the said river, and by virtue of a patent do require jurisdiction of the said place and people, and neither the minds of the said personages (they being sent unto) are as yet known, nor any manner of govern- ment is yet agreed on, and there being a necessity, as aforesaid, that some present government may be observed, we therefore think meet, and so order, that Roger Ludlowe Esq., William Pynchon Esqr, John Steele, William Swaine, Henry Smyth, William Phe[lpes], William Westwood, and Andrew Ward, or the greater part of them, «hall have full power and authority " to act in such capacity. If within the year a " mutual and settled " government were formed the commission was to be recalled. But such government must be " condescended into by and with the good liking and consent of the said noble personages or their agent," as well as the Bay Colony, without prejudice to the interest of the Lords and Gentlemen " in the said river and confines thereof within their several limits." Three of the eight commissioners, Steele, Westwood, and Ward, were New Newtown (Hartford) men ; Ludlow and Phelps were New Dorchester (Windsor) men ; Swayne and Smyth were of the New Watertown (Wethersfield) ; and Pynchon alone stood for Agawam (Springfield). All of A Significant Chapter of Colonial History 47 the eight were men of consequence. Ward of Hartford was an ancestor of Aaron Burr, and from him Henry Ward Beecher got his middle name. With a provisional government thus arranged by Mas- sachusetts the Hookerites at length prepared for their de- parture. No reversal of the negative vote of the magis- trates on their petition of September, 1634, appears to have been made. Nor is there record of any further action at a subsequent General Court. Probably, as historians have observed, the liberty given in general terms in the order of May, 1634, was held to be sufficient. Perhaps the majority of the magistrates now sitting were more friendly than the previous body to the move, but were shy of a vote of rec- ord, deeming exclusion from the court minutes of reference to dispersions most prudent, as in the former case of the great debate and negative action. At all events the Hookerites moved away tranquilly, and at peace with the Bay leaders. Haynes did not go at this time, but followed shortly, after he had cleared the way for his successor in the Bay governorship, young Sir Harry Vane. Whether Hooker and Haynes and the others in their confidence contemplated from the start the setting up of a government of their own, is purely a matter of speculation. If they did they kept their hopes to themselves while they were gettmg their new house in order. The provisional government continued serenely through its year, affairs moving without jar. Six public courts convened within the term. All of them were held in the plantations on the west side of the River, although Agawam was within the fold. Four met at Newtown, and one each at New Dorchester and New Watertown. P3mchon was present at only one of the six. Ludlow was a master- 48 Connecticut River spirit at all. At tlie last sitting, in Newtown, February 27, 1637, the present names of the west-side settlements were adopted, — "Hateford Town" for Newtown, "Wy- thersfeild" for Watertown, and "Windsor" for Dorchester. In this action some writers see the first step toward with- drawal from the Bay jurisdiction. Hartford was named for the English Hertford, in compliment, some say, to Samuel Stone, the minister with Hooker, whose birthplace it was ; others say to Haynes, whose ancestors were of Hertfordshire. Wethers field was called after the town in old Essex from the neighborhood of which came John Tal- cott, a first proprietor and leader in the new settlement. Windsor was obviously suggested by the home of the Eng- lish sovereigns. The transition to the independent government was without friction. In its earlier stages it was a sort of natural evolution. The commissioners constituting the old order passed into the new. Five of them, with a single new member, composed the first court held after the expiration of the Massachusetts commission. This sat at Newtown (Hartford), March 28, 1637. The new member was Thomas Welles of Newtown, said by tradition to have been the private secretary of Lord Say and Sele before coming out to America. Twenty years later he was a governor of Connecticut. Welles took the place of William Westwood in the court, but how he was chosen does not appear. The next court was by its composition a definite step nearer independent government, and was distinctly a representa- tive body. It was a General Court, in which the commis- sioners composing the previous court sat with deputies, or committees, as they were termed, elected by the freemen in each plantation. Although organized primarily to meet an emergency, — arising from the hostility of the Pequots, A Significant Chapter of Colonial History 49 — it fixed itself as a permanent institution in the adoption of this order at the finish of its business : '' the General Court now in being shall be dissolved, and there is no more attendance of the members thereof to be expected except they be chosen in the next General Court." It convened at Newtown on the first day of May, 1637, and continued in existence till February 9, 1637-8. It declared offensive war against the Pequots, and prepared for the campaign. It levied men for the service from the plantations, provided for provisioning them, impressed Mr. Pynchon's shallop for " the design," and saw the grim business through. Two months after its adjom-nment, or on April 5, 1638, a new General Court, similarly constituted, came in, the towns electing their committees in the interim. In this General Court Agawam was represented the same as the other plantations. But its magistrates and committee men, Mr. Pynchon and three others, attended only the first sitting ; withdrawing, perhaps, upon the censure of Mr. Pynchon in connection with a corn contract. This was conveyed in an order imposing upon him a fine of " forty bushels of corn for the public," for failing to be " so careful to promote the public good in the trade of corn as he was bound to do," in carrying out a contract to supply the west side towns with this commodity. The plan of government was now maturing, and this court is supposed to have been entrusted with the framing of it. At an adjourned session on the last day of May, Mr. Hooker prepared the way in his epoch-making sermon be- fore the body. This was the discourse in which he enun- ciated the fundamentals that should be embodied in the Constitution, grounded on his explicit declaration that "the choice of public magistrates belongs to the people of God's own allowance," because " the foundation of authority is 50 Connecticut River laid firstly in the consent of the people." Only the heads of this discourse are extant, but these sufficiently disclose its import. They are preserved in a shorthand abstract in a manuscript note-book of Henry Wolcott, Jr., of Windsor, now in the library of the Connecticut Historical Society, for the successful deciphering of which history is indebted to J. Hammond Trumbull. Seven months after the May sitting the first of all written constitutions of representative government was completed. Then, on the fourteenth of January, 1638-9, deputies from the towns, assembled in convention at Hart- ford, adopted the instrument as the " Fundamental Orders of Connecticut." This remarkable early seventeenth cen- tiu-y paper, the joint work presumably of Hooker, Haynes, and Ludlow, fashioned, it is pleasant to imagine, in Hooker's Hartford study overlooking our River, stands unique among American documents in being not only the ^' first written constitution known to history that created a government," but the precedent for the Constitution of the United States a century and a half after. It made no allusion to any source of authority whatever except the towns themselves. It was silent as to any duty to the British or any other crown. As John Fiske further em- phasises, it " created a state which was really a tiny federal republic, and it recognized the principle of federal equality by equality of representation among the towns, while at the same time it recognized popular sovereignty by electing its governor and its upper house by a plurality vote, and it conferred upon the General Court only such powers as were expressly granted." It gave the suffrage without ecclesi- astical restrictions, to all the freemen admitted to the towns who had taken the oath of fidelity. The requisite for free- manship was simply a majority vote for admittance, by the 3 ^ i *-l O X ffi - o r^ 5 'o Q Ph 01 .a u "o ^ 0) c •'S VI Saybrook Fort The Saybrook Plantation for Important Colonists "who never came — The Questioned Story of the Embarkation of Cromwell and Hampden — Beginnings by George Fenwick — Lion Gardiner's grim Humor — John Winthrop the Younger : a Remarkable Personage — Fenwick's Home on Saybrook Point — Lady Fenwick — John Higginson, the Chaplain — Lady Fenwick's lonely Tomb — The second Saybrook Fort, Scene of an Adventure of Andros in 1675 — Beginnings of Yale College at Saybrook — The " Saybrook Platform " — First Book Printed in Connecticut. SAYBROOK remained the sole foothold of the Lords and Gentlemen on the River lands for five years after the establishment of the Connecticut colony, and then was absorbed in it. Their great project had early faded out. Of the noble company of "persons of quality" with " three hundred able men," for whose coming in 1636 Lion Gardiner had industriously prepared, only two ap- peared, — George Fenwick and his man-servant. Numerous others of "figure and distinction" had undoubtedly made ready for removal, but circumstances changed their plans. There appears to be fair ground for belief that among them were Sir Arthur Hazlerig, Sir Matthew Boynton, and the commoners ^jra, Hampden, and Cromwell. Although au- thorities widely differ as to this tradition, the lay reader is disposed to accept it, fascinated by its picturesqueness, and for the zest it gives to speculation upon what might have been. Thus the story runs, as evolved by the various writers from the original statement of Dr. George Bates, physician to Charles I, Cromwell, and Charles II respec- 68 Connecticut River tively. Cromwell, Hampden and the rest were passengers on one of a fleet of eight ships ready to sail, in the spring of 1638, when by orders passed in council the vessels were stayed and all the passengers and provisions put ashore. Subsequently the vessels were permitted to depart, but this company remained behind. Most picturesque is Macaulay's portrayal of this embarkation : Hampden determined to leave England. Beyond the Atlantic Ocean a few of the persecuted Puritans had formed in the wilder- ness of the Connecticut a settlement which has since become a pros- perous commonwealth. . . . Lord Saye and Lord Brook were the original projectors of this scheme of emigration. Hampden had been early consulted respecting it. He was now, it appears, desir- ous to withdraw himself beyond the reach of oppressors who, as he probably suspected, and as we know, were bent on punishing his manful resistance to their tyranny. He was accompanied by his kinsman, Oliver Cromwell, over whom he possessed great influence, and in whom he alone had discovered under an exterior appearance of coarseness and extravagance, those great and commanding talents which were afterward the admiration and the dread of Europe. The cousins took their passage on a vessel which lay in the Thames, and which was bound for North America. They were actually on board when an order of council appeared, by which the ship was prohibited from sailing. . . . Hampden and Cromwell remained ; and with them remained the Evil Genius of the house of Stuart. How wondrously different might history have read had Cromwell got here, and established himself at the mouth of our River ! Fenwick was at this time again in England, having gone back in the summer or autumn of 1636, probably to report to his associates and arrange the proposed emigration. When the new Connecticut government was inaugurated he was still abroad. By midsummer following, however, he had returned, accompanied by his family and a few Saybrook Fort 69 others. Then, as agent for the patentees, he set up his independent establishment, and gave the plantation its name of Saybrook, in compliment to Lords Say and Brooke. Lion Gardiner, who had held the fort with his little garrison and their families from the beginning, now moved with a few of the soldier-farmers to the fair island across the Sound which perpetuates his name. Here, on friendly terms with the Indians, he began the first English settle- ment within the limits of the present State of New York, calling his island the Isle of Wight. His sturdy wife, whom he had married in Holland, had borne him two children while at Saybrook Fort, the eldest, a boy, being the first white child born in Connecticut. Gardiner was a valiant captain, stout of heart, and sound of head. He was a humorist, too, of a grim sort. When some of the Bay men had spoken slightingly of Indian arrows, he sent them a dead man's rib with an arrow's head, which had shot through the body, sticking so fast in the bone that none could withdraw it. He was firm and just in his dealings with the Indians, faithful to agreements, relent- less in warfare. He was a strategist, often circumventing the wily enemy with " pretty pranks," some of which he related in his old age, whereby " young men may learn," that they " may with such pretty pranks preserve them- selves from danger ; for policy is needful in wars as well as strength." John Winthrop the younger was now living at his Massachusetts home in Ipswich, concerned in other than Connecticut interests. His dwelling at Saybrook Fort had been confined to a few months or weeks in 1636. He had taken no steps for the renewal of his commission as governor for the Lords and Gentlemen after its techni- 70 Connecticut River cal expiration in 1637 ; but the term still held with him. He did not come permanently to reside in Connecticut till 1645 or 1646. Then he fixed his home in the conquered Pequot country, founding New London. At the same time he had a summer lodge on Fisher's Island, off the mouth of Mystic River, in the Sound, which was granted him in 1640, and remained a preserve of the Winthrop family through six generations. He became officially con- nected with the Connecticut colony in 1651, being that year chosen one of the higher magistrates. He established him- self at Hartford when he first became governor of the colony in 1657, after having lived a year or two previ- ously at New Haven. After his first term in this gover- norship he was deputy governor. Chosen again governor in 1659, he was continued in the executive office by annual election from that time till his death in 1676, a period of sixteen years. He was through his prime Connecticut's foremost man. In culture he surpassed his remarkable father, the first statesman of Massachusetts. "■ Books furnished employment to his mind; the study of nature according to the principles of the philosophy of Bacon was his delight, for ' he had a gift in understanding and art.' " He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Philo- sophical Transactions at its foundation in London, when modern science was young. He was " one of the greatest chymists and physicians of his age," the historian Trum- bull notes. He was amiable, large minded, and tactful in affairs. He ''noiselessly succeeded in all that he under- took," says Bancroft. " God gave him favour in the eyes of all with whom he had to do," was the elder Winthrop's pious testimony. He '' inherited much of his father's combination of audacity with velvet tact," was John Fiske's more modern phrasing. When in 1661, upon the Saybrook Fort 71 Restoration, he was chosen as the colony's agent to pre- sent their petition to Charles II for a charter under the royal seal, "the New World was full of his praises." "Puritan and Quaker, and the freemen of Rhode Island were alike his eulogists; the Dutch at New York had confidence in his integrity." In London, enlisting the powerful influence of those constant friends of the colonies, Lord Say and Sele, now the venerable sole survivor of the noblemen interested in the Lords and Gentlemen's patent, and the Earl of Manchester, now Chamberlain of the King's Household, he accomplished his mission with sur- prising ease. The king received him and the petition "with uncommon grace and favour." Fixed in history is the statement that the king's good will was won by a clever courtier-like stroke. " Mr. Winthrop had an extra- ordinary ring which had been given his grandfather by King Charles the first, which he presented to the king. This, it is said, exceedingly pleased His Majesty, as it had been the property of a father most dear to him." So runs the legend. But this is apocryphal. It was the play of the skill of the diplomat rather than the arts of the cour- tier that achieved his ends. " He knew at once how to maintain the rights and claims of Connecticut and how to make Charles II think him the best fellow in the world," says Fiske. So he secured the charter, which, passing the seals April 20, 1662, confirmed to the Connecticut colony the territory covered by the Lords and Gentlemen's patent, and the right to govern themselves, precisely as they had been doing ; and summarily annexed to them the neigh- boring New Haven colony, much to the disturbance of the latter' s theocratic party, but " hailed with delight " by " the disfranchised minority." This was the charter that a quarter century after was hidden from Andros in the 72 Connecticut River Charter Oak, and the historical duplicate of which, in its frame of wood from the historic tree, is now displayed in the Hartford State House. Fenwick maintained his independent state of Saybrook till the end of 1644. Then he ceded it to the up-river colony with the jurisdiction of the entire territory claimed under the Lords and Gentlemen's patent, and so finis was written to their scheme. Conditions of the transfer were the payment to Fenwick of certain duties on corn, biscuit, beaver skins, and live stock exported from the River's mouth, for a period of ten years. For the jurisdiction right, or the "Old Patent," the colony ultimately paid 1600 pounds sterling ; but they never received this patent. Mr. Fenwick stipulated to deliver it " if it come into his power." Its non-appearance is regarded by those who have questioned its existence as pretty fair evidence for their contention. Subsequently, when seeking the royal charter, the colony declared, in their letter to Lord Say and Sele, whose aid they desired, that they had been forced to this purchase through the threat of Mr. Fenwick, then the sole patentee, to impose duties on the people, or sell the patent to the Dutch unless they purchased it. After the sale Fenwick became one of the magistrates of the colony. About 1648, on returning to England, he was made a colonel in the Parliamentary army. He was chosen a member of Parliament, and named one of the "high Goviri of justice" which condemned the king. In the latter body, however, he failed to serve. He died at Berwick, while governor there, in 1657. Fenwick' s home on Saybrook Point was described by Thomas Lechford in 1641 as a "faire house," well forti- fied. It must have been a gracious household in the Say brook Fort 73 wilderness, bestowing a refined hospitality. Lady Fen- wick was a gentlewoman, born Alice Apsley, daughter of Sir Edward Apsley. She was widow of Sir John Boteler when she married "Master Fenwicke," at the time a lawyer of Gray's Inn, and a man of means. With them here as chaplain was the then youthful John Higginson, who had come over in 1629 with his father, Francis Higginson, first minister of Salem in the Bay Colony, and ancestor of the Higginsons in America. He had been a teacher at Hartford, living with Mr. Hooker as " student, helper, and scribe." He was the minister afterward long settled at Salem, where he succeeded his father. His ministry there continued till his death at the great age of ninety-three, which inspired his rhyming eulogist to the elegant lines : — Young to the pulpit he did get And Seventy-Two Years in't did sweat. After seven short years of pioneer life the gentle Lady Fenwick died, leaving with her husband two little daugh- ters, Elizabeth and Dorothy, both born in the fortified manor house on Saybrook Point. Her grave was made within the enclosure of the fort. For years after a mas- sive memorial of stone in an open field on the spot where the first settlers had lived marked the lonely tomb. When the iconoclasm of our age with its ruthless sweep threat^- ened to scatter her dust, it was removed to a protected place in the old burying ground at the Point, near the graves of seven generations of her descendants. It is related that when the remains were disinterred for this removal " the skeleton was found to be nearly entire," and beneath the skull lay " a heavy braid of auburn hair, which was parcelled out among the villagers. 74 Connecticut River The first Saybrook Fort stood till 1647, when, in the depth of winter, during a tempestuous night, it caught fire, and was destroyed with all the buildings inside the pali- sade, the commandant and his family barely escaping with their lives. The following year a new and stouter fortress was erected nearer the River's bank. This was the fort the surrender of which to the government of the Duke of York Andros demanded in July, 1675, when "Captain Robert Chapman and Captain Bull of Hartford so ingeni- ously defended the rights of the colony," that the enemy was undone without a shot. It is a pretty story, quite like a popular historical romance, in which the scenes move forward with dramatic precision, and the characters appear at the precise moment to produce a thrilling situation. When the colony had word of the intended invasion, they hastened detachments of militia to Saybrook and New London, for both places were threatened. Captain Thomas Bull commanded the soldiery despatched down the River. While they are yet on their way, the Saybrook folk are surprised by the sudden appearance of Major Andros with an armed force in the Sound, "making directly for the fort." Without instructions from the government as to how they should act in such an emergency, they are for a while inert and gaze helpless upon the sight. But as their surprise abates, "the martial spirit begins to en- kindle." The fort is manned and the force within drawn up in battle array. At this critical moment, presto ! Captain Bull with his company arrives. Through the next two days the work of preparing fort and town for defence is vigorously pursued, while Andros' s ships remain quietly off shore. Now Andros with several of the armed sloops draws up before the fort. The king's flag is ri4 o o O £2 O H Saybrook Fort 75 hoisted, and formal call for surrender of fort and town is made. Instantly up rises His Majesty's flag on the fort, and Captain Bull's men are seen arranged in warlike order, "with a good countenance, determined and eager for action." Andros dare not fire on the king's colors. So he lies by awaiting reply to his summons. All this day and part of the next his fleet are held off against the fort. Meantime the Assembly at Hartford, called into session by the critical state of the colony, have been acting. A protest against the invasion has been drawn up with in- structions to Captain Bull. He is authorized to propose a reference of the matter in controversy to commissioners who shall meet in any place in the colony that Andi"os may choose. The instructions have been entrusted to an " express " who is hurrying down the River to deliver them. On the morning of the second day Andros requests admittance on shore and an interview with " the minis- ters and chief officer." The request is granted, and he comes ashore with his glittering suite. Presto ! again : at this very moment the " express " appears. Captain Bull, supported by his own officers and by the officers and gen- tlemen of the town, meets the major and his officers, at the landing, and salutations are exchanged. Captain Bull announces his receipt that moment of instructions to ten- der a treaty, with the proposal to refer the dispute to commissioners " capable of determining it according to law and justice." Major Andros rejects the proposal, and forthwith commands " in His Majesty's name, that the duke's patent and the commission which he had received from his royal highness" be read. Captain Bull com- mands also in the king's name, that he " forbear reading." Andros' s clerk attempts to read, when the captain repeats his command, " with such energy and voice and meaning 76 Connecticut River in his countenance " that the major is convinced " it is not safe to proceed." The reading stayed, the captain informs the major of the address of the Assembly and forthwith reads this document. At its conclusion the major, pleased with the captain's "bold and soldier-like appearance," asks his name. ^' My name is Bull, sir." " Bull ? It is a pity that your horns are not tipped with silver." So ends the parley. The major gives up his design of seizing the fort, and is escorted to his boat by the full body of the militia in the town. Soon after his fleet sails away. The original palisade extended across the long neck of Saybrook Point and protected the land approaches from in- ciu-sions of the Indians. Westward of the original fort a generous square was laid out, in which were to be placed the houses of those " gentlemen of distinction and figure," Hazelrig, Cromwell, Hampden, and the others who failed to come out. Some seventy years after, midway between the palisade and the fort, was erected a house of greater note. This was the home of the collegiate school, in which Yale College had its beginning. In this long, low, one- story structure, the embryo university spent its first sixteen years. Although the preliminary steps were elsewhere taken, here in 1701 its corporate life began, and here its functions were exercised till the removal to New Haven was accomplished. So Yale College was of Connecticut River birth, and the pioneer of the noble line of higher institutions that now occupy its banks through three states, in their number and variety giving the Connecticut a unique Saybrook Fort 77 distinction among American rivers as a seat of American colleges. It was no fault of Saybrook tbat Yale was not retained on the Connecticut. The decision for removal stirred Say- brook to the core, and roused some of her people even to open resistance. When in December, 1718, three months after the first commencement at New Haven had been held, a majority of the trustees attempted to remove the college library, which was still retained in Saybrook, such opposi- tion was encountered that the aid of the governor and coun- cil was invoked. This body came down from Hartford and issued a warrant to the sheriff to seize the books. The officer proceeded to his duty, but found the house where they were kept barred by resolute men prepared to resist him. Summoning assistance, he at length forced an en- trance. Then a guard was placed over the property for the night, and its removal to New Haven was set for the following day. In the morning it was discovered that the carts engaged for the transportation had been disabled and their horses turned adrift. New provisions were made, and the new teams started off under the escort of the major of the county. The trials of the movers, however, were not yet over. Along the roads their progress was hindered through the absence of several bridges which had been broken up. They finally reached New Haven, only to find on counting the books that the number was short by more than two hundred and fifty. The missing volumes, says the chronicler, had been " disposed of by persons unknown, together with some valuable papers, in the confusion which arose at the taking of the library, and no discovery of them was made afterward." Even after the institution had become fully fixed at New Haven the instruction of students was for some time dog- 78 Connecticut River gedly continued at Saybrook, the youths appearing in New Haven only to receive their degrees. Others obtained their tuition at Hartford; and more at Wethersfield (both of which towns had competed for the college) ; so that at first more than half of the students of the new Yale were in- structed outside of New Haven, and in the River towns, meeting at the official seat of the college only on com- mencement for their degrees. Indeed, at Wethersfield a commencement was held and degrees conferred on the very day that the first commencement took place at New Haven. The Wethersfield degrees, however, were subsequently rati- fied at New Haven, and peace succeeded the unhappy dis- cord. As President Clap, in his " The Annals or History of Yale College" (1766), quaintly records: ". . . . the Spirits of Men began by Degrees to subside ; and a general Harmony was gradually introduced among the Trustees, and the Colony in general. The Rev. Mr. Woodbridge [of Hartford] and Mr. Buckingham [the Saybrook minis- ter : the two chief opponents among the trustees of the New Haven seat] became very friendly to the college and New Haven, and forward to promote all its Interests. The Trustees in Testimony of their Friendship and Regard to Mr. Woodbridge chose him for Rector pro Tempore ; and he accordingly moderated and gave Degrees at the commencement Anno 1723." In the Saybrook College house also met, it is supposed, the synod of 1708 which formed the Saybrook Platform, that strict ecclesiastical code the adoption of which by the Legislature fixed upon Connecticut an established church. Thus Congregationalism, as defined in this document, be- came the religion of the state by legislative enactment, and held for seventy-six years, making " dissenters " of aU not First Site of Yale College, Old Saybrook. Say brook Fort 79 conforming to it. The synod was composed of sixteen members, twelve ministers and four laymen. Eight or nine of the ministers were at the time trustees of the col- lege ; and the assembly convened on the occasion of the annual commencement. Thus the association of synod and college was intimate. But although the corporation adoptr ed the code, and theological instruction predominated for some time in the institution, its scope gradually broadened as the years advanced, more in conformity with the plan de- lined in its charter, — for " instructing youth in the arts and sciences who may be fitted for public employment both in church and civil state." This synod was the third coimcil, probably, that sat at Saybrook, to attempt the union of church and state, the first assembling in 1668, well before the foundation of the college. Its Saybrook Platform was constructed, formidably, of a Confession of Faith, Heads of Agreement, and Fifteen Articles for the administration of church discipline. The discussions, controversies, and hard- ships to which it gave rise through the years of its legal establishment have faded into oblivion, and to-day the Saybrook Platform is chiefly interesting as the first book printed in Connecticut, run off in 1710 at New London, on the printing press which was given to the Colony by Gov- ernor Gurdon Saltonstall, great grandson of Sir Richard Saltonstall of the Lords and Gentlemen's project. A vestige of Saybrook Fort remained till the seventies of the nineteenth centmry, the dominant note in the quiet landscape at this point of the River. Then all was swept away, together with the old contours of the site, and mod- em structures, useful but unpicturesque, occupied the place. VII Early Perils of Colonial Life The River Settlements of the Colonial Period — Confined to the Lower Valley for a Century — The First Settlers completely environed by Savages — The Various Tribes and their Seats — The Dominating Pequots — Covert Attacks upon the Settlers — Massacre of Captains Stone and Norton with their Ship's Crew. — The Killing of John Oldham off Block Island. — Avenged by Captain John Gallop — The " Earliest Sea-Fight of the Nation " — A Graphic Colo- nial Sea-Story. COLONIAL life on the River was confined for a cen- tury to the Lower Valley in Connecticut and Massa- chusetts. Till the middle of the seventeenth century it was narrowed to Windsor, Hartford, Wethersfield, and Say- brook of the Connecticut Colony and Springfield alone in the Massachusetts jurisdiction. Springfield was then the uppermost Valley settlement, at the frontier of the Wilder- ness. By the close of the seventeenth century only four River towns had been added to the Connecticut Colony, and eight had been formed in the Massachusetts limits. These were Middletown, East Haddam, Haddam, and Lyme in Connecticut, and Northampton, Hadley, Hatfield, Deer- field, Northfield, Westfield, Suffield, and Enfield in Massa- chusetts. Middletown, when established in 1653, was the first connecting link between the up-river towns and Say- brook. East Haddam, below, on the east side of the River, was begun a decade later ; Haddam, on the west side, in 1668 ; and Lyme the previous year, cut in part from Say- brook. Of the added Massachusetts group, Northampton 80 Early Perils of Colonial Life 81 was the chief settlement and was nearly as old as the Con- necticut Middletown, having been founded in 1653. Had- ley, on the east side, was begun in 1661 ; Hatfield and Deerfield, on the west side, in 1670 and 1671 ; and North- field, at the northern frontier, in 1673. But Deerfield and Northfield were both destroyed in King Philip's War of 1675-76, and Deerfield was not permanently resettled till 1682, while Northfield remained unoccupied till after the opening of the eighteenth century, an attempt at re- settlement in 1685 having failed. Westfield, Enfield and Sufiield were taken from Springfield's original domain extending over both sides of the River. The first was or- ganized in 1669, the others in 1680 and 1681 respectively, though laid out a decade earlier. Enfield and Sufiield passed from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts to the Con- necticut Colony in 1752, upon the settlement of years of dispute between the two colonies over the boundary line. Till well toward the middle of the eighteenth century the Valley above the north Massachusetts line, through New Hampshire and Vermont, for the most part remained the Wilderness. Only the hunter and the trapper, the sol- dier and the Indian captive borne off to far away Canada, had penetrated its vast solitudes, bringing back — they who did get back — entrancing tales of its beauty and riches. Till 1723 Northfield, embracing its present neigh- bor Vernon, of Vermont, and part of Hinsdale, New Hamp- shire, was the outmost English post. The earliest records of the River are of encounters with the aborigines. Very soon after the English establishment in the lower Valley, tragic conflicts with them arose. When the English first came the Indians of Connecticut were more numerous in proportion to the extent of the territory than in any other part of New England. Neither 82 Connecticut River wars nor pestilence had so depopulated this region as some other parts of the Eastern country. How completely the savages environed the early River settlers appears when the tribes and their seats are enumerated. Scattered on both sides between the River's mouth and Windsor were the various native tribes whom the Pequot invaders had vanquished some time about 1630, and whose domains they were holding as conquered territory. These tribes, before their vanquishment, are presumed to have been confederated under Altarbaenhoot, or Netawanute, the banished sachem whom the Plymouth Colony's expedition restored to his seat at Windsor in 1633. They embraced the bands that Block in 1614 described as the "nation called Sequins," with their lodges on both sides of the River at or above the great bend at Middletown ; and the Nawaas with their fortified town at South Windsor. When the first English colonists came the Sequins were occupying "neutral ground" in the immediate neighborhood of the Dutch House of Hope. This ground was so called in accordance with the agreement when the Dutch made their purchase from the Pequot sachem, four years before the restoration of Netawanute, that these lands should be exempt from Indian warfare. According to J. Hammond Trumbull, the Sequins were the Indians subsequently called by the English the Wongunks, from their principal seat about the River's bend between Middletown and Port- land. Their territory, Mr. Trumbull believes, extended from the north part of Haddam, northerly, on both sides of the River, to some distance above Windsor. The Se- qeen chief, probably he who was known to the English as Sowheag, variously designated as " sachem of the Matta- beseck," which became Middletown, and " sachem of Pyquang," where Wethersfield was planted, had his .a 5 Early Perils of Colonial Life 83 " castle " at Mattabeseck, overlooking the broad doniain over which in his time he had been lord. At Machemoodus, which became East Haddam, dwelt a numerous sub-tribe "famous for pawaws," or powwows, and ''worshipping evil spirits." Above Windsor were the Pocumtucks, the leading tribe, according to George Sheldon, historian of Deerfield, of a powerful confederation occupying and dominating the Val- ley and its tributaries as far north as Brattleborough, Vermont. Sub-tribes or allies of the Pocumtucks from the region of Windsor up the River were : the Tunxis on the Farmington River, at and near its confluence with the Con- necticut ; the Podunks, seated near Windsor ; the Aga- wams, whose principal seat was at Springfield, and who claimed the territory on both sides of the River between Enfield Falls and South Hadley Falls; the Warranokes, west of Springfield, with their chief village at the present Westfield on the Agawam, now Westfield, River ; and the Naunawatucks, or Nonatucks, situated on both sides of the River at Northampton and Hadley, with their village and their forts, the principal forts being near the mouth of Half -Way Brook, between Northampton and Hadley, and on a ridge between Hadley meadows. The Pocumtucks centered in the Deerfield Valley, and were most thickly settled about the mouth of the Deerfield River in Deerfield, where was their principal fort on what is yet called Fori Hill. Northward were the Squakheags, occupying jointly with the Pocumtucks the territory now of Northfield, Ver- non, Vermont, and Hinsdale, New Hampshire, — a fugitive band from the Hudson River, Sheldon is led to believe. They were probably, he says, a fragment of the Mahicans, driven away from their original homes by the Mohawks of the Five Nations in 1610. 84 Connecticut River The Valley in what are now New Hampshire and Ver- mont was unoccupied as the seat of any considerable body of natives. It was rather a thoroughfare between con- tending powerful tribes. Vermont was a beaver hunting ground of the Iroquois, the confederated Five Nations. The warring Pequots were seated east of the River's mouth, on the coast, chiefly between the Thames and the Mj^stic Rivers. They were also a branch of the Hudson- River Mahicans, driven out by the Mohawks. Fighting their way to the coast before the coming of Block, they had taken possession of part of the territory of the Niantic tribe on both sides of the Mystic. By the time the English had come these Pequots had subdued and held tributary besides the Niantics and the lower Connecticut Valley tribes, the Block Island Indians, and several tribes upon Long Island. West of the Thames River and north of the Pequots dwelt the Mohegans (as they came to be known after the settlement of the English), an offshoot of the Pequots. Their sagamore was that Uncas who became the staunch ally of the English, and attained great power in colonial Indian affairs which lasted for more than forty years. He was heir apparent to the Pequot sachemdom through the female line, his mother being aunt to Wapeg- woot, the reigning sachem at the time of the first Eng- lish move to the River. Having grown proud, and, it was said, treacherous to the reigning sachem, he had suffered repeated humblings at the chief's hands. Again and again he had been driven from his country, and per- mitted to return only upon promise of submission. Dur- ing one of his seasons of banishment, according to J. Hammond Trumbull, he, or some of his people, became connected with the Nawaas up the River. Such was the situation at the beginning of the English settlements. Early Perils of Colonial Life 85 After Wapegwoot was slain, Uncas had made claim to the Pequot sachemdom, but the '^ ambitious, cruel, and agres- sive " Sassacus (significant name), son of Wapegwoot, was elevated to the place. Under Sassacus were twenty-six minor sachems, or war captains. The Pequot and Mohe- gan country covered a tract of nearly thirty square miles. East of the Pequots were the Narragansetts, occupying what became Rhode Island, and then the largest tribe in New England. They were the only Indians in the vicin- ity whom the Pequots had not subdued, and perpetual war existed between the two tribes. Of the Narragansetts, Miantonomo, a wily fellow, nephew of Canonicus, the chief sachem, was the ruling spirit. In the northeast part of Connecticut and in central Massachusetts were the Nip- mucks, scattered in small clans. At Brookfield, Massa- chusetts, through which the " Bay Path " subsequently ran, were the Quabaugs, classed, Sheldon says, as sub- jects both of Uncas and the Deerfield Pocumtucks, but finally absorbed by the Nipmucks. The inland Connecti- cut tribes west of the River were tributary to the Mohawks who had brought their conquests thus far eastward. While the River tribes generally welcomed the English colonists as possible allies against the Pequots, and, to fortify their friendship, performed at first many acts of kindness to- ward the newcomers, the dominating Pequots were hostile from the outset. These imperious princes of the soil viewed the English as interlopers whose advance must be checked in a region which had become their own by the right above all others to the savage mind — the right of con- quest. Moreover, the Englishmen had defied them by re- storing River sachems whom they had conquered to the authority which they had overthrown and the territory which they had made their own. Their hostility was dis- 86 Connecticut River played not in open warfare, but in covert attacks upon ex- posed settlers, and in inciting the depending tribes to ra- pine and murder. Besides these perils from an insidious foe, tribal jealousies and the treacherous Indian nature rendered the situation of the colonists most hazardous at the beginning of their settlements, and they were forced to be perpetually on guard. So early as 1634, before the greater immigration to the River had begun, an act was committed which led to grave results. This was the murder of the two traders, Captains Stone and Norton, and their ship's crew of eight men, by Indians of a tribe in confederacy with the Pequots. The mariners were from St. Christopher, West Indies, and had come into the River bound for the Dutch House of Hope to trade. Somewhere above the River's mouth they were met with friendly demonstrations by the Indians, several of whom were known to Captain Stone from previ- ous trading visits. Engaging two or three of them to pi- lot two of his men to the Dutch House in a skiff, he laid his ship to the shore. The voyagers in the skiff paddled on cheerfully till nightfall, when, hauling their boat against the shore, the two sailors ciu-led up to sleep. So soon as slumber was upon them their guides rose stealthily and killed them both without a struggle. Meanwhile the ship below had been boarded by others of the band whom the crew were entertaining. At length Captain Stone fell asleep in his cabin. At a moment when most of the crew were ashore these Indians silently took the captain's life. Casting a covering over him to conceal their work, they joined the remainder of the band, who fell upon the crew and massacred them all. Captain 'Norton, however, had escaped them. Pinned in the cook-room he made a long Early Perils of Colonial Life 87 and resolute fight for his life, which an accident brought to an end. " That he might load and fire with the great- est expedition he had placed powder in an open vessel near at hand." In the height of the action the powder took fire, and the explosion so burned and blinded him that " after all his gallantry he fell with his helpless compan- ions." The plunder which was taken from the vessel was divided between the sachem Sassacus and the head sachem of the tribe to which the band belonged. It was shortly after this affair that the Pequots sought the Massachusetts Bay government for a league of peace, their messengers bearing gifts to Boston to foster the scheme. The crafty move was in part to offset the possi- ble consequence of their connection with this massacre. Another object was to checkmate the Narragansetts, who were at the time warring fiercely upon them, and with whom the Bay men had friendly relations. Another was to get support against the Dutch, who, in avenging the Pe- quots' acts, had killed several of their fighting men in- cluding a sachem. The Bay men at first would listen to their proposals only on condition that they should agree to deliver up Captain Stone's murderers. But after assur- ances that all but two of the band were dead and that the survivors if guilty would be punished ; and after offers had been made to concede all their rights in the River region to the Bay Colony, and promises had been given to hand over " four hundred fathoms of wampum, forty beaver and thirty other skins " as compensation for the slaughter of the Englishmen, — after these explanations and conditions the Bay men entered into the treaty desired. The articles were drawn up and duly signed. But no hostages were taken to secure the fulfillment of the conditions, and the Pequots never performed a single one of them. 88 Connecticut River By the summer of 1636 their depredations had been re- newed with more vigor. The crowning barbarous act of this season was the killing of Captain John Oldham, the pioneer English trader in the Valley and leader in the planting of Wethersfield. Oldham had been " long out a-trading " in his pinnace, having with him two English boys and two Narragansett Indians ; and when off Block Island he was suddenly overwhelmed by a crowd of savages who " cleft his head to the brains." Then they secured his companions and proceeded to remove the plunder from the vessel. Fortunately, while thus busied, they were sighted from a distance by another Englishman cruising off the Sound in a little bark with a crew of one man and two boys. This was Captain John Gallop, the famous first pi- lot of Boston Harbor, for whom Gallop's Island there is named. He had been up our River and was intending to put in at Long Island to trade, but was forced by a sud- den change in the wind to bear up for Block Island. When he espied the pinnace he drew toward it and discovered it to be John Oldham's. The deck was seen to be " full of Indians." He was in hailing distance before they were aware of his presence. Then ensued a gallant chase, finish- ing with swift retribution upon the chief actors in the tragedy. Cooper, in his Naval History of the United States, describes this engagement as " the earliest sea-fight of the nation." Winthrop, senior, gives the tale, — a terse and graphic sea-story in his telling : So they [the Gallop party] hailed, but had no answer ; and the deck was full of Indians (fourteen in all), and a canoe was gone from her full of Indians and goods. Whereupon they suspected that they had killed John Oldham, and the rather, because the Indians let slip, and set up sail, being two miles from shore, and the wind and tide being off the shore of the Island, whereby they drove to- Early Perils of Colonial Life 89 ward the main at Narragansett. Whereupon they [the Gallop party] went ahead of them, and having but two pieces and two pistols, and nothing but duck shot, they bear up near the Indians (who stood ready armed with guns, pikes, and swords) and let fly among them, and so galled them that they all gate under hatches. Then they stood off again, and retiring with a good gale, they stemmed her upon the quarter and about overset her, which so frightened the Indians that six of them leaped overboard and were drowned. Yet they durst not board her, but stood off again, and fitted their anchor so as, stemming her the second time there, bored her boom [bow] through with their anchor, and so sticking fast to her, they made divers shot through her (being but inch board), and so raked her fore and aft, as they must needs kill or hurt some of the Indians ; but, seeing none of them came forth, they gate loose from her and stood off again. Then four or five more of the Indians leaped into the sea and were likewise drowned. So there being now but four left in her, they boarded her; whereupon one Indian came up and yielded ; him they bound and put into hold. Then another yielded, whom they bound. But John Gallop, being well acquainted with their skill to untie themselves if two of them be together, and having no place to keep them asunder, they threw him [last] bound into the sea ; and looking about they found John Oldham under an old seine stark naked, his head cleft to the brains, and his hand and legs cut off, as if they had been cutting them off, and yet warm. So they put him into the sea ; but could not get to the other two Indians, who were in a little room under- neath, with their swords. So they took the goods which were left, and the sails, etc., and towed the boat away ; but night coming on, and the wind rising, they were forced to turn her off, and the wind carried her to the Narragansett shore. The principal contrivers of Oldham's death were found to have been the Block Island Indians with a number of under sachems of the Narragansetts, to whom the Block Islanders were at this juncture subject. But the Pequots were considered as abettors in the affair, since several of the participants fled to them and received their protection. The Narragansett chiefs, Canonicus and Miantonomo, sue- 90 Connecticut River cessfully cleared themselves from connection with the con- spiracy, and aided in the recovery of the two boys, with part of the plunder from Oldham's vessel. The responsibility was at last fixed upon the Block Islanders and the Pequots, drastic measures were adopted by the Bay Colony government, and the first Pequot War ensued. VIII The Pequot Wars First Expedition from the Bay Colony under Endicott — Lion Gardiner's Practi- cal Advice — Plot to Destroy the River Settlements — Tragedies on the River — The Connecticut Colony's Campaign — The "Army " drawn from the Three River Towns — Major John Mason, the Myles Standish of the Colony — Hooker's Godspeed at the Embarkation — Scene on the down-river Voy- age — Debate of the Captains at Saybrook Fort — Mason's Master-Stroke — The March in the Enemy's Country — Burning of Mystic Fort — End of the Pequots. TOWARD the close of August (1636) John Endicott as general, with a force of ninety men, four command- ers, and two Indians, was despatched from Massachusetts Bay under a commission, truly termed sanguinary : " To put to death the men of Block Island, but to spare the women and children, and bring them away, and to take possession of the Island ; and from thence to go to the Pequods [Pequots] to demand the murderers of Captain Stone and other English, and one thou- sand fathoms of wampum for damages etc., and some of their chil- dren as hostages, which if they shotild refuse they were to obtain it [them] by force." Captain John Underhill was the first named of the four commanders. The troops embarked in three pinnaces, and carried two shallops. The Indians were taken as inter- preters. The expedition made first for Saybrook Fort, where it duly arrived to the surprise of Lion Gardiner, and also to his dismay when informed by the officers of their errand 91 92 Connecticut River and of their intention to make the fort their rendezvous. He gave them a soldier's welcome, however, while stoutly discountenancing their adventure. '' You come hither," said he, " to raise these wasps about my ears, and then you will take wing and flee away," — which was precisely what happened. When he had seen their commission, at which he " wondered," he entreated them to heed this advice : " Sirs, seeing you will go, I pray you if you don't load your barks with Pequots, load them with corn, for that is now gathered with them ready to put into their barns, and both you and we have need of it ... . If you cannot attain your end of the Pequots yet you may load your barks with " that " which will be welcome to Boston and tome," — most practical advice, for Connecticut and Massachusetts were then both short of a com supply. To aid in this part of the enterprise Gardiner agreed to send some men from the fort in his own shallop. The assault on Block Island took place according to programme, but without the slaughter directed by the com- mission. As the force approached the island and were disembarking, a little crowd of Indians assembled on shore at a safe distance " entertained " them with arrows ; which fell harmlessly against the corslets of all save two, who were pricked on the exposed parts of their bodies. But when the landing was effected the Indians incontinently fled, and not a single one was afterward seen, though two days were spent on the island. Two hastily deserted vil- lages were found, three miles apart, and neighboring acres of corn, some of it gathered and laid in heaps. So, in the absence of men to kill and women and children to capture, all the wigwams were burnt, and much of the corn ; aU the canoes found were broken up; and trophies were taken, among them " many well wrought mats and delightful bas- kets." The Pequot Wars 98 Returning to Saybrook Fort the fleet lay windbound here for four days. Then the start was made for the Pe- quot country. The miniature army sailed, strengthened by twelve of Gardiner's men in his shallop, whose especial part was to take off the enemy's corn. As they neared the Thames, then the Pequot River, " multitudes " of Indians ran along the shore shouting tauntingly, " What cheer, Englishmen ! What cheer ! Do you come to fight us ? " The night of their arrival they spent in New London, then Pequot harbor, while the Indians kept fires aglow on both sides to prevent a landing under cover of darkness. In the morning a Pequot messenger, — a " grave senior ma- jestical in his bearing," — came out in a canoe and de- manded " what they were and what they would have ? " Endicott stated their mission. The " ambassador " de- clared that Sassacus, the chief, was away at Long Island. Endicott bade him inform the other sachems that he would meet them. The Indian lingered debating the matter. The Stone affair, he would explain, was in retaliation for the killing of a sachem and other Pequots by the Dutch, and it was directed by the murdered sachem's son. It did not concern the English. At length he agreed to seek the other sachems, and paddling back to the shore disappeared over the bluff at its edge. Meanwhile the " army " landed and ascended to the bluff. In course of time the messen- ger returned, and with him some three hundred savages who gathered about the English. The messenger reported that " Sassacus " himself would be back in three hours. So they waited, many of the savages idling with Gardiner's men whom they knew. The three hours passed, and a fourth. Yet "there came none." All this time the people in the Indian villages behind were hurrying their goods into hiding, and their women and children to places of safety. 94 Connecticut River At length Endicott drew his men into line, caused his commission to be proclaimed, and ordered the messenger back to his sachem with the word that if he would not at once come to parley, the English would fight. Then the Avily savage shifted his ground. The sachem would appear if the Englishmen would lay down their arms some paces in their front, where the Indians would lay down their arrows. But Endicott, seeing perhaps in this a pretty strategem to get possession of their weapons, bade the throng " begone and shift for themselves." They had dared the English to come and fight, and his men were here and ready. Then the Indians all instantly vanished. With colors flying and drums beating, the English took up the pursuit. But not a single Indian was seen again, though arrows rained upon the soldiers from behind thickets and rocks as they advanced. No harm was done them, for their corslets protected them as at Block Island. They kept up a lively fire in the directions from which the arrows came. Reaching a village they burnt all of its wigwams. At simset they returned to their boats. Next morning they were ashore again, on the west side, burning wigwams and spoiling all the canoes found there ; the while not en- coimtering an Indian in the open. Thus their campaign ended. They did not go back to Saybrook, but returned to Boston by way of the Narragan- sett country. They had suffered no loss or serious injury to any man of the expedition. According to Gardiner they killed not one of the enemy, but one of the Massachusetts Indians who accompanied them took a Pequot scalp. The Narragansetts, however, afterward told of a small Pequot loss. Gardiner's men returned to Saybrook Fort with a fair cargo of captured corn, after a little scrimmage of their own on the way back with pursuing Pequots, in The Pequot Wars 95 which two of the English and more of the Indians wiere hurt. And so the wasps were raised about the ears of the River settlers. The Pequots, now enraged, determined to drive the English out. Say brook fort was soon in almost constant seige. Numbers of the garrison were killed from ambuscades while at work in the fields outside. In one brisk swamp-fight Gardiner was wounded, though saved from severe hurt by his buff coat. A member of a party attacked while harvesting hay was captured and roasted alive. Captives taken in raids were tortured to death in various hideous ways. Navigating the River became so perilous that all boats on entering the mouth were required to come to anchor at Saybrook Fort, and were not allowed to proceed till Gardiner had satisfied himself that they were sufficiently armed and manned. They were not al- lowed to make landing between the fort and Wethersfield. Small parties in shallops, though armed, were attacked be- tween these points and massacred. Joseph Tilly, master of a small trading vessel from Boston, which he had an- chored two or three miles above Saybrook, was " a-fowling " in a canoe with a companion. At the first discharge of his piece a number of Pequots rose from ambush, killed his companion, and seized him for torture. He was tied to a stake and flayed, hot embers were thrust into his flesh, and his fingers and toes were cut off. He died after sev- eral hours of suffering, but not a groan escaped him : for this good courage the Indians admired him as a " stout man." Three men coming down the River in a shallop were beset by several Indians in canoes. They fought bravely, but one was killed, the others were taken. Each of the prisoners was cut in twain from the legs to the head. 96 Connecticut River and the mutilated bodies hung by the neck upon trees by the riverside, " that as the English passed by they might see those miserable objects " of the Indians' vengeance. By the spring of 1637 the situation was at its gravest. The settlers, feeble in numbers, could "' neither hunt, fish, nor cultivate the fields, nor travel at home or abroad, but at the price of their lives. They vrere obliged to keep a constant watch by night and by day ; to go armed to their daily labors and to the public worship." There were grave fears that the Pequots would succeed in uniting the Indians generally against them. Even the Pequots' persistent foe, the Narragansetts, were now disposed to make a truce, impressed by the argument that if the Pequots were de- stroyed their own ruin would surely follow. Only through the courageous intercession of Roger Williams were they dissuaded, and brought instead to make treaty with Mas- sachusetts Bay. The Pequots' plan of campaign was not open warfare. It was to lie in ambush and shoot the Eng- lish as they went about their ordinary business ; to burn their houses, destroy their crops, kill tbeir cattle and other live stock ; to harass and terrorize them. Thus the Indian warriors believed the whites would be forced quickly to leave the country, while they themselves would not be ex- posed to great hazard. In February the General Court at Hartford had sent a letter to the Bay Colony representing the dire results of Endicott's expedition, and urging a more effective prosecu- tion of their Pequot war. The same month Major John Mason was sent down to Saybrook from Hartford with twenty men to reinforce the fort, and to keep the enemy at a greater distance. In April following Massachusetts dis- patched Captain Underbill to Saybrook with twenty " lusty men well armed " from Boston. The latter were The Pequot ^\^ars 97 sent at the charge of the " Lords and Gentlemen." They were " lent " for service, not alone to protect the place from the Indians, but also from the Dutch, who " by their speeches and supplies out of Holland " had aroused a suspicion that they had "some designs upon it." With Underhill's arri- val Mason returned with his men to Hartford, where matters had reached a crisis through an attack upon Wethersfield of a most threatening nature. This assault was made by a band of a hundred Pequots and Wethersfield Indians combined. They had one morn- ing suddenly risen from an ambuscade on the fringe of the settlement, and set upon a number of settlers going to their work in a neighboring field. Nine of the English were killed and two maidens were taken captive. The victors were espied from Saybrook Fort coming down the River in three canoes with fragments of English clothes fluttering from tall sticks, like sails. Concluding from their appearance that they were on some evil course. Lion Gardiner overhauled them with a shot from the fort's " great gun." The ball " beat off the beak head" of one of the canoes, which happened to be that in which were the captive maids. None, however, was hurt ; and before another shot could be fired the Indians had drawn the canoes over a narrow beach, and got away. Immediately upon this event the General Court was con- vened at Hartford, — that first General Court to which the towns sent committees or delegates, — to deliberate on the perilous condition of affairs and to take action for the pres- ervation of the colony. It was fully recognized that the Pequots were " a great people, being strongly fortified, cruel, warlike, munitioned, &c." and the colonists only " a handful in comparison." But the havoc already committed by them, their killing of nearly thirty of the English, their 98 Connecticut River persistent attempts to unite all the tribes for the extirpa- tion of the English, their constant pursuit in " malicious courses," their "great pride and insolency," — these acts and threats necessitated the giving of some " capital blow" to so relentless an enemy if the colonists were to survive. Accordingly offensive measures were solemnly declared in formal vote. Thus began the real Pequot War. An " army " was formed of ninety men drawn from the three meagre settlements of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield ; small as it was, the levy took from one- third to one-half of all the able-bodied men in the planta- tions. Seventy Indians, mostly from the Mohegans, under the sachem Uncas, were joined to this force. Major John Mason was made the chief commander. Mason was one of the great captains of New England, bred to arms in the Dutch Netherlands under Sir Thomas Fairfax. He had come out with the Dorchester company, and was one of the first planters of Windsor. He became to the Connecticut Colony what Myles Standish was to the Pilgrims of Ply- mouth. He was " tall and portly, but nevertheless full of martial bravery and vigor." So Thomas Prince portrayed him. He was the man for the hour, as events proved. On the tenth day of May, 1637, these motley troops em- barked at Hartford. With them went Samuel Stone, the Hartford " teacher," as chaplain. Thomas Hooker gave them Godspeed in a speech on their going aboard. The savages, he said, " should be bread for them." The " fleet " comprised " one pink, one pinnace, and one shallop," — the shallop being impressed for the service from P3rnchon of Springfield. They fell down the River, destined first for Saybrook Fort. The passage was slow and halting from contrary winds ^ o o The Pequot Wars 99 and low water. After several delays from running aground the Indian contingent became impatient, and asked to be set ashore that they might make their way afoot, promis- ing to rejoin the company at the fort. Their request was granted, but with some misgivings, for their loyalty was not assured. When nearing the fort the fleet came upon Captain Underbill, who had rowed out to meet them. At the moment the chaplain was " at prayer in the midst of the soldiers," the hearts of all being ''perplexed," fearing treacher}^ in their Indian allies. Underbill silently brought his boat alongside and awaited the close of the unwonted scene on the still River. Then he cheered all mightily with the news of the arrival of the allies and of a great ex- ploit by them as a pledge of their fidelity. He told how upon reaching the fort they were for instantly falling out in search of Pequots lurking in the neighborhood ; how it being " the Lord's day " they were held back till the next morning; how they then sallied forth, and presently re- turned triumphantly bringing in five gory Pequot heads and one wretched prisoner who had been a spy on the gar- rison for Sassacus. Lion Gardiner in his later " History " gives a different version of this affair. According to his story, the Indians were sent on the adventure by himself to test their loyalty. A band of Pequots had passed near the fort in a canoe the night before, and Uncas was told that if he would send twenty of his men after them and " fetch them dead or alive " he could remain with Mason's company ; " else not." However, be the details as they may, the performance was accepted by all the English as a " special providence," and brought them much relief. A gruesome sequel to this affair was the disposition of the prisoner-spy. Uncas and his men insisted upon exe- cuting him according to the manners of their ancestors. 100 Connecticut River The English, in the circumstances in which they were, did not judge it prudent to interpose. Kindling a large fire, the Indians violently tore him limb from limb. Then cutting his flesh in pieces they handed it from one to another and devoured it, singing and dancing the while round the fire. The bones and parts that were not con- sumed in this dreadful repast were " committed to the flames and burnt to ashes." Mason's "army" was detained at Saybrook Fort, wind- bound, for three or four days. The time was occupied by the officers, — Underbill and Gardiner and the others, — in discussing a plan of campaign. Gardiner marvelled, as he had "wondered" when the Bay men came upon their venture, that so hazardous a design should be attempted with such an inadequate force. Underbill acquiesced in his views. Both declared that they would not join in the expedition unless they "that were bred soldiers" from " their youth up " could see some likelihood of doing better than the Bay men had done. At length it was arranged that twenty of Mason's force should be sent back to Hart- ford to guard the River settlements, and that their places should be taken by Underbill's " lusty men." Next the manner of attack was warmly debated, and in this Mason proved the better strategist of the group. He was for a land attack in the rear by way of the Narra- gansett country. It was known that the Pequots kept a constant guard upon the Pequot River, hard by their strong- hold, expecting attack at that point ; that their numbers were great, and that they were well supplied with guns ; and he reasoned that being on land and swift of foot they might impede a landing there, while if approached and attacked from the rear they might be surprised in their manoeuvers ; and at worst the English would be on firm The Pequot Wars 101 land as well as they. The particulars of the Pequots' strength and preparedness had been learned from the two Wethersfield girls, who fortunately were now at Saybrook Fort, restored by the Dutch, who had retaken them from their captors, " a very friendly office and not to be for- gotten," as Mason generously recorded, regardless of the strained relations between the Dutchmen and the English, The other captains and Mason's principal men long stood out stoutly against his plan as involving too great dangers in an extended march through a hostile wilderness, a.nd too long a campaign. A more speedy despatch of their business was deemed necessary that the yeomen might get back to their farms. Withal it was contrary to the terms of their commission, which expressly enjoined the landing of Mason's forces at Pequot (New London) harbor. And moreover this order was backed by a supplementary letter of instructions from the magistrates. At length, neither side yielding. Mason proposed that the question should be left to the prayers of the chaplain for decision. It was a master-stroke, for it is reasonable to assume that he knew his chaplain. The proposition meeting the ap- proval of all, Mr. Stone was sought aboard the pink, and importuned to " commend " their business " to the Lord that night." Mr. Stone promised his prayers, and all re- tired to await the result. Bright and early the next morn- ing the chaplain came ashore to the major's chamber, and informed him that the night of prayer had "fully satisfied" him that they should sail for Narragansett. Thereupon the council was reconvened, and the astute major's plan was adopted without further ado. All, seemingly, were assured in their Puritan minds, unvexed by theological doubts, that it had divine indorsement in direct response to their chaplain's petition. 102 Connecticut River Mason, disciplined soldier that he was, frankly pointed out, in his Narrative of after years, the hazard of such de- parture as his from the definite instructions of official su- periors, and justified it only on the ground of necessity. " I declare not this," he wrote in his quaint way, " to en- courage any soldier to act beyond their commission, or con- trary to it : for in so doing they run a double hazard. There was a great commander in Belgia who did the States great service in taking a city ; but by going beyond his commission lost his life. His name was Grubben- dunk." If, however, a war is to be managed by judgment and discretion, "the Shews are many times contrary to what they seem to pursue : whereof the more an Enter- prise is dissembled and kept secret, the more facile to put in Execution : as the Proverb, the farthest way about is sometimes the nearest way home." So, — and here he struck a note which has been echoed by many a trained captain since his day, — "in Matters of War those who are both able and faithful should be improved, and then bind them not up into too narrow a Compass. For it is not possible for the ablest Senator to forsee all Accidents and Occurrents that fall out in the Management and Pur- suit of a War. Nay, although possibly he might be trained up in Military Affairs ; and truly much less can he have any great Knowledge who hath had but little experience therein." Mason's campaign, under all the circumstances, was the most remarkable of colonial wars. The expedition set sail on a Friday for Narragansett Bay and arrived at their port toward evening of Saturday. There they kept Sunday aboard their boats. High winds obliged them to remain off shore for two days longer. After sunset of Tuesday a The Pequot Wars 103 landing was effected, and Mason with a guard marched up to the chief sachem's wigwam, where the chief was met. With the formality dear to the Indian heart the captain explained their appearance in arms in the sachem's country and stated their desire only to pass through it to the Pequot land. The English doubted not his acceptance of their coming, " there being love betwixt himself " and them, since their object was to avenge themselves, " God assisting," upon his own enemies, as well as theirs, for the " intolerable wrongs and injuries " that had been done. The chief approved their design, but "spake slightingly" of them in saying that he thought their numbers too weak to deal with this enemy, who were " very great captains, and men skilful in war." Mason, however, let the slight pass, for the free thoroughfare desired was attained. Early the next morning, leaving their vessels under pro- tection, the overland march was begun, along Indian trails. That day eighteen or twenty miles were made, and " Nay- anticke " (Niantic) was reached, where was a fort of another Narragansett sachem, Miantonomo, on the Pequot frontier. The Indians here appeared haughty and carried themselves "very proudly." They would not permit Mason's men to enter their fort. This lofty attitude was met with prompt and effective action. A guard was posted about the fort and all were imprisoned within their own stronghold, warned that none should stir out under peril of his life. And none did. Thus, also, they were prevented from dis- covering the little army to the foe. That night the Eng- lish quartered serenely near the fort, no " hostile " ventur- ing to disturb them. The following morning several of Miantonomo' s men came forward to enlist in the expedi- tion, and soon others were encouraged to join. Gathering into a ring, one after another made " solemn protestations 104 Connecticut River how gallantly they would demean themselves, and how many " of the enemy " they would kill." At eight o'clock the march was resumed with some five hundred of these Indians added to the line. A toilsome tramp of about twelve miles brought the invaders to the Pococatuck River, between the present Westerly and Stonington, at a ford where they were told the Pequots usually fished. Now the Narragansetts who had so boasted of their prowess began to show fear, and many turned back homeward. Three miles farther on the army came upon a field newly planted with Indian corn. At this evidence that the enemy was nigh, a council of war was held. The Narragansetts still remaining informed them of two Pe- quot forts, both almost impregnable. It was resolved to assault both at once. But learning that they were a long march apart, the English were constrained to accept the nearest ; " much grieved " thereat, because the farther one was the stronghold of Sassacus, whom they were impatient to fight. Moving now " in a silent manner," the march was continued for about an hour into the moonlit night. Then coming upon a swamp between two hills, in the present town of Groton, they pitched their little camp, much wearied with hard travel. " The rocks were their pillows," yet "-'rest was pleasant." Their sentries, posted at some distance forward, " heard the enemy singing at the fort, who continued that strain till midnight with great in- sulting and rejoicing," for, having seen the pinnaces sail by them some days before, they believed that the English were "afraid and durst not come near them." Soon after daylight the men were roused. " Briefly commending themselves and their design to God," they were prepared immediately for the assault. Only two miles more were to be covered before the enemy were met. The Pequot Wars 105 Reaching the foot of a hill, Mason was told that the fort was on its top. Now the remnant of the Narragan- sett allies had faded from sight. The fort consisted of a long palisade strengthened with trees and brushwood, elevated above the Mystic River, near its head. There were two entrances. Within were clus- ters of wigwams occupied by the families of the braves and containing their stores. It was decided to force both entrances at the same time. Accordingly the army was divided, Mason leading one division. Underbill the other. Again '' commending themselves to God," the ad- vance was silently begun. When Mason's band had ap- proached within a rod of the entrance chosen for their attack, a dog was heard to bark inside the fort. Then a startled Indian cry rang out, — " ' Owanux ! Owanux ! ' which is, ' English ! English.' " Rushing up, the force opened fire through the palisade ; then, wheeling, fell upon the entrance, the bulky Mason at the head clambering over brush breast-high which blocked it. The surprise was complete. The fighting men were in heavy sleep pro- longed by their night's feasting and dancing when the Eng- lish were upon them. Dazed by the suddeness of the on- slaught, they caught up their weapons for defence, but too late. Encountering no Indian at the entrance, Mason strode forward to the first wigwam. Entering, he was be- set by a number who had been here concealed watching his movements and ready " to lay hands on him." A hot fight ended in their vanquishment ; one Indian was killed, the others fled. The captain then passed beyond into the lane or street, and followed it toward the end where Underbill's division had entered, the Indians be- tween them scattering and shooting their arrows as they ran. Then "■ facing about," he marched " a slow pace " 106 Connecticut River back along the lane, much blown by his exertions. Near the entrance he observed " two soldiers standing close to the palisade with their swords pointed to the ground." Joining them he declared that the enemy could never be killed off in that way ; " we must burn them ! " And rush- ing back to the wigwam that he had first entered, he seized a firebrand and applied it to the dry mats which served as covering. Instantly the tent was ablaze, and the flames ran fiercely through the enclosure. " When [the fire] was thoroughly kindled the Indians ran as men dreadfully amazed. And indeed such a dreadful Terror did the Al- mighty let fall upon their Spirits that they would fly from us and run into the very flames, where many of them perished. And when the Fort was thoroughly fired, command was given that all should fall off and surround the Fort which was readily attended by all. .... The fire was kindled on the northeast side to windward ; which did swiftly overrun the Fort to the extreme amazement of the enemy, and great rejoicing of ourselves. Some of them climb- ing to the top of the Palisado, others of them running into the very flames ; many of them gathering to windward lay pelting at us with their arrows, and we repayed them with our small shot. Others of the stoutest issued forth, as we did guess to the number of 40, who perished by the sword .... " Thus were they now at their wits end, who not many hours be- fore exalted themselves in their great pride, threatening and resolv- ing the utter ruin and destruction of all the English, exulting and rejoicing with songs and dances. But God was above them, who laughed his enemies and the enemies of His People to scorn, mak- ing them as a fiery oven : Thus were the Stout Hearted spoiled, having slept their last sleep and none of their Men could find their Hands : Thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen, filling the Place with dead Bodies ! "And here we may see the first judgment of God in sending even the very night before this Assault 150 men from their other Fort to join with them of this place, who were designed, as some of themselves reported, to go forth against the English at that very in- The Pequot Wars 107 stant when this heavy stroke came upon them, where they perished with their fellows. And thus in little more than one hour's space was their impregnable Fort with themselves utterly destroyed to the number of 600 or 700, as some of themselves confessed. There were only 7 taken captive, and about 7 escaped. Of the English there were 2 slain outright, and about 20 wounded." Such is the pious report of the valiant captain. Women and children perished in the flames, or in the slaughter. No quarter was given. " Bereaved of pity and without com- passion," the English struck the frenzied creatures down as they attempted to escape the awful fire. " Great and dole- ful," said Underhill in his narrative, " was the bloody sight to the view of young soldiers, to see so many souls lie gasping on the ground, so thick you could hardly pass along." It was a cruel and barbarous thing. But no more cruel and barbarous was it than the warfare that " Christian " peoples of our own " enlightened " times have waged upon foes we term savages, and probably not so fiendish, in the execution, as the fate which awaited the white men had the Pequots been successful in their own stratagems. With the destruction of the fort the fighting was not ended. The army, again on the move, headed in the direction of Pequot harbor, where their vessels left at Narragansett Bay were to meet them. But there was no certainty that the boats would be there. As they marched their way was beset by perils. Somewhere, perhaps in their path, was the other fort whose warriors might at any moment be upon them. Several members of the little force were detailed to carrj- the wounded, and others their heavy arms, so that only about forty were available for action. Their ammunition was running short. All were weary from the recent conflict. The remaining Indian contingent, save Uncas and his men, 108 Connecticut River were of little service to them, but rather a hindrance. They had proceeded only a short distance when the officers held a consultation as to what course to pursue. At this moment, from the high land overlooking the water, their vessels were espied sailing " before a fine gale of wind " into Pequot harbor. As they were rejoicing at the sight they saw the enemy from the other fort coming up the hill slope, three hundred or more strong. Immediately Mason led out a file or two and advanced upon them, '^ chiefly to try what temper they were in." They were soon scattered. Much elated, the army marched on, some of the allies now taking the biu-den of the wounded in place of their comrades, thus leaving the latter free for action. Shortly the routed Indians were again encoun- tered. They had come upon the ruined fort and the ashes of its inmates and had been thrown into great rage by the sight. Then they had turned about and started back for the English, leaping down the hill like a whirlwind upon them. Underbill held the rear of the marching army. When they had come within musket range his men faced about and poured a volley into the shouting horde Some were killed ; the rest were made '' more wary." There- after they hovered around the column, darting in and out of cover, from behind trees and rocks, firing their arrows much at random. So a running fight was kept up to within two miles of the harbor, with but slight hurt to the armored English. Here the enemy " gathered together " and left them ; while with their colors flying the victors marched to the hill-top adjoining the harbor. Seeing their vessels riding at anchor below, " to their great rejoicing," they hastened to the water-side and " there sat down in quiet." The homeward journey was made overland, the wounded being conveyed by water. With the fleet met in The Pequot Wars 109 Pequot harbor was Captain Patrick of the Bay Colony, who had come out in a bark from Boston with forty men. Some altercation took place between him and Captain Un- derbill ; and Captain Mason was nettled at Patrick's inti- mation that he had come to their relief, thinking they were being pursued by the enemy. Matters, however, were amicably arranged ; and the return to Saybrook Fort was made without further incident, Patrick accompanying Mason on the march through the woods. Reaching the east side of the River, the army were " nobly entertained" by Cap- tain Gardiner with a salvo of " great guns." The next morning they were transported across to the fort, where the gallant Gardiner extended further com^esies to them. Then they sailed back to their up-River homes, and there were received " with great triumph and rejoicing, and praising God for his goodness " in crowning them with success and restoring them with so little loss. Note was made of various " special providences " in es- capes from death by the Indians' arrows. A unique case was that of Lieutenant Bull, who " had an arrow shot into a hard piece of cheese, having no other armoiu: " : upon which Captain Mason shrewdly remarked that it might " verify the old saying, ' A little armour would serve if a man knew where to place it.' " But the war was not yet over. The crippled Pe- quots were now to be destroyed as a tribe. Soon after Mason's army had departed from their country they aban- doned their remaining fort and their lands, scattering in bands. A few sought refuge with depending tribes. The great body turned toward Manhattan. Sassacus and sev- enty or eighty of his best warriors took the route to the Hudson. The flight had scarcely begun when the English 110 Connecticut River were hunting them down. News of the exploit of the Connecticut force, carried to Massachusetts Bay by an In- dian runner sent out by Roger Williams at Providence, had roused the Eastern colonies. At once the Bay men des- patched their main army, recruited for this war, to the scene of action. The Plymouth Colony also engaged to send an expedition, with Lieutenant Holmes as leader. Meanwhile the River government had promptly taken steps to occupy the Pequot country. On the 23d of June the court at Hartford ordered that thirty men, " out of the three River plantations," be sent to " sett down " therein, to " maintain our right that God by conquest hath given us." A fortnight or three weeks later the Bay force ap- peared in Pequot harbor in a little fleet. It consisted of one hundred and twenty men, under Captain Israel Stough- ton, with John Wilson, first minister of Boston, as chap- lain. Almost simultaneously the Hartford Court ordered forward a new company of forty men, under Captain Mason, for " fiu*ther prosecution of the war." This force immediately made a junction with Stoughton at Pequot harbor. Along with Mason went Ludlow, Haynes, and other principal men of the River towns for counsel. Miantonomo, the Narragansetts' sachem, and two hundred of his warriors, also came to the encampment. Uncas and his men, too, were on hand. Then pm-suit of the wretched fugitives began. En- cumbered by their women and children, and scantily pro- visioned, their flight was slow. One band, half-famished and miserable, were come upon by the Bay men in a se- cluded swamp in Groton. Of a hundred taken, the women and children, eighty of them, were reserved for bondage ; while the men (except two sachems saved for a while be- cause they promised to track Sassacus) were " turned into o o •Si o o h-1 < The Pequot Wars 111 Charon's ferry boat under the command of Skipper Gallop," and " despatched " in the sea. The pursuit was followed westerly through the shore woods, the vessels sailing along the Sound as the troops marched. Our River was crossed to Saybrook Fort. A few miles beyond, at Menunketuck, now Guilford, the captured sachems were beheaded. The name, " Sachem's Head," still borne by the Point which here reaches into the Soimd, denotes the place of their exe- cution. At Unquowa, now Fairfield, beyond the Housa- tonic's mouth, the final battle took place, the fiercest of all. This was the " Great Swamp Fight " in which Sassa- cus and his braves were encountered, with two hundred Indians of the neighborhood. The English won, but Sassa- cus with many of his warriors escaped, and fled to the Mo- hawks. After this fight the troops returned, while the Mohegans and Narragansetts kept up the chase of scattered bands, repeatedly bringing in to Hartford and Windsor in triumph gory heads of the slain. Sassacus met his fate at the hands of the Mohawks soon after joining them, and his scalp was sent to Hartford. In September, Ludlow, Pyn- chon, and several others journeyed overland to Boston, carrying a piece of the dead sachem's skin and a lock of his hair ; and these they displayed before the Bay leaders as " a rare sight and a sure demonstration of the death of their mortal enemy." Then a great day of thanksgiving and prayer was held in the three colonies. The captured Pequot women and children were distrib- uted among the troops. Of those taken to Massachusetts some were sent to the West Indies and sold as slaves. The remnant of the tribe at length surrendered, and were amalgamated with the Mohegans and the Narragansetts. Their surviving chief men, through whom the surrender 112 Connecticut River was made, came to Hartford and humbly offered to be ser- vants to the English. Only about two hundred adult males are said to have been left after eight hundred or more had been killed or taken. Their tribal name was blotted out. They were never more to inhabit their country. They were to pay an annual tribute to the Connecticut Colony, their lands were divided between Connecticut and Massa- chusetts. The Pequot River subsequently became the Thames. Captain Mason was made " public miltary offi- cer" of the plantations, and the train band was instituted. This complete crushing of a great and domineering tribe by a handful of Englishmen had a salutary effect on all the other New England Indians, and while troubles with them were not wholly banished from the River towns, no open war was again had for nearly forty years. It cleared the country along Long Island Sound for settle- ment, and colonization at points above and below the River's mouth almost immediately followed. o o OS CO (U IX Philip's War in the Valley The Direful Conflict of 1675-1676 Centering in the Massachusetts Reach — Philip of the Wampanoags — The frontier River Towns — Hadley the Mili- tary Headquarters — Gathering of the Colonial forces — The "Regicide" Goffe perhaps a Secret Observer of the Spectacle — The apocryphal Tale of the " Angel of Deliverance " — First Assault upon Deerfleld — Northfield Destroyed — Fatal March of Captain Beers toward Northfield — The Am- buscade on " Beers's Plain " — Ghastly Sight meeting the Gaze of a Relief Force — A Sunday Attack upon Deerfield. IN the autumn of 1675 the theatre of the so-called King Philip's War was transferred from the Narragansett country to the Connecticut Valley, centering about the frontier settlements of the Massachusetts Reach. This war was begun the previous summer with the outbreak of the Poconokets, or Wampanoags, led by Philip, or Metacomo, son and second successor of that Massasoit who welcomed the Pilgrims at their coming, and soon engaged the tribes of interior Massachusetts and involved all the New England colonies. While Uncas and his Mohegans, with the minor tribes within the jurisdiction of the Connecticut Colony, remained faithful to and fought together with the whites, almost every town in the Valley was endangered, and the whole region felt the effect of the conflict of nearly a year's duration, direful to the colonies and ruinous to the tribes. The Indians of this war were a far more formidable enemy than the Pequots thirty-eight years before. Their weapons were no longer confined to the arrow, the toma- hawk, and the scalping knife. The " lust of gain " on 113 114 Connecticut River the part of white men had supplied many of them, in de- fiance of prohibitory laws, with firearms, powder, and shot. They fought, as before, with stealthy surprise and from ambush, but with a much greater familiarity with the methods of the English. They had lived closer to the colonists, generally in amicable relations, and had thus become intimate with their homes and their customs, and they knew the most vulnerable points of attack. The English armies brought into the field were also vastly dif- ferent from the bands of yoemanry, intrepid though they were, who had overwhelmed the Pequots. They included troops of horse and infantry, enlisted in the several colo- nies, all under experienced officers, — none, however, abler or braver than Mason, Underbill, and Stoughton of the Pequot War. The Connecticut forces raised in the River towns were sometime under Major Treat, Mason's succes- sor as military chief of the colony; but at the outset Major John Pynchon of Springfield, son of the foimder, William Pynchon, was the chief commander. The war was shifted to the Valley upon the scattering of Philip and his warriors by the " Swamp Fight " at Tiverton, Rhode Island, in July, and their flight to the Nipmucks' country in central Massachusetts ; and upon the seige and burning of Brookfield by the Nipmucks in August, just before Philip's arrival at their rendezvous. The conflict, impelled at the outset by the " impulse of suspicion on the one side and passion on the other," was now assuming what the colonists had feared and expected to prevent by the crushing of the Wampanoags in their own country, — the proportions of a general Indian up- rising. That Philip had been plotting in secret the union of tribes for such an uprising had repeatedly been charged ; Philip's War in the Valley 115 but evidence of a deliberate conspiracy was wanting. The haughty chieftain had grieved at the steady curtailment of the dominions of the tribes, repenting with others the " alienation of vast tracts by affixing a shapeless mark to a bond" ; had been among the first of the chiefs to fore- see the danger of extermination; and had resented the English claim to jurisdiction over his people. Suspected of hostile intentions, he had suffered the indignity of being compelled to surrender his English firearms, and to enter into certain stipulations with the Plymouth Colony. Ac- cused of failing to fulfil these stipulations, he had been sentenced to pay a heavy tribute. The earlier opening of war upon him by Plymouth had been prevented only through the interposition of the Bay Colony magistrates, to whom he appealed, and his acknowledgment of the un- conditional supremacy of the Plymouth Colony. At about this time he had as a sort of secretary or counsellor a " Praying Indian," one of the converts to the Englishmen's religion and sometime a teacher in the Indian village at Natick, near Boston, who had apostatized and fled to him. Subsequently this Indian, reclaimed through the efforts of the good apostle, Eliot, reported that he was engaged anew in a hostile plot. Thereupon he was summoned to submit to another examination, and the wrath of his fighting men was thus aroused. The informer was waylaid and killed. Three of Philip's men, accused of the assassination, were taken by the Plymouth authorities, tried by a jury com- posed one-half of Englishmen, the other half of Indians, convicted on slender evidence, and hanged. The young warriors of the tribe, panting for revenge, retaliated with attacks upon Swansea. At once the alarm of war spread through the colonies. " Thus was Philip hurried into his ' rebellion,' and he is reported to have wept as he heard 116 Connecticut River that a white man's blood was shed. . . . Against his judgment and his will he was involved in war." So Ban- croft records. Some other historians, assuming that Philip's plans were to spring the war a year later, account for these tears in his distress at the premature outbreak. The argument of Bancroft appears the more reasonable. " For what chance had he of success ? The English were imited ; the Indians had no alliance. . . . The English had towns for their shelter and safe retreat ; the miserable wigwams of the natives were defenceless ; the English had sure sup- plies of food; the Indians might easily lose their pre- carious stores." The Wampanoags' country had become narrowed to the neck or eastern shore of Narragansett Bay ; the Narragansetts, ultimately brought into the con- flict, were hemmed in on the western shore. Other tribes were drawn into the war for similar reasons. " The wild inhabitants of the woods or the seashore could not under- stand the duty of allegiance to an unknown sovereign, or acknowledge the binding force of a political compact; crowded by hated neighbors, losing fields and hunting grounds . . . they sighed for the forest freedom which was their immemorial birthright." At the beginning of hostilities in the Valley, Northfield and Deerfield were the frontier settlements on the River northward, the former but two years old, the latter scarcely four. Brookfield, about thirty miles back from the River, ^v'ith the forest intervening, was the nearest settlement eastward. Lancaster, on the Nashua River, about twenty- five miles northeast of Brookfield, was the next frontier Bay settlement. On the west of the River frontier towns was the almost unbroken wilderness extending to the Hud- son. Westfield, ten miles west of Springfield, was the re- '■cgfaMaftggBff A River Fishing Camp — Camp VVopowog, near East HadUam. Philip's War in the Valley 117 motest plantation on this side. Early in the conflict both Northfield and Deerfield were abandoned, leaving Hatfield, Hadley, and Northampton the frontiers. Hadley became the headquarters of military operations in the Valley, and in late August and early September of 1675 the little town of five hundred inhabitants was alive with the coming and going of soldiers. There were at one time and another during these months. Major Treat with a hundred or more Connecticut troops ; Captain Appleton of Ipswich, eastern Massachusetts, commanding Bay men: Captain Thomas Lothrop of Beverly, with his choice com- pany, the " Flower of Essex," all " culled " out of the towns belonging to that county, Salem, Danvers, Ipswich, and the rest ; Captain Richard Beers of Watertown, near Boston, with his company of foot and horse ; Lieutenant William Cooper with Springfield men ; Captain Samuel Moseley of Boston, who had commanded a privateer in the waters of the West Indies ; and a body of friendly Mo- hegans imder a son of Uncas. The higher officers estab- lished themselves at the parsonage, where Parson John RusseU and his competent wife provided generous hospital- ity during the campaign, drawing " divers barrels of beer, and much wine," and setting forth a bountiful table. Looking out, perhaps, upon this martial scene from his place of concealment in the minister's house, and, also perhaps, longing to have part in it, was the "regicide," Goffe, one of the three of the body of judges who con- demned Charles I to the block, who had escaped to New England upon the restoration of the Stuarts in 1660, and, finding refuge in Connecticut, had been shifted from place to place by their steadfast friends when the agents of the crown were after them. We say perhaps, for there is not a scrap of trustworthy 118 Connecticut River record associating the old Cromwellian warrior with this momentous time, although he was then concealed in the house of the Hadley minister. The story of his miraculous appearance among the people of Hadley when, at a Fast Day service on the first of September, the meeting-house where they were gathered was suddenly surrounded and attacked by a body of Indians; of the leadership of the venerable stranger, with flowing white locks, and quaint garb, in the rout of the enemy ; and of his as miraculous disappearance immediately afterward, leaving the awed people with the conviction that " an angel from God had delivered and saved them" ; — this thrilling story, which Scott, Hawthorne, and Cooper, historians, poets, story- writers, and orators have woven in tale and verse and impassioned passage, must be dismissed as pure romance. Reluctant as is even the bloodless historical investigator to abandon it as a substantial historical fact, for there is no more inspiring tradition in the annals of New England, it falls to pieces with the simple search of the records. George Sheldon, the Deerfield historian, has applied this cold test with fatal results. He found the legend published for the first time in Hutchinson's History of Massachu- setts eighty-nine years after the "event," and based upon an unauthenticated anecdote. It is given in connection with Hutchinson's account of the wanderings of the " regi- cides," derived from Goffe's diary covering their adven- tures for six or seven years. No mention of such an inci- dent appears in this diary, and Hutchinson relates it solely as " an anecdote handed down through Governor Leverett's family." From this and this only the legend evolved in print and gained with each nan-ator till it reached the dig- nity of an accepted fact of history. Not a hint of it is given by the contemporaneous historians of the Indian wars, cV* * I r bO c« , ! * Philip's War in the Valley 119 nor does it appear in the relations of Connecticut Valley families. And from a record as slender has developed the circum- stantial story of the attack on Hadley at the date given. Hubbard in his authorized history of the Indian wars makes no allusion whatever to an attack here at that time. Nor does Solomon Stoddard, the minister of Northampton, mention it in his letter to Increase Mather, minister of the Second Church in Boston, under date of September 15 (old style), wherein he gives a minute account of the events of the preceding three weeks in the Valley towns. In- crease Mather alone has this statement in his history of the wars : " On the first of September 1675 one of our churches in Boston was seeking the face of God by fasting and prayer before him ; also that very day the chm-cli in Had- ley was before the Lord in the same way but were driven from the holy service by a most sudden and violent alarm which routed them the whole day after." Hutchinson, the next narrator, nearly a century later, repeats Mather's statement, but enlarges the "alarm" into an "attack." Then thirty years after Hutchinson comes President Stiles of Yale, in his History of Tliree of the Judges of King Cliarles I, elaborating the "attack" into a battle about the meeting-house, and adding the "angel" part to the "true story " of Goffe's appearance, " told," he says, at the time he wrote, " in variations in various parts of New England." So the wondrous tale grew to its perfection. On that first day of September (0. S.) Deerfield was violently attacked and burned ; and in this affair Sheldon reasonably sees the occasion of the Hadley "alarm" which Mather recorded. Some latter day historians and writers have fitted the Goffe tradition to a date nine months later, or June 12, 1676, when the Indians really did fall upon 120 Connecticut River Hadley, as Hubbard relates in detail. But this theory Sheldon shatters as completely as he destroys the tradition, by massing these unquestioned facts : that June 12, 1676, " was not a Fast Day ; the inhabitants were not assembled in the meeting-house ; the attack was made upon a small party who had fallen in an ambuscade ; it was made early in the morning ; tlie town was not in a defenceless posi- tion," for five hundred Connecticut men under Major Tal- cott had recently arrived, joining others already in the village, so that no Cromwellian leader or " angel " was necessary for its deliverance. Sheldon's refutation of this cherished tradition was published thirty years ago. But still the tale is told ; and the credulous stranger is confidently shown the spot where the "battle" about the meeting-house was fought imder the lead of the mysterious captain who appeared "like an angel from heaven." The stranger shall see, however, a genuine landmark in the site of the parsonage which sheltered the mysterious captain. The war was precipitated in the River towns by an at- tempt to disarm a band of the local Pocumtucks and others who had made a pretense of friendliness, but were suspected of intention to join Philip's allies concentrating in the woods between Hadley and Northfield ; by pursuit of them when they fled from their fort in Hatfield and were actu- ally on the way ; and by a fight with them in a swamp south of Sugarloaf peak, from which they escaped. This encounter occurred on one of the last days of August, and engaged Captains Lothrop and Beers with their men. Earlier small garrisons had been posted at Northampton, Hatfield, Deerfield (then Pocumtuck), and Northfield (then Squakheag). The fight under the shadow of Sugarloaf Philip's War in the Valley 121 was followed by the first overt act, the attack upon Deer- field of September 1 (0. S.). In this affair the settlers had barely time to reach the garrison houses before these shel- ters were besieged. They were successfully defended, but the force was too weak in numbers to sally out and drive the enemy. So the savages were able to plunder and burn several houses and barns before they left. On the very next day, September 2 (0. S.), the outpost of Northfield was attacked. This infant settlement then comprised a collection of log huts, the central one being the meeting-house, surrounded by a stockade and fort. The enemy surprised the settlers when they were about their daily work. Some were cut down in their houses, others while coming from the meadows. Eight were killed. The rest, men, women, and children, crowded into the fort, whence they witnessed the slaughter of their cattle, the destruction of their grain, and the burning of the few houses outside the stockade. The following day, unaware of this attack, and supposing that the " hostiles " were now all on the west side of the River, Captain Beers was despatched from Hadley with thirty-six troopers and a supply train of ox- carts, to secure the Northfield garrison. Theirs was a fatal journey ending in the first crushing disaster of the campaign in the Valley. The post was in the wilderness thirty miles distant from Hadley. The way to it lay along the east side of the River through a forest almost continuous, marked by rough wood-paths or trails, where now are the towns of Sunder- land, Montague, and Erving. At night the command bivouacked in a pleasant spot above Miller's River. The next morning, leaving their horses under guard, they con- tinued on foot with the supply wagons, having no thought of danger in their path. So they marched on unguard- 122 Connecticut River edly to a point within about two miles of their destinaition. Here, in a swampy ravine, the enemy were awaiting them in an ambuscade. They fell into the snare without a mo- ment's warning, and a considerable number were instantly slain. The survivors scattered; but, soon rallied by Cap- tain Beers, they made a stand on the side of a hill above the ravine. This ground was bravely held against an overwhelming force till the captain fell. Then the rem- nant broke, and, leaving the carts and their wounded be- hind, fled back through the forest to Hadley. Of the thirty-six troopers of the command only sixteen escaped. Three taken prisoners were said to have been burned at the stake on the battlefield. The ground where the trap was sprung is now known in Northfield as " Beers's Plain," and the hill where the captain fought to his death is to-day " Beers's Mountain." It is an eminence in the range which extends on the east side of the town. Here, on the south side, is the captain's grave. Both Beers's Plain and the grave are now suitably marked by tablets. Beers was an officer, we are told, of sterling valor, and a public servant of " approved patriotism and usefulness." At the time that he fell he was a member of the Massachusetts General Court, where he had represented his town for thirteen years. He had been in this Squakheag country five years before as a mem- ber of a prospecting party. So, as the local historians remark, he was among the first of Europeans to see this beautiful and fertile tract, and one of the first to be buried in its soil. Two days after the Northfield disaster, when the sur- vivors had returned to camp with their story. Major Treat with a hundred dragoons hastened up to succor the Northfield force and settlers, and to take them off if any Philip's War in the Valley 123 remained. Coming upon the ground of the fight, the troops were startled and most " solemnly affected" by the specta- cle of a row of twenty ghastly heads of the dead soldiers stuck upon poles set up near the roadside ; and one awful figure hanging from the bough of a tree by a chain hooked into the under jaw, having the appearance of being thus sus- pended while yet alive. The " doleful sight " quickened their steps. Reaching the garrison the people were found safe inside the stockade where they had been confined for five days. The bodies of the slain still lay on the meadow where they fell, and a detachment was detailed to bm*y them. In the midst of this pious duty the men were sur- prised by a volley from neighboring bushes in which Indi- ans had been skulking, and Major Treat was hit by a spent ball. In fear of a general attack the work was ab- ruptly stopped, with only one body buried, — that of Sergeant Wright of Northampton, the commander of the gar- rison, — and preparations were hastened for departure. At dusk all were hurried off with what they could carry. On the fearsome return march, constantly apprehensive of some deadly surprise in the sombre woods, they were cheered by an unexpected meeting with Captain Appleton coming up with an additional force. He would have them turn back and with the combined forces give the enemy chase. But the strain had been too much. The " greatest part" advised "to the contrary." So the march was re- sumed, and Hadleyat length reached. After the English evacuation the Indians burned what was left of Northfield, the fort, and the houses. In subse- quent periods of the war, the place was a rendezvous of the River tribes consorting with Philip. With the abandonment of Northfield, Deerfield became 124 Connecticut River the outermost town. It was now a weak hamlet of a few settlers, much exposed by their situation to the enemy. At the outbreak of the war its inhabitants, according to Sheldon, numbered about one hundred and twenty-five, of whom only twenty-five or thirty were men. The houses were scattered the length of the present Deerfield Old Street, the pride of the beautiful town. Three of the houses were fortified with palisades. These were the gar- rison houses or forts. The principal one was the " Stock- well Fort" on Meetinghouse Hill, the natural centre of the town, where it is now the Common with its monu- ments. This was the house of Quintin Stockwell, where the minister boarded. The other two garrison houses were north and south of it. In both these directions the road dropped from the hill into a quagmire, which was covered with a causeway of logs. On three sides of the village were the deep open meadows spreading north, south, and westward to the virgin forest. From the hills on the east and west every movement in the Valley town could be ob- served by the Indian spies. So the post was a difficult one to defend. The outlet to the other settlements was by way of Hatfield, the nearest plantation, on the south. On September 10 (0. S.), shortly after the return from Northfield, Captain Appleton was sent up to garrison Deer- field with his men. Two days later, on a Sunday, the place was again attacked. The preparations for the as- sault were stealthily made while the soldiers were collected with the settlers in the Stockwell Fort at the Sunday ser- vice. In the swamp north of Meetinghouse Hill an am- bush was laid to cut off the men of the north garrison upon their return. After the service, as a body of twenty-two were crossing the causeway, they were fired upon from this ambuscade. Only one was wounded, however, and all o U X a P^ Philip's War in tlie Valley 125 managed to retreat to Stockwell's. Then, turning to the north, the enemy intercepted the one sentinel in the north fort, and he was " never afterward heard from." Apple- ton rallied his men and sallying from his cover succeeded in driving the savages from the village. But before this was accomplished the north fort had been set on fire, much of the live stock had been killed or captured, and provi- sions and other spoils had been taken to the Indian ren- dezvous on Pine Hill, north of the Street. An " express " carried the news of this affair to North- ampton, and by Monday night a party of volunteers, with some of Captain Lothrop's company, arrived to the town's relief. The next morning the combined forces under Appleton's lead marched up to Pine Hill, but to no pur- pose, for the savages had fled. That night Captain Moseley was despatched from Hadley to strengthen the Deerfield garrison. Now approached " that most fatal day, the saddest that ever befel New England," as Hubbard wrote, — the day of the disastrous " Battle of Bloody Brook." X The Battle of Bloody Brook Slaughter of the "Flower of Essex" at South Deerfield while Convoying a Provision Train — The Sudden Attack from Ambush by a Swarm of Braves — Many of Captain Lothrop's Men idly gathering Grapes by the Brookside when the Warwhoop rang out — Desperate After-fight by Captain Moseley — Memorials of the Battle — The Legend of "King Philip's Chair " — Destraction of Deerfield. THIS was the calamitous engagement at Bloody Brook, in South Deerfield, less than a week after the Sunday raid upon the Deerfield garrison, in which were miserably slaughtered the " Flower of Essex," siu-prised by a body of nearly a thousand of the enemy in ambush. Captain Lothrop had volunteered his command to con- voy a provision train laden with a quantity of threshed wheat from Deerfield to the headquarters at Hadley. This was to be added to the stores for the supply of the forces now concentrating at Hadley preparatory to the undertaking of aggressive operations in the field, in accord- ance with new orders from the council of war at Hartford, issued after the Northfield affan. With eighty of his picked men Lothrop had reached Deerfield without hin- drance, and was on the return march to Hadley with the train of ox-carts with Deerfield men as drivers, when the trap was sprung. The procession, headed by the troops with the string of carts following, had filed through Deerfield Old Street, passed up Bars Long Hill, and proceeded slowly and 126 The Battle of Bloody Brook 127 carelessly along the old Hatfield road, then the narr^. Pocumtuck Path through the primeval woods. " Conh dent in their numbers, scorning danger, not even a van- guard or flanker was thrown out " by the captain. From the top of Long Hill the path, as Sheldon in his Deerfield history definitely outlines it, lay through the dense forest for a mile and a half ; then approached on the left a nar- row swampy thicket trending southward, through which the brook crept sluggishly; then skirted this swamp an- other mile to a point where the brook narrowed and turned to the right ; here crossed the brook diagonally, leaving the marsh on the right. The soldiers had reached thus far and halted on the other side of the brook while the teams behind were slowly dragging their heavy loads through the mire. So care-free were they that many of them put their guns in the carts and left the path to gather the luscious grapes then in abundance on the wayside. These " proved dear and deadly grapes to them,'' says Mather. For close by, as Sheldon pictures, '' the silent morass on either flank was covered witli grim warriors prone upon the groimd, their tawny bodies indistinguishable from the slime in which they crawled, or their scarlet plumes and crimson paint from the glowing tints of the dying year on leaf and vine. Eagerly, but breathless and still, they waited the signal." The hidden mass of near a thou- sand comprised Nipmucks, Philip's Wampanoags, and the local Pocumtuck clans, led by the sachems who had di- rected the surprise at Northfield. Suddenly the fierce war- whoop rang in the ears of the astonished Englishmen, and a murderous volley burst from the morass. A considerable number dropped at the first fire. Lothrop held to the theory of fighting Indians in their own way. Quickly recovering from the surprise, he apparently directed 128 Connecticut River his men to take to the cover of the nearest trees and pick off the enemy, each singling out his man, after the Indian mode of warfare. At the first assault the " godly and courageous commander" himself fell fighting, leaving the command without a head. Almost immediately they were surrounded. And so the fine, brave fellows, " none of whom was ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate," were miserably crushed by overwhelming numbers, and finally sank, " one great sacrifice to the tomahawk." Only seven or eight escaped the dreadful onslaught. Of the Deerfield men who had charge of the carts as teamsters, seventeen in all, none survived. Captain Moseley, ranging the woods in another direc- tion with sixty men, heard the firing and hastened to the scene. When he arrived the massacre was complete, and many of the victors remaining on the field were stripping the dead and plundering the carts. Charging into the disorganized mass, he drove them from their prey. Some of the eastern Indians among them recognized him, and as they stood off with the rest dared him to combat. "Come, Moseley, come," they shouted derisively, "you seek Indians, here's Indians enough for you!" With his force in a compact body he at once " swept through them, cutting down all within the reach of his fire." Thus he fought for five or six long hom's, checking all attempts of the Indians to surround his men, or get at the wounded. Still he was unable to rout them or keep them long off their rich plunder. At length, when about to withdraw fi-om the unequal conflict, relief suddenly came. Major Treat appeared with a hundred Connecticut soldiers, and a band of Mohegans led by a son of Uncas. Treat had been marching up from Northampton, and on the way had heard the firing. Following the sound he came upon the The Battle of Bloody Brook 129 conflict. With his arrival the enemy broke. They were pursued through the woods and swamps till nightfall ended the chase. Moseley's loss in the day's engagement was slight. The united forces marched back to Deerfield with the wounded, and spent the night there. The next morning, Sunday, they returned to the field to bury the dead. Scouts were sent out and sentinels posted to prevent a sur- prise while the work was in progress. A common grave was dug some rods from the fatal morass, and here the '"' Flower of Essex " were buried with a soldier's tribute. The spot where the attack began was marked with a little wooden monument by the settlers who came in after the close of the war, and the sluggish stream w^as given the crimson name it has since borne. A century and a half later, the common grave of the slain was identified and marked by a flat stone, which one may now see in a front yard close to the sidew^alk of the South Deerfield main street. At the same time the present monument, a shaft of stone, was erected to mark the battlefield. This monu- ment stands near the edge of the morass in which the Indians formed their ambuscade. It was at the laying of the corner-stone, on the 30th of September, 1835, that Edward Everett delivered his oration on the Battle of Bloody Brook, passages from which school-boys of past generations have eloquently declaimed. To the same occasion, Mrs. Sigourney, the " bard of Hartford," contrib- uted a poem. At subsequent observances of the anniver- sary the Kev. Edward Everett Hale, nephew of the first orator, and William Everett, the orator's son, contributed poems which survive in the literature of the Valley. The modern electric car, thundering through the peaceful vil- lage, between Deerfield and Hatfield and Northampton 130 Connecticut River below, skirts the scene of " Bloody Brook," and passes close by the quaint monument inscribed with its story. On the face of South Sugarloaf, in a recess in the cliff below a great shelf of rock jutting out from the front, is the sheltered "King Philip's Chair," whence, as runs the tradition of the Valley, the great chieftain beheld the affair at the brook, of his planning. But as Sheldon, best of authorities, asserts, "there is no evidence that Philip was present, and the probabilities are against it." Still the place and the legend survive, and doubtless will survive, fixtures in history, unscathed by the assaults of iconoclasts. The spot is most sightly and commands a superb sweep of view. In the little village the sanguinary name of the tragic brook is preserved in local titles ; most conspicuously appearing on the inn with its vine- covered double front piazzas. Standing back from the pleasant main street, it bears some resemblance to the country tavern of simpler days than these, which we term and sometimes welcome as old-fashioned. While Captain Moseley and Major Treat were on the battle-ground with their men engaged in burying the dead, Deerfield was having another experience with the enemy. A lot of them were passing by the garrison in an attempt to retmrn to the prey at the brook. As a challenge they hung up in sight of the garrison some English garments probably taken from the bodies of the slain in the battle. But Captain Appleton frightened them away by the clever and not uncommon stratagem of causing his trumpeter to sound a call as if summoning troops in reserve. Three or four days later Deerfield was finally abandoned. The troops were ordered back to Hadley, and the inhabitants were scattered in the several > ?-> 2 p4 ^ c r— o c p c3 ■^ rt 2 CA! The Battle of Bloody Brook 131 towns below. Shortly after the Indians wholly destroyed the settlement. The eventful month of September closed with a series of sporadic attacks in various sections. On the 26th (0. S.) Major Pynchon's farmhouse, barns, and crops on the west side of the River opposite Springfield were burned. On the 28th two Northampton men, " Praisever Turner and Uzackaby Shackspeer," were killed, when outside that village to cut wood. " The Indians cut off their scalps, took their arms, and were gone in a trice." On the 30th (0. S.) Pynchon wrote from Hadley to Governor Leverett in Boston, " We are endeavoring to discover y^ enemy, dayly send out scouts, but little is effected. We find y* Indians have their scouts out. . . . We are waiting for an opportunity to fall upon y® Indians if the Lord please to grant it to us." The war councils were plan- ning a general movement to clear the Valley of the enemy. It was proposed to regain the Northfield post and establish headquarters there for the Connecticut troops. The commissioners at Boston were arranging to send out a flying army of a thousand men. At the same time Philip's chieftains were planning a wider campaign. The settlement at Springfield was marked next for destruction. The " hostiles," now in alliance with the Springfield Indians, were gathering in force in a hid- ing place about six miles from the town, ready at the word to spring on their foe. XI The Burning of Springfield With Pledges of Fidelity the Agawam Indians concoct a " Horrible Plot " — Bands of Philip's Warriors secretly admitted to the Indian Fort on the Outskirts of the Town — A Night Alarm — Early Morning Attack upon Messengers Riding out to Reconnoitre — The full Pack soon upon the Village — The People crowding the Garrison House — A wild Scene of Havoc with the Town in Flames — Major Pynchon's Forced March from Hadley to its Relief — Grave After-events. TIE Springfield or Agawam Indians had been the staunchest friends of the English. At the outbreak of Philip's War they had made pretentious display of their loyalty, and were implicity trusted by the colonists. Wequogan, their chief, had given hostages for their fidelity who were quartered at Hartford under slight guard. On October 3 (0. S.), the pledges were renewed with much show of sincerity while they were secretly plotting a rising. The following day, under orders, but against his judgment, Major Pynchon started off with the garrison for the head- quarters at Hadley, thus leaving the town entirely unpro- tected. The only other troops in the immediate region were Major Treat's command at Westfield, back from the West side of the River. Just before Pynchon's departure Wequogan had cunningly withdrawn his hostages from Hartford; and after nightfall, when the troops were all gone, some three hundred of Philip's warriors were se- cretly admitted to the Indian fort. This fort was on Long Hill, about a mile south of the 132 The Burning of Springfield 133 centre of the settlement. It is supposed to have stood on a plateau at the head of a ravine which extended from the top of the hill. Its presumed site is now pointed out on the way to Longmeadow. Springfield then spread along the west side of a single thoroughfare, now the Main Street, running north and south less than three miles, each house-lot extending from the street to the River. It com- prised not over forty-five dwellings. Chief among these was Major Pynchon's house, standing just north of the present Fort Street. His was the only brick house, the others being wooden, mostly with thatched roofs. It was the principal one of three fortified houses : the other two situated near the southerly end of the single street. The minister's house stood near the head of the present Vernon Street. The principal landing place on the River was at the foot of Elm Street, off the present Court Square. The rising was timed for early morning of the 5th (0. S.). But most unexpectedly the scheme was divulged the night before, delaying its execution a few hours. The dis- closiu-e was curiously made at Windsor twenty miles down the River. A friendly Indian, Toto by name, domesticated in the home of Oliver Wolcott there, had become possessed of the secret, and '' it stirred the very depths of his na- ture." His agitation was so intense as to disquiet the family. Urged to tell what troubled him he finally let out the whole " horrid plot." Immediately Wolcott despatched messengers on horseback, one to warn Springfield, the other to inform Major Treat at Westfield. The swift rider for Springfield entered the town at midnight, and roused the villagers with his startling tale. All fled with their portable belongings to the garrisoned houses. Pelatiah Glover, the minister, removed his " brave library," one of the best in the Valley, to the Pynchon house. 134 Connecticut River The night wore on without event, and the morning opened peacefully. No sign appeared of a hostile move- ment, nor a single threatening Indian. Therefore the people felt assured that the night alarm was a false one, and most of them prepared to return to their own homes. The minister set the example and carried his library back to the parsonage. Meanwhile Lieutenant Thomas Cooper, who for some reason had remained in the village, started off for the Indian fort, to learn the situation there. He had discredited the Windsor report and was firm in the belief that the Agaw^ams were true. He had long been on friendly terms with the tribe, and for a quarter of a cen- tury had been a familiar figure among them. With him went Thomas Miller, the town constable. The two men rode their horses at a brisk pace down the town street and toward Long Hill. A quarter of a mile beyond the most southerly house they entered the woods which then skirted the settlement. Suddenly shots came from an ambuscade. Miller w^as instantly killed. Cooper fell from his horse mortally wounded. But being '' an athletic and resolute man," although nearing sixty, he contrived to pull himself up into the saddle again. Turning his horse he dashed back at full speed to give the alarm. A horde of savages leaped from their ambush and ran after him, firing as they ran. He was hit by another ball, and had barely reached the P^yTichon house when he expired. Soon the whole force of ^' hostiles " from the fort were upon the settlement. The inhabitants again managed to get under cover of the fortified houses, and from the loop- holes looked out upon a wild scene of havoc. They saw" their unguarded homes and their barns filled with winter stores plundered and set afire ; and shortly nearly the whole town in flames. The trusted chief, Wequogan, was The Burning of Springfield 135 seen to be the " ringleader in word and deed." Another sachem loudly proclaimed that he "was one who had burned Quaboag [Brookfield] and would serve them the same way." Shots were exchanged between the Indians and the men in the fortified houses, and several of the as- sailants fell. One savage was using as a shield a large pewter platter taken from a dwelling, which marked him as a target. He received a mortal wound from a bullet smashing through it. Of the townspeople one woman was killed. She was the wife of John Matthews, the drummer, who had gone off with the garrison soldiers. Five others were wounded, one mortally. "Within a short time thirty- two of the forty-five dwellings were in ashes. The minis- ter's house went down with his " brave library." All the barns, twenty-four or twenty-five of them, were in flames. Major Pynchon's grist and corn mills were burned. Most of the corn in the town stored for the winter was consumed. Early in the forenoon Major Treat with his Connecticut troops reached the west side of the River. Five brave men left their cover, probably the Pynchon house, to help his command across. Though pursued by twenty Indians they got a boat to the opposite shore. It was quickly filled with some of Treat's soldiers, but the Indians on the east bank held them at bay, and they durst not venture over. Relief, however, was hastening forward from another di- rection. Major Pynchon, informed of Toto's story by a messenger sent out at the midnight alarm, was hurrying back from Hadley with two hundred men. Major Apple- ton was with them as second in command. Marching so rapidly that all were put " into a violent sweat," they ar- rived upon the scene at mid-afternoon. Till their approach the devastating work had gone on practically unchecked. But when they entered the burning town the assailants had 136 Connecticut River all vanished. Their spies had signalled the coming of the soldiers by '' hoops [whoops] or watchwords." Now Major Treat's force came across the River and joined Major Pyn- chon's men eager to give chase to the enemy. Scouting parties were at once sent out, and the woods were scoured. But not a brave was discovered. Their fort was deserted, and no trace of a new rendezvous could be found. Their tracks pointed in various directions manifestly with the design of throwing pursuers off the track. It was a masterly retreat, planned, as was the attack, later histori- ans conclude, by Philip. It is assumed that he returned with his clan and part of the Pocumtucks to the Narragan- setts' country, with a new plan to involve that tribe in the war ; while the other bands worked their way back to their fastnesses about the deserted Deerfield and Northfield. The number engaged in the Springfield attack was given by the messenger to Pynchon as five hundred ; the Spring- field Indians, warriors, women, and children, numbered about two hundred. Now of the upper River towns only Northampton, Had- ley, and Hatfield remained undespoiled, and the Connecticut towns below were imperiled. Two days after the fall of Springfield an alarm was raised in Glastonbury by the dis- covery of " hostiles " hovering about its neighborhood. They were probably of Philip's band on their way to the Narragansetts. Major Treat was then ordered back to Hartford for the protection of the lower towns. All was anxiety throughout this region. To stimulate the Mohe- gans to greater activity the Hartford government offered liberal boimties for scalps of the "hostiles" brought in. Men in the threatened towns went out in large parties to harvest the late crops, and to store the grain in safe places, The Burning of Springfield 137 while provision was made for the security of the women and children. In ruined Springfield a strong disposition was manifest to abandon the place. This Major Pynchon deplored, for its desertion would encourage the " insolent enemy " and " make way for giving up all the towns above." Governor Leverett at Boston took a similar view. It '' would be a more awful stroke that hath such a consequence as to break up a church and town," he wrote. But he could only advise that the matter be left " to the Lord, directing you on the place." Pynchon, sorely disturbed, asked to be relieved of his military command, his own and the townspeople's affairs requiring his undivided attention. The request was granted, and Captain now Major Apple- ton succeeded him as commander-in-chief. Pynchon re- peated his plea for the constant garrisoning of all the towns. The sack of Springfield was an awful instance of the result of the withdrawal of a guard. The Bay council, however, still clung to the policy of combined oj)erations in the field. But no town was again left wholly unprotect- ed. Major Appleton left a good guard at SjDringfield, under Captain Sill, when he marched back to headquarters at Hadley. At Northampton Captain Sully was stationed with a small body ; and Captain Moseley at Hatfield. So Springfield was not abandoned ; the " awful stroke " that its desertion would entail was averted ; and the settlement slowly recovered from its affliction. With the advance of October, however, affairs grew steadily graver in the River towns and to the westward. The enemy appeared to be threatening nearly every settle- ment from Hartford to the frontier. Innnediately upon his return to Hadley Major Appleton sent out scouting 138 Connecticut River parties to seek the enemy's hiding places. On the 15th (0. S.) he himself marched out with almost his entire force, bomid for Northfield, his scouts having learned that they were collected there. But when two miles on the way word came that Moseley's scouts had reported great num- bers assembled about Deerfield. Accordingly he changed his course and crossed the River to Hatfield. Thence a night expedition to Deerfield was attempted. Early on the march the report of a gun and distant Indian shouts warned the vanguard that the movement was discovered. So a hurried return was made to secure the defenceless towns. Next evening an urgent call for help came to headquarters from Northampton, which was threatened ; at the same time Moseley reported the enemy within a mile of Hatfield. That night Moseley made a reconnoissance, but without result. He discovered, however, through an Indian captive, a great plot. A simultaneous attack upon Hatfield, Had- ley, and Northampton had been planned, and a large body of Indians were in the scheme. This captive was a poor old squaw who had been taken at Springfield after the burning. The record of her cruel treatment is one of the great black blots on the annals of colonial warfare. On the margin of a letter to the governor at Boston re- porting this plot, Captain Moseley wrote : '' The aforesaid Indian was ordered to be toume in peeces by dogs & shee was so delt withall." What was the woman's crime, if any other than association with a treacherous foe, that brought upon her such an a^\^ul fate after she had divulged her important information and so put the English on guard, no record tells. Nothing in contemporary papers is found in mitigation of such a barbarous act by civilized men. The grim postscript to the Indian fighter's letter appears The Burning of Springfield 139 alone in the documents. The historian of Springfield de- clines to believe that the evil deed was done by order of the English. He would more readily accept a story that the squaw had returned to her people and suffered death for serving the colonists. But Moseley's postscript too definitely fixes the act on the whites. We know that dogs were employed in colonial Indian warfare. At the outset of this war the use of bloodhounds was proposed to hunt the enemy down. Later Parson Stoddard of Northampton, ordinarily kind of heart, earnestly urged this measure upon Governor Dudley, justifying it on the ground that the savages were like wolves in their conduct, and should be dealt with as wolves. Subsequently, in 1706, in Queen Anne's War, the Bay General Court offered bounties for raising and training war-dogs, and established the rank of hunt-sergeant for the military officer having charge of packs of hounds in ranging the woods for Indians. At about the same time that Moseley learned from the captured squaw of the proposed combined attack upon the three frontier towns, the Hartford government was startled by word from Andros in New York of a plot for a general uprising of all the Connecticut Indians. Five or six thou- sand of them, Andros wrote, designed " this light moon " to attack Hartford and points westward so far as Green- wich. Thereupon Hartford and the other places indicated were fortified and troops were raised for defence. Thus this plot, if it existed (and the historians generally accept the report as true), was frustrated. From another direction came a definite report of Philip's new schemes in the Valley campaign. Roger Williams, writing from Providence to Governor Leverett at Boston, told of hearing of Philip's great design, — to draw Captain Moseley and others " by trayning, and 140 Connecticut River drilling, and seeming flight," into " such places as are full of long grass, flags, sedge &c. and then environ them round with fire, smoke, and bullets." " Some say," he added, " no wise soldier will be so catcht." But several of Moseley's mounted scouts were just so " catcht." It was in a manoeuvre preceding an attack in force upon Hatfield, according to the plan which the cap- tive squaw had divulged to Moseley. On October 19 (0. S.) at noon, fires were observed in the woods about Sugar- loaf, and the troopers sent out to reconnoitre. Two miles from the town they fell suddenly into a trap for which the fires were the bait. Six were killed, and three taken prisoners. Only one escaped, and he was an Indian. Gallop- ing back to Hatfield, he gave the alarm, which was repeated to Major Appleton at Hadley. The attack upon Hatfield followed at about four of the October afternoon. It was met in unexpected fashion. Major Appleton coming over had taken a post at the south end of the town ; Captain Moseley occupied the middle ; and Captain Poole the north end. The enemy began the assault from all quarters. But at each point they were checked by the English fire, and their every attempt to })reak in upon the town was resisted. The contest con- tinued hotly for two hours. Then Major Treat coming up from Northampton with a force of Connecticut men, the finishing blow was given, and the enemy broke and fled. Their loss had been considerable, while that of the English was light. Three of the English were carried off as pris- oners. One of these unhappy men was afterward horribly tormented and at length put to death. " They burnt his nails, and put his feet to scald against the fire, and drove a stake through one of his feet to pin him to the ground." The Burning of Springfield 141 The Hatfield experience was a great surprise to the In- dian war-chiefs, and changed their plans. Instead of fur- ther efforts to wipe out the towns by direct attack with large bodies, it was decided to break up into small bands and harass the settlements, kill, pillage, and burn as chance offered. During the next fortnight this course was pursued to some extent. In Northampton several houses and barns were burned. A few days later a group of farmers gather- ing crops in the Northampton meadows were fired upon and three killed. Two days before, Major Pynchon and several companions, returning to Springfield from Westfield, were caught in an ambuscade. Three were shot down ; the rest escaped. Later a band were again prowling about Hatfield, but approaching soldiers frightened them off. With the opening of November the woods for ten or twelve miles roundabout were scoured by troopers, but no enemy were found. They were now gone into winter quarters, mostly northward and westward. The campaign for this season was ended in the Valley, to be renewed the next spring. By mid-November the army withdrew from headquarters, leaving garrisons in each of the towns. XII The Rising of the Narragansetts Canonchet drawn into Philip's "War — Flight of his Tribe toward the Valley — Ravages of Frontier Towns on the Way — The great Indian Rendezvous about Northfield — Attacks upon Northampton, Hatfield, and Longmeadow — Death of Canonchet : A Hero of his Race — The Great Falls Fight : An English Victory followed by a Disastrous Rout. — A Chaplain's Experience — Final Attacks upon Hatfield and Hadley — End of Philip's War — Death of Philip, deserted and betrayed — Results of the War to the Colonists. FIVE days after the burning of Springfield Philip reached the Narragansett country, "loaded with spoils from the English." Less than four weeks later the colonies declared war against the Narragansetts. The " young prince " of this tribe, Canonchet, son of Mian- tonomah, had as yet committed no overt act of hostility, but he was under suspicion and believed to be yielding to Philip's influence. He had, indeed, broken the treaty of neutrality forced from him at the beginning of Philip's War by the commissioners of the colonies " with a sword in their hands," in defiantly sheltering and refusing to surrender fugitive "hostiles." But this had been done openly, and with the emphatic declaration that he would not give up a Wampanoag, not even " the paring of a Wampanoag's nail." The colonial councils determined upon a winter's campaign in the hope of crushing the tribe with a quick stinging blow, when they were least pre- pared to parry it. For the winter was the Indians' hibernat- ing season ; and the frozen swamps made their fastnesses 142 Rising of the Narragansetts 143 more accessible to beseigers. Accordingly an army of a thousand men, one-half of them troopers, was immediately levied, and set in motion for this adventure. Five com- panies under Major Treat were Connecticut's quota. Early in December Major Treat left the Valley with three hun- dred Connecticut troops and half as many Mohegans. Major Appleton was appointed commander-in-chief of the Bay forces. Governor Josiah Winslow of Plymouth, son of the first Governor Winslow, was named chief of the combined army. Meanwhile the people of the Valley towns were living in a continual state of imeasiness. Attack from below, by way of the Narragansett country, was constantly feared. The season was largely spent in fortifying houses and in build- ing stockades aroimd the towns. The palisades were sim- ple constructions of cleft wood, designed to break the force of a sudden assault rather than to serve as substantial de- fences, though, as after events showed, they did effectively fill the latter purpose. The upper route eastward by the Bay Path was early closed by the hostile Nipmucks, and tidings from the new seat of war were received only through the soldiers in the Narragansett campaign. News therefore of the outcome of the expedition travelled slowly to the River towns. At length they learned of the downfall of the Narragansett stronghold in the " Great Swamp Fight" of December 19 (0. S.) in what is now South Kingston, Rhode Island, and of the scattering of the broken and infuriated tribe through the woods northward into the Nipmuck country, just as the Wampanoags had been shattered and dispersed with the opening onslaught of Philip's war. In this second and greatest "Swamp Fight" all the horrors of the Pequot massacre were repeated with the storming of the Indian 144 Connecticut River fort. The wigwams, " at least five hundred in number," were set afire, and many old warriors, women, and children perished in the flames ; the winter's stores were consumed ; and of four thousand Indians estimated to have been in the fort, nearly two-thirds were killed, burned, or captured. But the English losses also were heavy, with six captains among the slain. There soon followed the news of the junction of the sur- viving Narragansetts with the Nipmuck "hostiles " and a remnant of Philip's men ; then startling reports of ravages of frontier Massachusetts settlements on the road to Con- necticut. In February came the destruction of Lancaster, with the slaughter of most of the men of its fifty or sixty families, and the capture of the women and children, in- cluding Mrs. Rowlandson, the minister's wife; ten days after, the partial destruction of Medfield, farther eastward ; the next day, the attack upon Weymouth, nearer Boston. Five days later followed the first attack upon Groton; after an interval of a week, a second assault, and four days later a third, so disastrous that the town was deserted. At the opening of March the enemy were again gathered in force in the Valley, this time northward, at the chief rendezvous at Squakheag, where had been Northfield, and whose territory included the present Vernon, Vermont side, and Hinsdale and Winchester, New Hampshire. Major Thomas Savage of Boston was now sent up from the east with companies of foot and horse to join with the Connecticut forces in again protecting this frontier. In a fortnight hostilities had reopened in the Valley. A formidable spring campaign had been planned by the Indian chiefs in council in the northern camps. Shel- don gives the scheme in fullest detail. The Pocumtucks Rising of the Narragansetts 145 and Wampanoags, with new allies, — young warriors from the Mahicans and the Mohawks of the west, and some In- dians from Canada, — were to rendezvous at Squakheag and thence sweep down upon the Valley towns in large bodies, while the Nipmucks and Narragansetts were simul- taneously to ravage the Bay frontiers eastward, so heading off aid from that quarter. Thus the Valley was to be speedily cleared of the English. With this accomplished, headquarters were to be established about Deerfield, " the non-combatants collected, the fields planted with Indian corn, and a winter's stock of fish laid up from the abun- dance of the streams." The victors were to be under the protection of the French, who were to come down from Canada and settle among them in place of the English. With the driving of the English from the Valley the " traitorous Mohegans " would be annihilated. This great scheme, however, the too artful Philip spoiled through his overreaching diplomacy. After the Narragansetts had been drawn in he bent his energies to embroiling the fierce Mohawks. He had so far reconciled them with the Pocum- tucks whom they had fought, that they agreed to join in warring against the Mohegans ; but they would not consent to fight the English. Thereupon the cunning diplomat, with the unscrupulousness that has sometimes distinguished the modern kind, played his trump card. Secretly causing a number of Mohawks to be killed, he accused the English of their murder. But the result which he counted upon failed to follow, through an extraordinary happening. One of the victims, supposed to be surely dead, revived, and reaching his people reported the true circumstances of their undoing. Enraged at the trick, the Mohawks fell upon the tribes in the Pocumtucks' camp, killing and capturing many. Thus an old enemy was newly aroused instead of 146 Connecticut River won as an ally, and the union of all the clans in a common cause made impossible. After the Mohawk attack Philip and the discomfited Pocumtucks fled to the Sqaukheag rendezvous, which they reached toward the close of Feb- ruary. There were now in the Squakheag camps, Canonchet, — young, able, haughty, tall and commanding, with the " well-knit form of an athlete " ; twelve hundred of his Narragansett warriors and their sachems ; bands of Nip- mucks ; Philip and the chief men of his tribe ; the sm- vivors of the Pocumtuck confederation ; a few western volimteers ; some Abenakis from the east and north ; and a number of the apostate Christians from the Bay towns of " Praying Indians " — those " pious lambs " who " proved the worst wolves of the whole bloody crew." Canonchet was the real leader. Such were the swarms collected and making ready for action when on March 2 (O.S.) Major Savage's forces joined those of Major Treat at Brookfield. In Major Savage's command again came Captain Moseley, now with a com- pany of infantry. Major Treat had three or four com- panies, footrsoldiers and troopers. After a few days spent in beating the woods about Brookfield on the trail of the Narragansetts, but meeting none. Major Savage moved up to Hadley, and Major Treat to Northampton. Captain William Turner of Major Savage's forces, was stationed with his company at Northampton ; and Captain Moseley at Hatfield. Unaware of these later movements, and so believing the River towns to be free from troops, two days after Canon- chef s arrival at Squakheag the council of chiefs convened, and ordered the opening of the campaign with an attack upon Northampton. Rising of the Narragansetts 147 The night before the departure of the force was given up to a great war-dauce by the braves, while the women prepared the supplies for the expedition. Just before day- break on the morning of the 14th (O.S.) the enemy arrived at the sleeping town, behind the line of palisades erected in the winter. Noiselessly the palisades were broken in three places and through the gaps thus made the hordes crept in. At daylight they began the assault by firing the houses. Ten were ablaze before the garrison was fairly aroused. Then, to the amazement of the assailants, the troops of Major Treat and Captain Turner were upon them. Attempting to scatter, they found themselves "as in a pound." Panic stricken, they rushed pellmell for the gaps by which they had entered, and, under a galling fire, tumbled through and incontinently fled. Next they made for Hatfield, expecting to find that settlement an easier prey. But here they were again confounded by encoun- tering Captain Moseley, who gave them a warm reception and speedily drove them off. Angered by these repulses, they now planned a night surprise upon Northampton. At about two o'clock on the morning of the 16th (O.S.) they stealthily crept up to the town from two directions. But the sentinels discovered their approach and gave the alarm. So this game was lost and they instantly vanished. The main body returned dejectedly to the Squakheag camps taking with them the little plunder that they had secured, mainly horses and sheep; while small bands remained behind to hover about the outskirts of the town and harass the people whenever and wherever chance offered. The failure of the Northampton expedition, with the dis- covery of troops again in force in the Valley, gave a radical turn to affairs at Squakheag. Philip moved his camp from 148 Connecticut Ri\er the west side of the River to the east side where Canon- chef s councils were held. A few days later five hundred Nipmucks were sent down to Deerfield to guard the Indian frontier there. Discontent began to manifest itself in the Squakheag camps. This feeling was soon heightened by news of the f ailiure of an expedition to Canada for powder in exchange for captives taken at Lancaster. The expedi- tion had been intercepted on the way by Mohawks, and two of the Pocuratucks in it were among the killed. Upon Philip alone was charged the new enmity of the Mohawks, and the disposition to desert him gained threatening head- way. The exhaustion of the winter's stock of provisions and the lack of seed for planting added to the distress of the situation. Canonchet advised the occupation of the Deerfield meadows for a general planting place. Of seed there was a plenty in the " barns " (excavations in the earth for storing provisions) at Narragansett, and he en- gaged himself to go and obtain a supply of it. With an escort of thu*ty reluctant volunteers, for there was no glory and much peril in the adventure, he started at once upon this mission. He was never more seen in the Valley. While these things were going on in the Indian camps the marauding bands, shifting hither and thither in the country below, were committing frequent depredations about the lower Valley towns. To prevent surprises by them, the war council at Hartford devised a system for the continual guarding of the settlements. The night watch in each town was required to call up its inhabitants every morning, " an hour at least before day," who were to arm and stand upon guard at assigned posts till the sun was half an hour high. Then their places were to be taken by the wardens ; while two mounted scouts, one at each end of the town, were to spend the day in scouring the Rising of the Narragansetts 149 neighboring woods. At this time the roving enemy toward the eastward were creating fresh alarms in Bay Colony towns, and also in Plymouth Colony. On the 17th of March (O.S.) Warwick, Rhode Island, was burned. So alarming was the situation becoming that the Bay Colony war council advised Major Savage to desert all the Valley towns except Springfield and Hadley, and to concentrate his strength at these points, "the lesser towns to gather to the greater." This advice was sent out from Boston on the 20th (O.S.). Within a week a series of assaults upon widely separ- ated communities happened on a single day. This was the 26th of March, a Sunday. In the Valley there was a raid upon Windsor; the plantation of Simsbury, newly formed from the west side of Windsor, was burned ; and villagers of Longmeadow, next below Springfield, were cruelly assailed. To the eastward, Marlborough in the Bay Colony was burned ; and in Ptymouth Colony a com- pany of Scituate soldiers were massacred in ambush near Rehoboth. The Longmeadow affair was the most distressing of the events in the Valley on this direful day. The people attacked were in a cavalcade on their way to meeting at Springfield for the first time since the winter had set in, for the road through the woods was now deemed safe, no " hostiles " having been seen for some time in the vicinity. There were sixteen or eighteen men with their women and children in the party, under a military escort. All were on horseback, the women and children riding on pillions. Two of the women hugged infants to their breasts. The company were jogging along placidly through the wintry woods, strung out in a straggling line, when suddenly the rear was surprised by an attack from a 150 Connecticut River neighboring cover at the foot of Long Hill, where the road crosses Pecowsic Brook. At the first fire one man, John Keep, and a maid were killed, and two men were wounded. The two women with the infants, — John Keep's wife, Sarah, the other not named in the accounts, — were captured and carried off into the woods. Leaving the captives to their fate, the escort rushed the cavalcade for- ward to a point of safety in Springfield. Then the men returned to the scene of the attack but no trace of the assailants and their captives could be found. Major Pyn- chon also sent out a mounted party of searchers from Springfield ; and the next morning sixteen men from Had- ley, sent down by Major Savage, joined in the hunt. At length the tracks were struck, and soon after the party were discovered. As the pursuers approached, the culmi- nating scene of the tragedy was enacted. The Indians seized " the two poor infants and in the Sight of both the Mothers and our Men, tossed them up in the Air and dashed their Brains out against the Rocks, and with their Hatchets knokt the Women, and forthwith fled." Such was Major Savage's report. The place being rocky with a swamp just by, the pursuers could not follow with their horses, and the savages made good their escape. Poor Mrs. Keep died from her wounds and horror at the fate of her babe. The other woman lived and gave a report of what the captors had told of the enemy's condition and plans, which proved of value to the war councils. The assailants were all Indians of the Agawam tribe who had lived at Longmeadow before the burning of Springfield, and their victims were old neighbors. When it was found how small their numbers were, the escort of the cavalcade came in for sharp censure for running from instead of after them. The council at Boston characterized the Rising of the Narragansetts 151 captain's conduct as " a matter of great shame, humbling to us." And it inspired this couplet : " Seven Indians, and one without a Gun, Caused Captain Nixon and forty men to run." Through April the enemy were comparatively inactive in the Valley, and did their greatest mischief in ravaging eastward in the Bay Colony, and in Plymouth Colony. Early in the month Major Savage was recalled with the larger part of his force by the Bay council, leaving Cap- tain Turner in command at headquarters in Hadley, with small garrisons at Hatfield, Northampton, and Springfield, to guard the inhabitants while at their occupations. Major Treat and his troops were drawn off to protect the lower Connecticut Colony towns. Meanwhile the government at Hartford was advancing overtures for peace with the enemy in the Deerfield and Squakheag camps, which over- tures had been begun at the close of March. While negotiations were pending, runners brought to the Squakheag camp from the Narragansett country the crushing news of the capture of Canonchet and his execu- tion there. This sharply changed the current of things. Within a week followed word of the slaughter of several counsellors aud sachems near the place where the chieftain had been taken, which intensified their confusion. Canonchet, it appeared, had been seized at the Paw- tucket River, Rhode Island, on the second of April, by Con- necticut troopers with a band of Mohegans led by Oneko, and had been executed the next day by an Indian's hand. He had succeeded in his mission, and, despatching his es- cort on the return journey with the coveted planting seed, had tarried behind to follow later with the fighting men of the tribe who were now in that region. The attacking party 152 Connecticut River surprised him in camp with only six or seven sachems on the bank of the Pawtucket. He fled from the overwhelm- ing numbers, and casting aside his blanket and the silver- laced coat which the Bay leaders had given him as a pledge of friendship, sprang into the river. But slipping somehow, he fell, and his gun, wet in the fall, became useless. So one of Oneko's Indians, who had plunged in after him, effected his capture with ease. The dignified bearing and the splendid nerve of the fallen chief marked him for the first rank among the heroes of his vanished race. The first of the English to approach and question him was a youth of twenty-one, — Robert Stanton, son of the interpreter with the troops. " But the chieftain haughtily repelled his advances : ^ You too much child : no understand war. Let your chief come, him I will answer.' He was offered his life on condition of his sub- mission; but, 'like Attilius Regulus,' the offer was refused. He was then sentenced to die. 'I like it well,' was the reply. 'I shall die before my heart is soft, and before I have spoken anything unworthy of myself.' " His only request was that he might be saved the indignities of tor- ture, and his executioner might be Oneko, whom he acknowl- edged as a fellow prince. He was taken to Stonington and there beheaded by the son of Uncas, who had been the exe- cutioner of his father — Miantonomo — thirty-three years before. His head was sent to Hartford. With the news of Canonchet's fall the Pocumtucks were ready to throw up their hands and "to seek peace with the head of Philip." Thereupon the cautious Philip moved with his followers across country eastward to the fastnesses of Mount Wachusett, in Princeton, and established a new ren- dezvous there. Passacus, the dead Canonchet's successor as chief of the Narragansetts (he was a brother of Mianto- Rising of the Narragansetts 153 nomo, and had been regent for twenty years during the minority of Canonchet) took charge of the disorganized masses remaining in the River camps. Toward the close of April their scouting parties were again skulking about the towns and taking off horses and cattle. As the spring advanced, with the opening of the fishing season, food became more plentiful, and confidence was restored among the "hostiles." Camps were now scattered along the River at the various fishing points as far north as the confluence of the Ashuelot, in Hinsdale. The principal fishing place was at the head of the rapids on the right bank of the River, known then as the Great Falls, now Turner's Falls. Another important one guarded the ford of the Deerfield below. While throngs were fish- ing and drying fish to store in the "barns," others were planting. On the twelvth of May (0. S.), Passacus, learn- ing from his scouts that large herds of stock had been turned into the Hatfield meadows to feed, sent out a raiding band, and that night some seventy or eighty head of this cattle were run off, to the great loss and indignation of the people. A week later came the "Great Falls Fight," with an English victory followed by a disastrous rout. From Thomas Reed of Hatfield and two Springfield lads, by name Edward Stebbins and John Gilbert, who had been captives of the Indians and had escaped, it was learned that the enemy "were carrying themselves unguardedly," on accoimt of their knowledge of the withdrawal of troops from the frontier towns. Thereupon the people of these towns, glad to avenge themselves for the taking of the Hat- field cattle, "and other preceding mischiefs," at once raised a volunteer force to join with the garrison troops in an assault upon the Great Falls camp. Thus were assembled 154 Connecticut River a little company of one hundred and forty-one, composed of the garrison men and volunteers from Hadley, Hatfield, Northampton, Springfield, and Westfield, under Captain Turner, the commander at Hadley. The Rev. Hope Ather- ton of Hatfield joined as chaplain. On the 18th all were marshalled on Hatfield Street, well mounted, and at sunset were ready for the start. After a prayer by the chaplain the cavalcade moved off. Guided by Benjamin Waite and Experience Hinsdell, they made their way cautiously up the Pocumtuck Path ; past the gruesome scene of the Battle of Bloody Brook ; along the edge of Deerfield ; across Deerfield River above the guarded ford ; two miles through the unbroken wilderness ; across Green River and along the present Greenfield main street, on to a plateau north of Mount Adams of the Green- field hills. Here, within about a mile of their destination, they halted to dismount and make the remainder of the distance on foot. Leaving their horses with a guard, they resumed their march across Fall River, up an abrupt hill, and out upon a slope, below which lay the sleeping camp at the head of the Falls. It was now a little before daybreak. The night before the Indians had held a great feast, warriors, women and children, all gorging themselves with rich salmon from the River, and fresh beef and new milk from the Hatfield raid. During the festivities fishers were out in canoes spearing salmon by torchlight, till a sudden shower extin- guished their torches. The same shower had covered the frontiermen's advance. The revels had been carried long past midnight, and when the satiated throng lay down to sleep, not a sentinel was posted, not a scout was abroad. As silently as they had come, the attacking party approach- ing the camp at the rear, pressed up to the wigwams and Rising of the Narragansetts 155 thrust their guns directly into them. At a given signal all fired. Many of the inmates were killed in their sleep. The imhurt, awakened in terror, cried out " Mohawks ! Mohawks ! " imagining their old enemy upon them ; and fled wildly hither and thither. Numbers leaped into the River and, carried over the falls, were drowned. Others rushed for the canoes and were shot down as they paddled or floated away. Others attempted to hide about the River's bank and were ruthlessly put to the sword. The slaughter was indiscriminate, women and children falling with the rest. The wigwams were bm-ned, and provisions and ammunition destroyed. Two forges that had been used in mending arms were demolished, and " two great piggs of lead " for making bullets were cast into the River. This was the extent of the victory. To this point it was complete, with scarcely any loss to the English and with ruin to the Indians. But the victors tarried too long on the scene ; then scattered unwisely. Thus fresh Indians from other camps — on the opposite bank and at Smead's Island below the Falls — were given time to come up and gather about them. Drawing off in disorder they rushed for their horses with the new horde at their heels. A band of twenty chasing some loaded canoes up the River were left behind when the retreat began. They fought their way back to their horses but were smrounded while mounting. One of them, Jonathan Wells, a youth of sixteen (the story of whose adventures and hairbreadth escapes is an oft told romance of the wars in the Valley), managed to break away, though sorely wounded. Catch- ing up with the main body he m-ged Captain Turner to turn back to their relief. The Captain could only reply, in the desperate strait of his shattered command, " Better save some than lose all." Their two guides differed as to 156 Connecticut River the safest route to take on the retreat. So the command broke up into bands, some following Waite, some Hins- dell, others taking a third course. Those who followed Hinsdell were all lost with him in a swamp. Throughout the dense forest the fleet-footed enemy " hung like a mov- ing cloud on flank and rear" of the fugitives. Turner, enfeebled by sickness, became exhausted, and was shot down while crossing Green River. With his death the lead devolved upon Captain Samuel Holyoke, an intrepid young soldier of Springfield. Displaying great courage, fighting with vigor when his horse was shot under him, he brought something like order into the demoralized ranks. But the enemy kept up the pursuit through the Deerfield meadows and along the length of Deerfield Old Street. When finally Hatfield was reached and the force was mustered, nearly a third were missing, and two of those present mortally wounded. Six of the missing straggled in later, worn and disheartened. The others were dead. The chaplain, Mr. Atherton, was of the latest to come in. He had been unhorsed and would have surrendered to the Indians ; but they would not receive him, running off scared by his parson's garb whenever he approached them to give himself up. They thought he was ^' the English- men's God." A month after the retreat a band of English scouts ranging the woods discovered the body of Captain Turner and gave it burial. A few years ago what was believed to be Turner's grave was found on the bluff west of where he fell, and marked by a tablet. Earlier the Great Falls had become Turner's Falls in remembrance of him. The scene of the Falls Fight is also marked by a monument. The destruction of the Great Falls camp bore heaviest Rising of the Narragansetts 157 upon the Pocuintucks. Their power was now broken be- yond recovery. " From this time and place," says Sheldon, " they pass into oblivion." The immediate result of this fight was the formation of guards and scouts from the militia of the towns systemati- cally to cover the frontiers. The system was established none too soon, for on the 30 th of May the enemy reappeared in force at Hatfield, presumably to avenge the Great Falls affair. Another hot fight here ensued. Seven hundred warri- ors comprised the attacking swarm. At first they had their own way, driving the few townspeople inside the stockade, burning and pillaging houses and barns outside the pale, and running off cattle. But soon, in the height of the looting, '' twenty-five resolute young men," crossing from Hadley in a single boat, and fighting off a crowd who attempted to prevent their landing, charged upon the ma- rauders with signal effect. The gallant twenty-five fought their way up to the front of the fort, where, hardest pressed, five of them fell. The others were saved by the Hatfield men who sallied out to their relief. Then, after more des- perate work, the Indians ran. Meanwhile a band had made an ambush on the Northampton road to head off' reinforcements who might appear from that direction, while another guarded the Hadley crossing. The latter band prevented the crossing of a relief force who had come from Northampton by a roundabout way through Hadley. When the enemy fled the town they withdrew up the River driving the whole Hatfield stock of sheep be- fore them. With one more assault hostilities in the Valley region came to an end. This was the attack of June 12 upon Hadley. 158 Connecticut River The Bay Colony authorities, after they had succeeded in redeeming a number of the English captives, among them Mrs. Rowlandson, but had failed in efforts for peace, since the Indian negotiators " did but dally," at length joined with the Connecticut government to force Philip from his stronghold at Wachusett, and to drive the enemy still remaining in the Valley. Two " armies " were ordered to come together at Brookfield or at the Hadley headquar- ters. Captain Samuel Henchman with four hundred horse and foot was ordered up from the Bay ; while Connecticut sent forward Major John Talcott with two hundred and fifty troopers and two hundred Mohegans under Oneko. Talcott set out from the military rendezvous at Norwich, Connecticut, on June 2 ; and Henchman started from Con- cord, Massachusetts, three days later. Talcott reached Brookfield first. He arrived on the 7th, " having killed or captiu-ed seventy-three Indians on the way." Not ventur- ing alone to attack Wachusett, he pushed on to Hadley, which he reached next day. Establishing himself at Northampton, he sent down to Hartford for ammunition and supplies. These arrived on the 10th, convoyed by Captain George Dennison (he who had been one of the cap- tains at the capture of Canonchet) and his company. There were now at or about headquarters in Hadley five hundred and fifty men. Captain Jeremiah Swain, who had succeeded Captain Turner, was in command of the Hadley garrison. Captain Henchman was daily expected, when the combined forces would number upward of a thousand. Upon his arrival they were immediately to push up to Deerfield, where Major Talcott had been told were collected five hundred warriors. The main body of " hostiles," however, were apparently farther up the River at a place provided by Passacus after the Great Falls fight. It is Rising of the Narragansetts 159 presumed that they were aware of Henchman's march from the east, but ignorant of the movements of Talcott and Dennison, and that the assault upon Hadley was to fore- stall Henchman's arrival here. For this assault seven hundred warriors swooped down from Passacus's new headquarters, and were before the town on the morning of the 12th. Strong bands were ambus- caded at the north and south ends of the town, and awaited the movements of the townspeople. Two men who had left the stockade contrary to orders fell among the am- bushed band at the south end and were killed. Thus this band were discovered to the garrison, and Captain Swain instantly sent a force out after them. While they were engaged with the garrison soldiers, the band at the north end sprang from their ambush. Rushing toward the stock- ade they found it lined with soldiers and Mohegans, and amazed, fell back in disorder. On the retreat some of them tarried to plunder a house, when it was struck by a missile from a small cannon. This was a weapon strange and awful to them, and they came " tumbling out in great terror." All were now on the run. The soldiers chased them for two miles northward. Disheartened by the repulse and the discovery of troops returned to the Valley with Indian allies, the fugitives reached their headquarters to find that in their absence their camp had been sacked by Mohawks and fifty of their women and children left dead in the ruins. This was the final blow, and they scattered aimlessly in the wilderness. Henchman arriving two days after the Hadley assault, on the 16th the forces moved up the Valley to scour both sides of the River. Talcott' s division took the west side ; Henchman's the east side. As they marched no Indians were seen. Deerfield was deserted of the five hundred said 160 Connecticut River to have been there. At night both divisions met at the Great Falls, drenched by a cold northeaster. The storm continued through the next day and night, spoiling much of their provisions and ammunition. Then they returned to Hadley, leaving scouts farther to range the woods. Now the "hostiles " were reported to be all in a continual motion, shifting gradually, some working toward Wachu- sett, others towards Narragansett, while Philip and his fol- lowers had left Wachusett for their old country, bent on whatever mischief they could do along the way. So the armies marched off, Henchman to the eastward, and Talcott to Hartford, leaving Captain Swain again in command in the Valley with the garrison men. Shortly after scouts from the Hadley garrison went up to Avhat it now Green- field and destroyed a deserted Indian fort on Smead's Island, with a stock of provisions in the " barns," thirty canoes, and a hundred wigwams. A month and a half later Swain received orders to collect the soldiers from all the garrisons " and march to Deerfield, Squakheag, and the places thereabouts, and destroy all the growing corn, and then march homeward." The carrying out of these orders on August 22 was the final act in Philip's War in the Valley. The finishing strokes, with the passing of Philip, were given in the Narragansett country where the war had begun. While the scouting parties were at their work along the River, Major Talcott with Connecticut troops, in conjunc- tion with the Bay and Plymouth forces, was in that region driving the enemy. By July, Philip and the remnant of his Wampanoags had reached his old lair at Mount Hope, deserted by all of his allies. The Narragansetts were scat- tered. The Nipmucks were drifting toward Maine and Rising of the Narragansetts 161 Canada. The broken Pocumtucks were mostly working westward to find refuge with the Mohicans. A small band of refugees fled to the Hudson. By Governor Andros's order they were secured, but their surrender at the demand of Connecticut refused. Lest others following might return with recruits, scouts ranged the woods about the lower Val- ley towns, while guards protected the people at their work in the fields. Late in July a body of several hundred re- fugees passed near Westfield going westward. The garrison soldiers gave chase, but they kept their way, taking "a southwest course as if to cross the Hudson at Esopus, to avoid the Mohawks." Three weeks later another band of two hundred crossed the Connecticut at Chicopee on a raft and disappeared beyond Westfield. They were overtaken at the Housatonic, and a number killed or captured. The rest got away also to the westward. These bodies of re- fugees were finally absorbed in the Mohicans. On the day that the orders went out to Captain Swaine at Hadley to destroy the corn (August 12), Philip, at last driven to bay by the great Indian fighter. Captain Benjamin Chiu-ch, — his ablest braves slain, deserted, betrayed, bereft by the capture of his wife and only son, crying in his grief, "My heart breaks, now I am ready to die," — fell, and his head was carried in triumph to Plymouth on the day ap- pointed for a public thanksgiving, there long to be exposed on the battlement of Plymouth fort. His boy, the last of the Massasoit race, was sold as a slave in Bermuda. The proud Wampanoags and the prouder Narragansetts had now suffered the fate of the Pequots. The Nipmucks also were broken up and had migrated north and west with the few surviving Narragansett warriors who had escaped capture. The treatment of the captured to the last was relentless. " Death or slavery was the penalty for all 162 Connecticut River known or suspected to have been concerned in the shedding of English blood." Many chiefs were executed at Boston and Plymouth on the charge of rebellion. Many captives not killed were distributed among the colonists as " ten- year servants." The sum of the war's results to the colonists was grave. Of the able-bodied men in the colonies affected, one in twenty had been killed or died of wounds, and the same proportion of families had been burnt out of their homes. At least thirteen towns had been wholly destroyed ; others had been sorely damaged. More than six hundred houses, near a tenth part of New England, had been burned. "There was scarcely a family in which some one had not suffered." Six hundred men, most of them in the prime of life, and twelve tried captains, had fallen on the battle-field; more, surviving the conflict, bore scars of their desperate encoun- ters. The cost of the war, in expenses and losses, reached a total of haK a million dollars, truly " an enormous sum for the few of that day." The group of Valley towns that had suffered the greatest hardships slowly recovered from the ravages of this war. With the advent of spring immediately following the close of hostilities an attempt to resettle Deerfield was made. This ended tragically. Later settlers effected a permanent lodgment, and it again became the frontier town, so to re- main for a third of a century, except the interval of five years during which Northfield was occupied. But Indian affairs continued unsettled. The hostile Valley clans, though expelled and scattered, were not sub- dued, and roving bands coming down from the north re- peatedly harassed the upper towns till the French and Indian wars broke upon the Valley. Rising of the Narragansetts 163 Still life at this period was not all sombre in the River towns. There were various mild diversions, chief among them the lecture days and training days. Not a little cheeriness was mixed with the perils of the River folk. Recalling their manners and their ways of living as the seventeeth century was closing, Roger Wolcott remarked the " simplicity and honesty of the generality." Their blemishes he observed to be too much censoriousness and detraction. " And as they had much cyder many of them drank too much of it." XIII The Sack of Deerfield. The Settlement, again the Outpost, repeatedly raided in the early French and Indian Wars — The first Captives marched to Canada from Deerfield and Hatfield — Knightly Quest of two Hatfield Men — Bootless raid of Baron de Saint-Castin — Motive of de Vaudreuil's Expedition resulting in the Sack — Deerfield as it appeared before the Onset — Completeness of the Sur- prise by De Rouville's Army — The Palisades scaled over Snowdrifts — Scene at the Parsonage — Siege of the Benoni Stebbins House — Start of one hundred and twelve Captives for Canada. DEERFIELD, as the outpost in the Valley from the time of its reoccupation by permanent settlers in 1682, had borne the brunt of the Indian raids upon the River towns during King William's War of 1690-1698, and in Queen Anne's War of 1702-1713, till the second year of the latter war, when the Marquis de Vaudreuil, French governor of Canada, sent out a midwinter expedi- tion directly for the destruction of this "frontier of the Boston government." It was the aw^ul work of that ex- pedition, in the burning of the town, the massacre or cap- ture of nearly all its inhabitants, and the marching of one hundred and twelve captives, the minister with his flock, three hundred miles over the ice and snow to Canada, which has become familiar in history and legend as "The Sack of Deerfield." More than a quarter of a century earlier some Deerfield settlers had formed a part of the first of all bands of cap- tive whites to be taken on this cruel journey through the wilderness, along which so many in subsequent parties fell 164 Door of the " Ensign Sheldon House," with its " Hatchet- Hewn Face." Relic of the sack of Deerfield, February, 1703/4. The Sack of Deerfield 165 by the way, less through exhaustion and exposure than from the Indians' tomahawk and scalping knife. The story of the captives' march that followed the Sack of 1703-4 is but a repetition, on a larger scale and with more tragic detail, of the story of the first one of 1677. The party of 1677 comprised twenty-eight men, women, and children. They were Hatfield and Deerfield folk, captured by a band of refugee Pocumtucks and a single Nar- ragansett, who had come down from Canada under a Cana- dian chief, in September of that year, — the year after the close of Philip's War. The Deerfield portion were survi- vors of a group of a half-dozen settlers, led by Quintin Stockwell, of " Stockwell Fort," destroyed in Philip's "War, who had ventured the resettlement of the town in the preceding spring. The raiders, unaware of the ven- ture at Deerfield, had first fallen upon Hatfield, supposing it to be the outmost settlement. The truth was discovered to them by the Deerfield camp-fire at twilight, after they had pillaged Hatfield and were starting up river on their return march, with their captives and plunder. Creeping down from the woods on East Mountain, they completely surprised the camp as supper was preparing. Though valiantly resisting the sudden assault, the little group of settlers were crashed by the superior numbers that sur- rounded them. Four of the six, with a Hatfield boy who happened with them, fell into the enemy's hands and were joined to the other captives on East Mountain. The Hat- field captives were composed of broken families, mostly the women and children. Of the full company of twenty-eight beginning the northern march, three or four fell by the way. John Root of the Deerfield group and the Hatfield boy, Sammy Russell, — who had lost his mother and younger brother in the slaughter at Hatfield, — were early 166 Connecticut River killed by their captors; and later a little Hatfield girl, Mary Foote. was killed, probably, like the boy, for stragg- ling. Benoni Stebbins, of the Deerfield group, managed to escape early in the journey, and got back to Hadley with the first authentic news of the destination of the cap- tives. Quintin Stockwell weathered the journey with much distress from wounds which he had received in the fight at Deerfield, and was subsequently ransomed. " Old Sergeant Plympton," — not so very old, being under sixty, — another of the Deerfield group, who had served with Captain Moseley in Philip's War, was burned at the stake after the arrival in Canada. A woman captive was forced to lead him to the fire, we read, though the stout-hearted fellow approached it not only unflinchingly but "with cheerfulness." Three wintry months were consumed on this first march, on which long halts were made at Indian camps far up the River ; and at its end the captives were scattered in French and Indian villages. A rescue party composed of soldiers and volunteers from Hatfield and the towns next below had hurried out in pursuit of the raiders, but after a bewildering chase for nearly forty miles up the Valley without result they re- turned disheartened. The wily foe had doubled on their tracks, and crossed and recrossed the River, so confusing all traces. Then followed a knightly quest by two Hatfield men, Benjamin Waite and Stephen Jennings, whose entire families were among the captives. Armed with papers from the Bay council authorizing their expedition, and with letters from the Bay governor to the French governor and to a great Indian sachem, making overtm-es for the redemp- tion of the captives, the two men started off on their lonely pilgrimage in the desolate season of December. After ex- traordinary exertions and grave perils, these adventurous The Sack of Deerfield 167 men met with the fullest success. Their families were restored to them, and finally, through the help of Frontenac at Quebec, the ransom of the whole party was effected. The reader of the narrative which Hubbard gives of this quest will be disposed to agree with him that it would have afforded "• Matter for a large Fiction to some of the ancient Poets." It was, as he says, unparalleled by " any attempt of that nature since the English came into these parts." Other similar and heroic pilgrimages followed in after years, the record of which ennobles the annals of New England colonial wars. For most of the time between the break-up of Quintin Stockwell's camp and the return of permanent settlers the fruitful plantation of Deerfield lay " a wilderness, a dwell- ing for owls and a pasture for flocks." The reoccupation in the spring of 1682 was effected by a handful of former settlers who had been scattered in the towns below. They were enabled to set up their few houses and rehabilitate the old fort unmolested till the opening of King William's War. Of that war the most threatening event in the Valley was an assault by an expedition of French and Indians from Canada, sent out against Deerfield in the autumn of 1694, under the Baron de Saint-Castin. He was that fiery yoimg Frenchman, Jean Vincent, who, com- ing out in the first regiment of regular troops sent over by the French government to Canada, afterward settled among the Indians of the Abenakis at Pentagoet, now Castine, on Penobscot Bay, and allied himself with their chief, Madockawando, whose daughters he took for wives, and became to the clan as their tutelar deity. Castin had accomplished the long march from the north undiscovered, skilfully eluding the English scouts then ranging the woods, 168 Connecticut River and had led his force down from East Mountain, intending to attack Deerfield at the north gate and take it by sur- prise, when a boy in the meadows chanced upon the creep- ing foe. The boy was shot before he could give the alarm, but the report of the gun gave it in his stead. At the signal the townsfolk hastened within the stockade, and the men took position for defence, drilled as they had been for just such a sudden attack. The school-dame and her flock of children were the last to get under cover. As they were rushing to the gate they were chased and fired upon ; and they had barely reached it, with bullets whistr ling about their ears, when the general assault began. It was of short duration, for the stockade was successfully defended and the enemy were discomfited. Then they were " driven ignominiously back to the wilderness." The Deerfield upon which Vaudreuil's expedition of February, 170.S-4 fell had grown to embrace forty-one houses and two hundred and sixty-eight inhabitants. It was built as now along the length of the plateau of the Town Street. Fifteen of the forty-one houses were within the line of the stockade, twelve north and fourteen south of it. Meetinghouse HiU is now marked by the monu- ment which commemorates the settlers and the men of the Civil War, and stands in the Common midway on Deer- field Old Street, within the lines of the old fort. The minister's little house, forty-two by twenty feet, with a lean-to, and his bam, both of which the town had built for him, stood back on the Common, where is now the academy. Benoni Stebbins' and Ensign John Sheldon's houses, im- portant features in the Sack of the town, stood nearby to the northward. An inscribed tablet on the Common, beneath old elms, marks the site of the former; and a few rods The Sack of Deerfield 169 above a similar tablet marks that of the latter. The Sheldon house at the time of the Sack was the largest in the place. These three houses were a group by themselves twelve or fifteen rods from the houses on the east and south. Grave apprehensions of trouble, based on reports of the enemy's movements, had been felt some time before it came, and the townsfolk had all been living inside the fort. In the previous May the council at Boston had provided a guard for the town, and the soldiers composing it were quartered among the inhabitants. Two were latterly as- signed to the minister's house, one of these being John Stoddard, son of the Northampton minister, who afterward, as Colonel John Stoddard, became the chief military man in the Valley. In October, the minister, John Williams, sent to Governor Dudley at Boston a particular account of the distress of the town under the dangers to which it was exposed. The townspeople, he wrote, had been "driven from their houses and home lots into the fort," where were then but ten house-lots. Similarly wrote Solomon Stoddard, the Northampton minister. " Their houses are so crowded, sometimes with soldiers, that men and women can do little business within doors, and their spirits are so taken up with their dangers that they have little heart to undertake what is needful for advancing their estates. . . . "Sometimes they are alarmed and called off from their busi- ness, sometimes they dare not go into their fields ; and when they do go, they are fain to wait till they have a guard." Almost the only communication between the houses, according to another account, was by passages underground from cellar to cellar. Such was the little village within the rude walls of the picketed fort on the night before the attack, on the last of 170 Connecticut River February. When that night closed down Sheldon counts two himdred and ninety-one souls here. Of these, he finds, twenty were garrison soldiers ; two were visitors from Hatfield ; three. Frenchmen from Canada ; one, a friendly Indian ; and three, negro slaves. The rest were the towns- people, of all ages, "from Widow Allison of eigthy-four years, to John, the youngling of Deacon Trench's flock, of four weeks." In the minister's house with him were his family, — his wife Eunice, a daughter of Eleazer Mather, the earlier Northampton minister, and seven of their eight living children, with two negro slaves, a maid and a man, — and the two soldiers as guard. In the Stebbins house were three families and a guard. In the Sheldon house, — the ensign's family, and his newly married son with his bride, bom Hannah Chapin of Springfield, whose wed- ding journey had been a winter's trip from Springfield to this house on horseback, the bride riding a pillion behind the groom. Outside, the snow lay heavily on the meadows, and piled in drifts against the stockade. Vaudreuil's expedition was undertaken ostensibly in aid of the Abenakis of Maine, in response to an appeal from some of these Indians for help to revenge upon the English a real or fancied wrong suffered at their hands ; but more particularly in the hope of embroiling the Eng- lish with the Abenakis and breaking their treaty of peace. As de Yaudreuil reported after the Sack, " Sieur de Rou- ville's party, My Lord, has accomplished everything that was expected of it ; for independent of the capture of the fort, it showed the Abenakis that they could truly rely on our promises; and this is what they told me at Mon- treal on the 13th of June when they came to thank me." A side motive which Sheldon discloses in his ingenious brochure, Neio Tracks in an old Trail, was the French The Sack of Deerfield 171 governor's desire to secure the person of Parson Williams to hold for the exchange of Captain Baptiste, the French prisoner in Boston, to whom the minister makes a passing allusion in his Redeemed CajJtive, as Captain Battis, who was a more important personage, at least to de Vaudreuil, than appears in the histories. The expedition was carefully planned and abundantly equipped for the journey down and back to Canada. It was composed of two hundred French soldiers, and one hundred and forty Indians, part French Mohawks, or " Macquas," probably, Sheldon says, in civilized dress, and part Abenakis, in native costume. Hertel de Rouville, the commander, was an officer of the line, leader six years before of the attack upon Salmon Falls Village, in New Hampshire, and afterward, in 1708, leading in the pitiless massacre at Haverhill, Massachusetts. Second in com- mand was his brother, Lieutenant de Rouville. The soldiers were provided with snowshoes, and came down the Valley with little difficulty over the crusted snow and the frozen River. An extra supply of snowshoes and moccasins was brought for the use of the captives they expected to take. Provisions were conveyed on sleds, some drawn by dogs, as far as the mouth of West River, at the present Brattle- borough. Here the sleds and dogs were left with a small guard, and the rest of the way was made with scant supply of food in the packs which each man carried. Before the end of the march the band were obliged to subsist on such game as the Indian hunters could kill. As the town was approached the French soldiers were half starved and on the brink of mutiny. The party were made ready for the assault under cover of night on the bluff overlooking North Meadows, a mile and a half northwest of the fort. Crossing Deerfield River 172 Connecticut River on the ice near Red Rocks, a halt was again made till spies had gone forward and learned how affairs stood in the vil- lage. All about the fort was found in deep quiet ; even the watchman was asleep. Tradition tells that the wearied sentinel, while on his beat in the depth of the night, had heard from one of the houses " the soft voice of a woman singing a lullaby to a sick child," and leaning against the window of the room where the child lay to listen to the song had himself dropped asleep under " the soothing tones of the singer." Moving cautiously across North Meadows and down to the village, the invaders stole upon their prey. It was now two hours before daybreak. Easily scaling the palisades over the snowdrifts against them, at the northwest corner of the stockade, De Rouville's men were inside and scattered among the houses before a soul was aware of their presence. The surprise was complete. The roused sentinel discharged his gun and gave the cry of '' Arms ! " before he was overcome, but the alarm was drowned in the din that instantly arose. The signal for general attack was an assault by twenty of the Indians upon the minister's house, the French soldiers meanwhile " standing to their arms and killing all they could that made any resistance." What befel the minister's household, and how pluckily if not recklessly the parson displayed his mettle, his own narrative best portrays : They came to my house in the beginning of the onset, and by their violent endeavors to break open doors and windows with axes and hatchets, awakened me out of sleep ; on which I leaped out of bed, and, running towards the door, perceived the enemy making their entrance into the house. I called to awaken two soldiers in the chamber, and returning toward my bedside for my arms, the enemy immediately broke into the room .... with painted faces and The Sack of Deerfield 173 hideous acclamations. I reached up my hands to the bedtester for my pistol, uttering a short petition to CTod for everlasting mercies for me and mine on account of the merits of our glorified Redeemer, expecting a present passage through the valley of the shadow of death. . . . Taking down my pistol, I cocked it, and put it to the breast of the first Indian that came up. But my pistol missing fire, I was seized by three Indians, who disarmed me, and bound me naked, as I was in my shirt, and so I stood for near the space of an hour. Binding me, they told me they would carry me to Quebec. My pistol missing fire was an occasion of my life's being preserved ; since which I have also found it profitable to be crossed in my own will. ... I cannot relate the distressing care I had for my dear wife, who had lain in but a few weeks before ; and for my poor children, and Christain neighbors. . . . The enemy fell to rifling the house, and entered in great num- bers into every room. I begged of God to remember mercy in the midst of judgment ; that he would so far restrain their wrath as to prevent their murdering of us ; that we might have grace to glorify his name whether in life or death ; and, as I was able, committed our state to God. The enemies who entered the house . . . insulted over me awhile, holding up hatchets over my head, threa ning to burn all I had ; but yet God, beyond expectation, made us in a great measure to be pitied. For though some were so cruel and barbarous as to take and carry to the door two of my children and murder them, as also a negro woman ; yet they gave me liberty to put on my clothes, keeping me bound with a cord on one arm till I put on my clothes to the other ; and then changing my cord, they let me dress myself, and then pinioned me again. Gave liberty to my dear wife to dress herself and our remaining children. About sun an hour high we were all carried out of the house for a march, and saw many of the houses of my neighbors in flames, perceiving the whole fort, one house excepted, to be taken. . . . Upon my parting from the town they fired my house and barn." The one house excepted — of those in the upper part of the fort — was the Ensign Sheldon house. Its stout door was hacked with axes and cut partly through, but could not be broken in. Through a slit bullets were shot at 174 Connecticut River random, and the ensign's wife was killed while sitting on a bed. The son and his bride jumped from a window of the east chamber in which Mrs. Sheldon was killed. Hannah, spraining her ankle in the fall, and unable to escape, unselfishly urged her husband to fly to Hatfield for aid. This he did, " binding strips of a woolen blanket about his naked feet as he ran." She was taken captive. Entrance to the house was at length effected by a back door, and those of its inmates remaining were captured. The ensign's little two-year old daughter tradition says was taken to the door and her brains dashed out on the door-stone. The house was set on fire as the Indians were leaving, but was saved from destruction. It remained for nearly a century and a half, a landmark of the tragedy known as the "Old Fort." The battered front door, sup- ported by the original door-posts — and with a print por- trait of de Rouville tacked upon its frame — is preserved in Memorial Hall hard by, with other relics of the Sack. About the Benoni Stebbins house the fiercest battle was fought, and here the tide was turned against the enemy. Attacked later than some of the other houses, its inmates had some time to prepare for defence. The women in common with the men armed themselves, and stood with their guns behind the windows ready to meet the first onslaught. When it came the Indians were driven back with loss from the well directed fire. A second assault by a stronger force was alike repelled. A short respite was permitted the besieged while the enemy was capturing, killing, and plundering at other points. Then the enemy came in force upon them, nearly the whole army, — the French soldiers now taking a part, — and surrounded the house. Bullets rained upon it from every quarter. The brave garrison sent out well-aimed shots in return. Several The Sack of Deerfield 175 more of the enemy fell, among them young Lieutenant de Rouville. In desperate attempts to set fire to the house a Macqua chief and several of his men lost their lives. This chief was the one against whose breast Parson Wil- liams had pressed his cocked pistol when seized in the parsonage. At length the assailants were driven to cover, — in the Sheldon house, which they now held, and the meeting-house. From these shelters the attack was re- newed. Still the garrison held out, and the beseigers were kept at bay till relief appeared. This came from a party of thirty men on horseback from the towns below who had hastened up in response to the alarm spread by young Sheldon, and by the smoke of the burning town. The siege had continued for three hours. Seven men and a few women in an unfortified house had successfully opposed " so great a number of French and Indians as three hund- red," — the figures are Parson Williams's. Truly, as Shel- don the historian exclaims, " in all the wars of New England there is no more gallant act recorded than this defence." Only one of the defenders was killed ; but he was the leader, — Sergeant Stebbins. One of the fighting women, Mrs. Hoyt, was wounded ; and also one of the two soldiers who had been stationed in the house as guard. When the relief party arrived a portion of the besiegers had with- drawn and were busied in collecting plunder, in killing the settlers' stock, in seciu-ing provisions for the return march, and in taking captives to the rendezvous. A rush was made on those continuing the siege, the others were scattered, and all driven " pell mell out of the north gate, across the home lots, and North Meadows." The Stebbins house freed, the men of its valiant garrison joined in the chase, while the women and children ran to the cover of Captain Jonathan Wells's fortified house outside the fort. The Stebbins house 176 Connecticut River was accidentally burned after its inmates had left. The chase, joined in also by Captain Wells and fifteen other Deerfield men with some garrison soldiers, was hotly con- tinued for about a mile, without order, each man fighting on his own hook. As the pursuers warmed up, coats were thrown off, then waistcoats, jackets, neckcloths. Captain Wells, fully alive to the danger of such a headlong pursuit of an Indian foe, tried hard to check it, but in vain ; and at length the pursuers ran directly into the " inevitable ambush." Nine were killed, the others fled back in a panic. At night, when the number of men gathered in the vil- lage from other towns had increased to about eighty, an immediate renewal of pursuit and attack was urged. But the difficulties in the way made successful result appear out of the question. The snow was three feet deep and impassable without snowshoes ; and of these there was scant supply. It was probable that the enemy could not be caught up with and attacked before daylight. If the approach of a rescue party were discovered they might and probably would at once massacre the captives. Such reasoning finally prevailed, and the scheme was re- luctantly abandoned. Diu:ing the following day Connecti- cut men, from farther down the River, began to arrive, coming in small parties, on horseback, till by nightfall the total of able-bodied men present had increased to two hund- red and fifty. Pursuit again was proposed. Now, how- ever, the weather had changed ; a warm rain had begun to fall, softening the snow and ice, and rendering travel hazardous. So this second plan had to be given up. Meanwhile the dead lying in the village were buried (in a common grave in the old graveyard on Academy Lane, leading along the lower side of the Common) ; and remnants The Sack of Deerfield 177 of the property of the remaining inhabitants left by the de- spoilers — strayed cattle, hogs, and sheep — were collected. Then a garrison of thirty or more men was formed imder Captain Wells, and established in his fortified house ; and those from other towns returned sadly to their own homes. There remained of Deerfield folk twenty-five men, with as many women, and seventy-five children, forty three under ten. Of the town's two hundred and sixty-eight inhabitants before the Sack, all but one hundred and twenty-six were either killed or in the hands of the enemy on the cruel march of three himdred miles through the wilderness. After the Sack the few survivors left in Deerfield re- solved to abandon the place. But Colonel Samuel Par- tridge, the military commander in the Valley, forbade them to leave. Soldiers were brought in from below and it was made a military station. The able-bodied men of the village were impressed as soldiers in the queen's service and the non-combatants were sent off to the lower towns. The impressed men were to labor in the fields by turns three days out of five. This was done at the peril of their lives, for the woods "were full of lurking Indians watching chances for spoil," and raids were of frequent occurrence. The enemy also continued at intervals to swoop down from Canada in force upon the frontiers. Near the middle of May following the Sack, Pascommuck, a fortified outlying hamlet of Northampton, was surprised by a band of French and Indians led by Sieur de Montingy, and the whole lot of settlers there, thirty-seven men, women, and child- ren, were captured and hurried off on the march for Canada. A company of horsemen speedily in pursuit caught the enemy not far on their up-river journey, but 178 Connecticut River with direful results; for the approach of tlieir piursuers " caused them to nock all the Captives on the head save five or six. Three they carried to Canada with them, the others escaped ; and about seven of those nocked on the head recovered, ye rest died." The leader of the pursuers, Captain John Taylor, of Northampton, was killed. Captain de Montingy had been sent down by de Vaudreuil, after the triumphant return of Hertel de Rou- ville, ostensibly to avenge some English wrongs upon a northern tribe, in pursuance of de Vaudreuil' s original policy of fostering the savage flame against the English ; and upon his return with the report of this slaughter, which "wonderfully lifted up" the Indians "with pride," de Vaudreuil resolved "to lay desolate all the places on the Connecticut River " at a single stroke. To this end he sent forth an army of seven hundred Indians and one hundred and twenty-five French soldiers imder Captain de Beaucours, with several Jesuits in the train. " This army went away in such a boasting and triumphing manner," wrote Parson Williams upon witnessing the de- parture during his captivity, " that I had great hopes God would discover and disappoint their design." They were disappointed, and they " tiurned back ashamed." De Vaudreuil' s inadequate explanation of the failure of the expedition, made in his home report, was that " a French soldier deserted within a day's journey of the enemy," whereupon a panic " seized the minds of our Indians to such a degree that it was impossible for Sieur de Beaucours to prevent their retreating." Sheldon's more reasonable view is that they probably found the River towns too much on the alert for a surprise, and they had " no stomach for an open attack." They doubtless also were affected by accounts of the performance of a scouting party, composed The Sack of Deerfield 179 of Caleb Lyman of Northampton and a few Connecticut Indian allies, twenty miles below the general Indian ren- dezvous of Cowass on the Great Ox-bow of the River in Newbury, Vermont side. This was the destruction of an Indian camp and the indiscriminate scalping of its occu- pants, women with the men, which brought about the abandonment of Cowass and the flight of its Indians Canada-ward. But so long as this army hovered about the frontiers its scouts harassed the outlying towns below Deerfield, as far down as Springfield. Deerfield ceased to be the frontier town after the close of Queen Anne's War, Northfield becoming the outermost settlement in 1714, when its long deserted lands were per- manently reoccupied. XIV The ''Redeemed Captive's" Story Journey of the Deerfield Band as described by Parson Williams — His last Walk with his Wife — Their tender Parting — The Gentle Lady soon Slain — Her Grave in the Old Deerfield Burying-groiind — Other Captives Killed on the Hard March — The Minister's Faith in the Practical Value of Prayer — The first Sunday out : Service of Sermon and Song — Canadian experi- ences — The Minister's Wrestlings with the " Papists" — Fate of his Chil- dren — A Daughter becomes a Chief's Wife — The "Lost Dauphm of France." OF the march of the Deerfield captives of 1704, its hardships, perils, and tragedies, we have the minutest particulars in the minister's unique account in his "Re- deemed Captive Returning to Zion," supplemented by the journal of his son Stephen, then a lad of about eleven. The forlorn company were gathered together and prepared for the march at the rendezvous at the foot of the moun- tain where the enemy had made ready for the attack upon the town. More than half of the one hundred and twelve, Sheldon says, were under eighteen years of age ; forty of them not over twelve, and twelve under five. One of the latter, a " suckling child," was killed before the march began. All were provided with moccasins in place of their shoes. As they ascended the bluff the unhappy band gazed back at the smoke of the fires, beholding '■' the awful desolation of Deerfield." Twenty-two of them were to fall under the cruel tomahawk, or perish from exposure or hunger on the march. Two were to have the good fortune of escaping. Only sixty were to retiurn to their friends. 180 The " Redeemed Captive's " son, Stephen Williams. Minister of Longmeadow for sixty-six years (1716-1782). The "Redeemed Captive's" Story 181 The rest were to adopt Indian or French habits ; some were to intermarry with their captors ; some to enter the Catholic religious orders in Canada. "We travelled not far the first day," runs the minis- ter's narrative. " When we came to our lodging-place the first night [in a swamp on Greenfield meadows] they dug away the snow and made some wigwams, cut down some small branches of the spruce-tree to lie down on, and gave the prisoners something to eat ; but we had little appetite. I was pinioned and bound down that night ; and so I was every night whilst I was with the army. Some of the enemy who brought drink with them from the town fell to drinking, and in their drunken fit they killed my negro man. In the night an Englishman made his escape ; in the morning I was called for, and ordered by the general [Rouville] to tell the English that if any more made their escape they would burn the rest of the prisoners." The minister's "master" thus far on the march — one of the survivors of the three Macquas who had first seized him in the parsonage and who held him as their especial prize — would not permit him to speak with any of the prisoners. But on the morning of the second day he passed to his other "master," who was so lenient as to give him the blessed privilege of walking for a while with his wife when they overtook the poor lady dragging her weak limbs through the trackless snow. Then follows this pathetic passage : " On the way we discoursed of the happiness of those who had a right to a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens ; and God for a father and friend ; as also, that it was our reasonable duty quietly to submit to the will of God, and to say, ' the will of the Lord be done.' My wife told me her strength of body began to fail, and that I must expect to part with her ; saying she hoped God 182 Connecticut River would preserve my life, aad the life of some if not all of our children with us ; and commended to me, under God, the care of them. She never spake any discontented word as to what had befallen us, but with suitable expressions justified God in what had happened. We soon made a halt, in which time my chief surviving master came up, ui)on which I was put upon marching with the foremost ; and so made my last farewell of my dear wife, the desire of my eyes, and companion in many mercies and afflictions. Upon our separation from each other we asked for each other grace sufficient for what God should call us to do. After our being parted from one another she spent the few remaining minutes of her stay in reading the Holy Scriptures." Poor lady indeed ! but rich in sweet virtues and simple faith. Very soon after this exalted parting she came to the death she had foreseen. In crossing Green River, through which all were compelled to wade,." the water being above knee-deep, the stream very swift," she fell prostrate in the chilling current. Weakened pitifully by her fall, she staggered but little beyond when " the cruel and bloodthristy savage who took her slew her with his hatchet at one stroke." The place where she thus fell is close to the upper line of Greenfield at the foot of the Ley- den Hills, and is now marked by a monument erected by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association of Deerfield. Word of her fate reached the minister while he was rest- ing at the top of the hill below which she was slain : " No sooner had I overcome the difficulty of that ascent but I was permitted to sit down and be unburdened of my pack. I sat pitying those who were behind, and entreating my master to let me go down and help my wife ; but he refused and would not let me stir from him. I asked each of the prisoners, as they passed by me, after her [and so got the awful tidings of her taking off]. And yet such was the hardheartedness of the adversary that my tears were reckoned to me as a reproach. My loss and the loss of my children The "Redeemed Captive's" Story 183 was great ; our hearts were so filled with sorrow that nothing but the comfortable hopes of her being taken away in mercy to herself from the evils we were to see, feel, and suffer under . . . could have kept us from sinking under at that time. . . . We were again called upon to march, with a far heavier burden on my spirits than on my back." Subsequently Deerfield men ranging this country after the sad procession had long passed, found the body of Eunice Williams, and bringing it back to the village gave it decent burial in the old graveyard near the common grave of the earlier victims of the Sack. To-day her grave is seen beside that of her husband, under boughs of arbor- vitse, with a headstone thus inscribed : " Here lyeth the Body of M'"^ Eunice Williams, the Vertuous & desirable Consort of the Rev^^"^ M^ John Williams & Daughter to y® Rev^d M'' Eleazer and M.^^ Esther Mather of Northampton. She was Born Aug* 2, 1664, and fell by the rage of y^ Barbarous Enemy March 1, 1703-4. Prov : 31, 28. Her Children arise up & Call her Blessed." Under forty years of age, the gentle lady had been the mother of eleven child- ren, six of whom survived her. The march continued along the west side country fol- lowing an Indian trail northeasterly, through the present Massachusetts towns of Leyden and Bernardstown, and Vernon over the Vermont line, to Brattleborough and the mouth of West River, when the Connecticut's frozen sur- face was taken. The camp for the second night was set in Bernardstown. Before the company were halted for this night two more had been killed, — an infant at the breast, and a little girl. Mr. Williams had also been threatened by an Abenaki who talked with his master about taking his scalp. But the master promised him that he would not be killed. At this camp a more equal dis- 184 Connecticut River tribution of the captives among the Indians was made, while the minister and others, stript of their good clothes, which the Indians sold to the French soldiers, were obliged to don the Frenchmen's coarser and dirtier garments. From Stephen Williams they took the " silver buttons and buckles which I had on my shirt." While here also the captives had a fresh alarm. Observing several of the savages peeling bark from trees, and acting strangely, they apprehended that some of them were to be burned. But the minister calmed their fears with the assurance that he was "persuaded that" God "wovild prevent such severities." As it happened these severities were not re- sorted to, but another unhappy woman, who " being near the time of her travail was wearied with her journey," was killed. From the rendezvous at the mouth of West River, where the sleds with the teams of dogs were taken, the march up the Connecticut was made with greater haste, for a thaw threatened the break-up of the ice. Several of the children were drawn by the Indians on the sleds with their wounded and their packs. For some hours the company travelled through slush and water up to the ankles. Near night Mr. Williams became very lame, from an ankle which he had wrenched not long before his cap- ture. And now there came to him one of several experi- ences on the journey that satisfied his believing soul of the practical value of prayer : "I thought, and so did others, that I should not be able to hold out to travel far. I lifted up my heart to God, my only refuge, to remove my lameness and carry me through with my children and neighbors if he judged it best; however, I desired God would be with me in my great change if he called me by such a death to glorify him; and that he would take care The "Redeemed Captive's" Story 185 of my children and neighbors, and bless them : and within a little space of time I was well of my lameness, to the joy of my friends who saw so great an alteration in my travelling." Others, however, were less fortunate. For the next day the speed was so great that four women became tired out and they were forthwith slain. Stephen's diary records of this time, " they killed near a dozen of women and children, for their manner was if any loitered to kill them." On the first Sunday of the tragic journey Bellows Falls had been passed and the mouth of Williams River reached. Here the whole company rested for that day, and the minister was permitted to hold that Christian service under the wintry sky, with the dusky heathen girding his shatr tered congregation, which is commemorated in this river's name. Mr. Williams rose grandly to the occasion. He prayed with his stricken people, and preached them a ser- mon, taking for his text " Lam. 1. 18 : ' The Lord is right- eous, for I have rebelled against his commandments : hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow : my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.' " Then, at the call of the Indians to " sing us one of Zion's songs," he and the congregation bravely lifted up their sad voices in a familiar hymn ; and some of their dusky auditors were fain to upbraid them because '' our singing was not so loud as theirs." Mr. Williams reflects mournfully upon the difference between the Indians' and the Papists' treatment of them in respect to freedom of worship. " When," he writes, " the Macquas and Indians were chief in power we held this revival in our bondage, to join together in the worship of God, and encourage one another to a patient bearing the indignation of the Lord till he should plead our cause. When we arrived at New France we were for- 186 Connecticut River bidden praying one with another, or joining together in the service of God." But their revival had no influence upon the policy of their captors. On the next day's march two women becoming too faint to travel were despatched. The day following occurred another pathetic parting, with an exhibition of the wonderful fortitude as well as faith of the women of this captive band : " In the morning before we travelled one Mary Brooks, a pioua young woman, came to the wigwam where I was and told me she desired to bless God who had inclined the heart of her master to let her come and take her farewell of me. Said she, ' by my falls on the ice yesterday I injured myself causing a miscarriage this night, so that I am not able to travel far : I know they will kill me to-day ; but,' says she, ' God has (praise be his name !) by his spirit, with his word, strengthened me to my last encounter with death,' and so mentioned to me some places of scripture seasonably sent in for her support. ' And,' says she, ' I am not afraid of death ; I can through the grace of God cheerfully submit to his will. Pray for me,' said she, at parting, < that God would take me to himself.' Accordingly she was killed that day." At the mouth of White River, now White River Junc- tion, Hertel de Rouville broke up the company into small parties who continued the journey in different directions. The party to which Mr. Williams with his children, other than Stephen, was attached followed the valleys of the White and Winooski rivers, Lake Champlain, the St. Lawrence, and Sorel rivers, to the French village of Chambly, fifteen miles below Montreal, being a little over a month on .he march. Stephen Williams was carried with the band that continued up the Connecticut and into the Coos country. After months of wandering, they struck across to the Winooski and made their way to Chambly and the Indian fort of St. FrauQois above, which was Pi The "Redeemed Captive's" Story 187 reached in August. The hardships of the minister's party were but httle relaxed through the remainder of their jour- ney. Early on the way another child, a little girl of four, was killed, her Macqua master finding the snow too deep for him comfortably to carry both the child and his pack. Still there were some worthy exhibitions of savage kind- ness. The minister's children fared exceptionally well. The youngest daughter, Eunice, aged seven, was " carried all the journey, and looked after with a great deal of ten- derness." The youngest boy, Warham, four years old, was " wonderfully preserved from death ; for though they that carried him or drew him on sleighs were tired with their journeys, yet their savage cruel tempers were so overruled by God that they did not kill him, but in their pity he was spared, and others would take care of him ; so that four times on the journey he was thus preserved till at last he arrived in Montreal." So also the elder son, Samuel, and the eldest daughter, Esther, " were pitied so as to be drawn on sleighs when unable to travel." Mr. Williams himself was occasionally helped along by his master. The latter made a pair of snowshoes for him, and the first day of wearing them he travelled twenty-five miles. Along one of the hard passages, when he was foot-sore, the mas- ter relieved him of his pack by drawing it with his own heavy one on the ice. One day they travelled from forty to forty-five miles. On the lake the devout minister had another " wonderful experience " of the miraculous efficacy of prayer, as he could not doubt : " When we entered on the lake the ice "was rough and uneven which was very grievous to my feet that could scarce bear to set down on the smooth ice on the river. I lifted up my cry to God in ejaculatory requests that he would take notice of my state and some way or other relieve me. I had not marched half a mile before there fell a 188 Connecticut River moist snow about an inch and a half deep, that made it very soft for my feet to pass over the lake to the place where my master's family was. Wonderful favors in the midst of trying afflictions ! " At length arriving at Chambly, Mr. Williams was hos- pitably received into a French gentleman's house and thank- fully enjoyed once again the luxury of a civilized table and rest at night on " a good feather bed." The greater part of the other captives had arrived before him and were dis- tributed among the Indians. His four children, who before the end of the journey had been separated from him, were, all but little Warham, in or about Montreal, in the Indians' hands. Warham had been bought by a French gentle- woman in Montreal as the Indians passed by. Nothing was at this time to be learned here of Stephen's fate. Later taken up to Montreal, Mr. Williams was placed under the guardianship of the governor, by whom he was held for exchange for Captain Baptiste. So far as it related to his " outward man " the governor's treatment of him was "courteous and charitable to admiration." He was as a guest in the governor's house. He was provided with clothing as became his station, given a place at the gover- nor's table, and "a very good chamber" for his living room. The governor also exerted himself to get the min- ister's neighbors out of the hands of the savages, and espe- cially to redeem his children, in which latter efforts the governor's lady lent her kindly aid. All the children were ultimately redeemed excepting the daughter Eunice, whom the Macquas would not give up at any price. So she re- mained permanently with them, growing early to their ways and customs, losing her native language and religion, becoming a Catholic under the teaching of nuns in her girlhood, and in time marrying a Caughnawaga chief who adopted her name of Williams. Young Stephen suffered r-; bO rs O c OS c C o •4-1 y G 3 > a; The "Redeemed Captive's" Story 189 many hardships and some romantic adventures, though " wonderfully preserved " through his long months of In- dian life, during a time of " famine whereof three English persons died." He became skilful in the arts of the Indian hunter, and an adept in woodcraft. He was finally ran- somed, and rejoined the father in the village of Chateau Riche, fifteen miles below Quebec, after a separation of more than a year. But while the minister's " outward man " was so com- forted by his treatment by the governor and other French- men, his heart was torn by the miseries of his captive people through the Jesuit schemes to force them into " Popery." He too was in constant battle in defence of his orthodoxy. Every art was employed to win or entrap him into the Romish fold. He was cajoled, threatened, reasoned with, badgered incessantly, the pressure tightened with his unbending resistance. Once, at Quebec, when the intendant offered to collect all the captives and his children together with him, and secure him " a great and honorable pension from the king every year," large enough for his and their " honorable maintenance," if he would be- come a Catholic, his spirited reply was, " Sir, if I thought your religion to be true I would embrace it freely ; . . . . but so long as I believe it to be what it is, the offer of the whole world is of no more value to me than a blackberry." Earnestly entreated by his lordship to accompany him in his coach to the great church on a saint's day, he replied, "Ask me anything wherein I can serve you with a good conscience, and I am ready to gratify you, but I must ask your excuse here." Shortly before his redemption, when he had been in Canada for two years, the " superior of the priests," remarking his now ragged clothes, told him that his " obstinacy against the Catholic religion prevented their 190 Connecticut River providing him better" ones. "It is better going in a ragged coat than with a ragged conscience," he retorted. He was denied intercourse with the other captives lest he should hinder the work of proselytism. But ways of communicating with them, and of sustaining them in their resistance were found. For the comfort of those who secretly visited him, he drew up, in his " solitariness," some "sorrowful, mournful considerations" on the situa- tion, in verse of "a plain style," although he was "un- skilled in poetry," — as the opening lines attest: " The sorrows of my heart enlarged are, Whilst I my present state with past compare. I frequently unto God's house did go, With Christian friends his praises for to show ; But now I solitary sit, both sigh and cry, Whilst my flock's misery think on do I." When the negotiations for the exchange of prisoners were finally completed the tussle with the French priests was at its sharpest. " I cannot tell you," the minister writes, " how the clergy and others labored to stop many of the prisoners. To some liberty, to some money and yearly pensions were offered if they would stay . . . Some younger ones were told if they went home they would be damned and burnt in hell forever, to affright them. Day and night they were urging them to stay ... At Montreal especially all crafty endeavors were used to stay " them. But the minister corralled most of the lot, and fifty-seven took passage on the homeward bound ship with him. This vessel sailed from Quebec in October, 1706, and in a month reached Boston. With Mr. Williams came two of his children, — Samuel and little Warham. Stephen had returned a year earlier, with Colonel William Dudley, The "Redeemed Captive's" Story 191 Governor Dudley's son, who had gone out with proposals for an exchange of prisoners. Esther, the eldest daughter, had preceded Stephen, having been brought home by En- sign John Sheldon with two of the latter's children and Mary (Chapin) Sheldon, his young daughter-in-law. Ensign Sheldon had made the first expedition for the redemption of the captives, and the first of three undertaken by him, quests as knightly as those of Waite and Jennings a quarter of a centm-y before. On this first trip, made in the winter season, on snow shoes, by way of Albany and the lakes, he had two companions : Captain John Livingstone of Albany as pilot, and young John Wells of Deerfield, who had lost a sister in the Sack, and whose mother was among the captives. Ensign Sheldon himself had four sons and daughters in the captive band, and his dead wife's brother with a large family. He carried pro- posals from Governor Dudley to Governor de Vaudreuil, but this mission was successful only in the ransom of part of his family and Esther Williams, and the return with him of Captain Courtemanche as a commissioner for the French side in the negotiations for exchanges. His second trip, again with Young Wells and another in Livingstone's place, made in the late winter of 1705-6, was more suc- cessful, for it secured the ransom of forty-three captives, the greater number of them Deerfield folk, who returned with him by ship from Quebec. His third pilgrimage was in the spring of 1707, and resulted in the return of seven captives, by the overland route, with an escort by Mon- sieur de Chambly, a brother of Hertel de Rouville. When Parson Williams returned from his captivity and came back to Deerfield, in December, 1706, the place was yet little more than a military post. The minister's resto- 192 Connecticut River ration to them, however, put new heart into the few towns- people, and something of the old town life was renewed. The town at once voted to build a new house for the min- ister, as "big as Ensign Sheldon's," which we have seen was the largest in the place ; and before the close of his first year back at home he was comfortably settled in the new parsonage with his children (save Eunice) again about him, and with another wife. The new house was placed on the site of the old one, and there it remained for more than a century and a half, the homestead, after the minis- ter's day, of generations of Williamses, and after them of another old Deerfield family. Then it was moved off a few rods westward, to make way for the academy ; and here it still stands, facing the minister's original home-lot, with an end on Academy Lane, a landmark protected with jealous care by its fortunate possessor. On the edge of the green which it fronts an inscribed tablet gives the passer the data of the home-lot and of the two houses. The min- ister's second wife, to whom he was married in September after his home-coming, was a cousin of the martyred Eunice, and, like her, a grandaughter of the Rev. William Warham, first minister of the Connecticut Windsor. She was Abigail, widow of Benjamin Bissel of Hartford, when she married the minister. Of Eunice Williams's children in the new household, three of the sons became ministers, and the daughter a minister's wife. These sons were put through Harvard Col- lege, graduating respectively, Eleazer in 1708, Stephen in 1713, and Warham in 1719. Eleazer, the eldest, was ab- sent at school at the time, and thus escaped capture in the Sack. He became the settled minister of Mansfield, Connec- ticut, in 1710, and remained there till his death in 1742. Stephen, three years after his graduation, was settled at The "Redeemed Captive's" Story 193 Longmeadow, down the River, and, in charge of that parish, spent his long life, which closed in his eighty-ninth year. He was a chaplain in the army in three expeditions of the later French and Indian wars. Warham was min- ister in Waltham, eastern Massachusetts, and died in that office in 1751, after twenty-eight years of service. Of his children three daughters married clergymen, and a son be- came a minister, professor, editor, and historian. He was Samuel Williams, LL.D., author of the first history of Ver- mont. Samuel, Eunice Williams's second son, became town clerk of Deerfield. He returned from captivity speak- ing the French language fluently ; and for this reason, in the latter part of Queen Anne's War, being then also a soldier, he was assigned to escort a party of French pris- oners overland to Canada. He died early, — in 1713, — never quite recovering from the hardships of his captivity. Esther, Eunice's daughter, married a minister of Coventry, Connecticut. Eunice, the daughter who remained with the Indians and married an Indian chief, was afterward found, but could not be induced to return to civilized life. Every effort to redeem her had failed, though strong influences had been exerted for her recovery. When, as chaplain in the expeditions of 1709 and 1711, Mr. Williams returned to Canada, the hope of rescuing her was strong in him ; and again when, in 1714, he and Captain John Stoddard were there as commissioners to treat for the return of prisoners, this hope was uppermost in his mind. Negotia- tions for her ransom were instituted by officials at Boston and at Albany ; but all to no purpose. The father never reached her. Years after, Stephen Williams, having found her, induced her to visit him at his home in Longmeadow. She came in her Indian garb, bringing her husband and a 194 Connecticut River train of grave-visaged Indians. She greeted her brother with affection ; but she was firmly attached to the life of the forest, and civilization had no attractions for her. Her party would not lodge in her brother's house, but occupied during their stay a wigwam, which they set up in the or- chard behind the parsonage. This incident of her visit has been related by a great-granddaughter of Stephen Williams : " One day my grandmother and her sisters got their Aunt Eunice into the house and dressed her up in our fashion. Meanwhile the Indians outside were very uneasy; and when Eunice went out in her new dress they were much displeased, and she soon returned to the house begging to have her blanket again." She lived to a great age, dying in her forest home after the close of the Revolution. Two of her great-grandsons, John and Eleazer Williams, spent some years of their boyhood in Longmeadow, receiving their education under " Deacon " Nathaniel Ely, who had married a granddaughter of Stephen Williams. One of them, Eleazer, became a minister and a missionary among the western Indians. He attained a greater notoriety in his later life through his acceptance of the claim that he was not of Indian blood, but of royal French, — the real " lost dauphin " of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. He was that claimant over whom controversy waged warm fifty years ago, and good men became heated to angry invectives against each other. Older readers will recall the circumstantial story of the Rev. John H. Hanson in his papers, " Have We a Bourbon among Us ? " and " The Bourbon Question," published in the Putnam's Monthly of 1853, which opened the dispute, and his sub- sequent book, " The Lost Prince," restating the story, and with not a little skill dealing with the critics and ridicu- lers of the claim. They wiU recall also the battle of the The ** Redeemed Captive's" Story 195 pamphleteers for and against the claim which continued after the death of the claimant in 1858. And lately the story has been revived for modern readers in an English publication, based almost entirely upon Dr. Hanson's book, but with slight if any consideration of the strong evidence adduced by his contemporaries against his theory. The basis upon which the Williams claim was made principally to rest was in three propositions : the alleged declaration of his identity as the dauphin made to him by the Prince de JoinviUe at Green Bay, Wisconsin, in October, 1841, upon the occasion of de Joinville's second visit to America, with the request that he should sign an abdication of the throne, which he declined to do ; of Williams's remarkable likeness to the Bourbons, and particularly to Louis XIV in feature and figure ; and of the appearance upon his person of a scar, at the exact point indicated where it should be, showing the mark of a crescent-shaped lancet which the Duchesse d'Angouleme had said, when she rejected the claim of Naun- dorf, would be found on her brother, made by the surgeon at the time of his inoculation, for the purpose of identifi- cation. Against these assumptions or declarations, counter evidence was brought (with the documents assuming to attest the death of the real dauphin in the Temple) to show that the fabric had been principally erected on Williams's " say so " ; that there was nothing substantial in support of the tale of the secret bringing of the dauphin to America and his sequestration with the Iroquois chief, the reputed father of Eleazer ; that the likeness of Eleazer to the Bourbons, if not largely imaginary, had no signifi- cance ; that he had the pronounced marks of the half-breed ; that his Indian birth was sufficiently authenticated; and that his head was turned by stories of his " royal origin " told him by some French officers. The last words in the 196 Connecticut River controversy were said in Putnam's Magazine in 1868, against the claim, by the Rev. C. F. Robertson, afterward bishop of Missouri, who was the literary executor of Eleazer ; and for the claim, by the Rev. Francis Vinton of Brooklyn, afterward of Trinity Church, New York. In Dr. Vinton's statement were related incidents which he had not been allowed to publish during the life of the persons concerned, the principal one being an astonishing recognition of Wil- liams as a Bourbon by Prince Paul William, Duke of Wurtemburg, in Mr. Vinton's Brooklyn church on a cer- tain Sunday in 1853, when Williams was assisting in the service ; while Dr. Vinton clinched the whole matter, at least to his own satisfaction, with the declaration that he himself had seen the identifying mark of the crescent on the back of Williams's shoulder. Widely differing charac- ters were given Eleazer by the contending partisans. Cer- tain soldiers, General Cass and General A. E. Ellis among them, who knew him and ridiculed his " claim," declared him to have been a vain deceiver and dissembler. The Episcopal ministers defending his cause pictured him as a simple-minded man, devoted to his missionary work, a loyal Indian leader in the War of 1812, abashed rather than elated by the notoriety of the " claim." Perhaps the truth lies between the two. But the claim to the French prince- dom has passed into oblivion, a closed romance of history. Parson Williams's second wife bore him five children. The eldest of them, Abigail, named for the mother, became three times a wife. The fourth child, Elijah, developed into an important man in the last two French wars. In the ''Old French War" of 1744-48, as captain, he had charge of scouting parties from Deerfield to cover the fron- tier on the north and west. In the final war, 1755-63, he was a major and assistant commissary, with headquarters The *' Redeemed Captive's" Story 197 in Deerfield. He was also a judge, a civil engineer, a rep- resentative in the General Court, and town clerk and selectman for a quarter of a century. Like his elder half- brothers, he was college bred, graduating from Harvard in 1732, and receiving an A. M. degree in 1758. He married first a Dwight of Hatfield, and second a Pynchon of Spring- field. His son, also Elijah, Harvard 1764, and an A. M. Dartmouth 1773, a lawyer by profession, was a Tory in the Revolution and served as a captain on the British side. He had a hard time with the "Liberty Men" when he came home to arrange some business matters, but he man- aged to escape with his life. The story of this remarkable Williams family has been enlarged in this chapter because it is the story of so many of the sturdy stock of early New England. Parson Williams died in the summer of 1729, in his sixty-fifth year, and was buried in the old graveyard by the side of the martyred Eunice. Abigail Williams sm*- vived him a quarter of a century. When she died, at the age of eighty-one, she was buried by the minister's side. The three gravestones with their inscriptions are the first to be sought by the traveller as he enters this serene en- closure on the meadows. In near neighborhood are the graves of Ensign and Hannah Sheldon. In a corner of the yard is the mound beneath which was the common grave of the victims of the Sack, marked "The Dead of 1704." In Memorial Hall are displayed against the walls of an upper room inscribed tablets commemorating each of the captives of 1704. In the library of the Pocumtuck Memo- rial Association, housed in other rooms, is preserved the manuscript of Stephen Williams's journal of the march of the captives. XV Upper River Settlement Northfield the Outpost in 1714 — Fort Dummer at the present Brattleborough The Pioneer Upper Valley Town — The "Equivalent Lands" — "Num- ber 4" at the present Charlestowu — Father Rale's War — Gray Lock — Scouting-parties of River Men — Chronicles of their bold Adventures up the Valley — Schemes for new Townships — The " Indian Road " — Six Up- river Town Grants — The Massachusetts-New Hampshire Boundary Dis- pute — The Old French War — Abandonment of the new Plantations — Heroic Defence of " Number 4 " — Story of a Remarkable Siege. THE plantations in the Valley above the north Massa- chusetts line were few and precarious till the close of the last French and Indian War with the conquest of Canada in 1760. None in the region was attempted till after Father Ralle's (or Rale's) War of 1722-1725. At the end of Queen Anne's War there was no English lodg- ment on the River beyond Greenfield, then Green River Farms, a district of Deerfield. The following year, 1714, Northfield, now permanently reestablished, became the frontier town. Its territory at this time extended above the present Massachusetts line, and embraced parts of Hinsdale and Winchester, now in New Hampshire, and Vernon over the Vermont border. With its forts and fortified houses it remained a strategic point of impor- tance through the succeeding border wars. During Father Rale's War the English military outpost was advanced up the west side of the River above Northfield with the erec- tion of Fort Dummer at what is now Brattleborough, Ver- mont. With the close of that war Fort Dummer became 198 Upper River Settlement 199 a truck-house for trading with the again peaceful Indians coming down from Canada, and soon a slender settlement, mostly of traders, grew up about it. This was the pioneer settlement of the Upper Valley. It was the nucleus of Brattleborough, chartered and named some years later, the first English township in what is now Vermont. It remained the only Upper Valley settlement till or about 1740. Fort Dummer was erected by the province of Massa- chusetts, which then claimed jurisdiction northward up the River forty miles above the present state line, eastward as far as the Merrimack River, and due west indefinitely. The fort was designed for the protection of all the north- western frontiers of Massachusetts and Connecticut. It was ordered at first to be garrisoned by " forty able men, English and Western Indians," friendly Mohawks. They were to be employed in scouting up the River and its tributaries Canada-ward, and easterly above Great Monad- nock, to sight the enemy approaching any of the frontier towns. The fort was placed on a section of the " Equiva- lent Lands " above Northfield, which extended along the west bank of the River between the present limits of Brattleborough, Dummerston, and Putney. The " Equiva- lent Lands " comprised four parcels of unoccupied tracts in different localities, one hundred and seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-three acres in all, that Massachu- setts had transferred to Connecticut when the boundaries between these two colonies were determined in 1713, as an " equivalent " for certain townships (among them Enfield and Suffield on the River) previously in the Massachusetts jurisdiction, but falling southward of the defined line, which Connecticut granted to remain with Massachusetts. Thirty years after, these townships, complaining of Massachusetts 200 Connecticut River taxation and assuming to have been originally within the Connecticut charter, again shifted to Connecticut of their own motion. Shortly after the acquisition of the " Equiva- lent Lands," or in 1716, Connecticut sold them in a lump at public vendue in Hartford and gave the proceeds to Yale College. They were bid off by a group of Massa- chusetts, Connecticut, and London capitalists, who got them for a little more than a farthing an acre. The pur- chasers making a partition of the lands the parcel above Northfield fell to four Massachusetts men. These were William Dummer, then lieutenant-governor and acting- governor of the province, William Brattle of Cambridge, and Anthony Stoddard and John White of Boston. Hence the name of the fort for the lieutenant-governor, and of the township, subsequently established, for the Cambridge nabob. The site selected for Fort Dummer is in the south- eastern part of Brattleborough, and the locality is still known as Dummer Meadow. It was built under the supervision of Colonel John Stoddard of Northampton, Parson Stoddard's son, the soldier who was in Parson Williams's house at the time of the Sack of Deerfield. Lieutenant Timothy Dwight, also of Northampton, later a judge, the ancestor of President Timothy Dwight of Yale, had immediate charge of the work ; and he was the fort's first commander. It was constructed of hewn yellow pine timber, which then grew in great abundance in the neigh- borhood, laid horizontally nearly in a square. The longest side was presented to the north. Within, built against its walls, were the "province houses," the habitations of the garrison and other inmates. Its equipment comprised four " patereros," light pieces of ordnance mounted on swivels, with small arms for the garrison. It had a Upper River Settlement 201 " great gun," but this was used only for signals to summon aid or to announce good tidings. It was a stout structure, and believed to be proof against ordinary assault. But in October following its completion (1724) it was attacked by a band of seventy Indians and four or five of the garrison were kiUed or wounded. Subsequently a stockade was built about it composed of square timbers twelve feet long- set upright in the ground. The stockade inclosed an acre and a half of ground. This fort, with " No. 4," later erected up the River at Charlestown, New Hampshire side, was the chief northern military outpost till the conquest of Canada. Father Rale's War, though mainly a rising of the tribes east of the Merrimack, and in the province of Maine, led by the Jesuit enthusiast and backed by the French Governor de Vaudreuil, broke into the Valley in side assaults by Canadian Indians incited by De Vaudreuil's emissaries. All the towns in the Massachusetts Reach were imperilled, and deadly assaults by small bands from ambuscade upon workers in the fields were frequent. It was the method of this enemy to come stealthily down the River in considerable numbers, and make camps at conven- ient and secluded spots near the towns. Thence spies would be sent out, and upon their reports of unguarded points, small bands would issue forth to take scalps and captives. In one of his reports Colonel Samuel Partridge of Hatfield, then the rugged military commander in the Massachusetts Reach, though bearing a weight of seventy- eight years, wrote, '^ the enemy can and sometimes do lie in wait two months about a town before they kill or take, as some of them have acknowledged." They were Indians of the St. Francis tribes living at the confluence of the St. Francis and St. Lawrence Rivers, and the Caughnawagas 202 Connecticut River established near the northerly end of Lake Champlain. The leader of their most daring expeditions was Gray Lock, so called from the color of his hair, whose name survives in the majestic Graylock mount of the Berkshire Hills, in North Adams. Gray Lock was an old Warranoke chief who, previous to King Philip's War, had lived on the Agawam (Westfield) River. Upon the dispersion of the tribe he had gone to the Mohawk country. He was well known to all the River towns as a wily warrior. Now an old man, he is pictured as noble in aspect like the height that bears his name. At this time his seat was on the shore of Missisquoi Bay, where he had erected a fort and had collected numerous followers. After the war had opened, Governor Dummer and the captains of the Valley had endeavored with gifts to win him and some of the Caughna- waga chiefs to the English side. But they were too late. The French had got their presents in first. Gray Lock him- self managed to dodge the English messengers, always happening to be away from his camp when they called. He took the war-path in the summer of 1723, and he was the terror of the Valley to the end. To head off Gray Lock's and other expeditions, and to watch and ward the north and western frontiers while the main theatre of hostilities was kept in the eastern country, was the part of the Valley towns in this war. Accordingly the chief operations were those of scouting parties into which many of their lusty young men were pressed. The chronicles of those scouting adventures, in the terse jour- nals of the leaders, furnish fine material for colonial romances. They tell of silent marches through the un- broken wilderness, along treacherous Indian trails ; of win- ter travelling over the ice of the River or along the forest paths on snowshoes, constantly apprehensive of Indian 3 'en o S > o W X O o Upper River Settlement 203 ambuscades ; of magnificent endurance, courage, and nerve. While, acquainting themselves with the region, these men marked the way for the plantations that eventually followed. Much of the scouting was in the woods and over the heights between Northfield and Bellows Falls on both sides of the River ; and in this reach the pioneer Upper Valley settlements were afterward attempted. But several parties of rangers penetrated the Valley far above into the rich Coos country. More than one crossed to Lake Champlain, and pushed close to the Canadian borders. The leaders had thus early become familiar with the various northern trails through previous expeditions. Chief among them, by virtue of age and experience, was Captain Benjamiu Wright of Northfield. He had done bold work along these trails in Queen Anne's War. The son of one of the settlers from Northampton killed at the destruction of Northfield in Philip's War, he had been a mortal enemy of the savages from that time, when he was a boy of fifteen. He was the first of English scouts to lead a " war- party " up to the Indian rendezvous of Cowass on the Great Ox Bow in Newbury, Vermont. That was in 1708, in the depth of winter, the "war-party" comprising a few Deerfield men and friendly Indians travelling on snow- shoes. It was an expedition to discover the rendezvous and the plans of " hostiles " supposed to be in force there. It failed in the latter respect, for when the place was reached the Indians had flown. The expedition of Caleb Lyman of Northampton, in the summer after the Sack of Deerfield, referred to in a previous chapter, was an attempt to discover the same rendezvous, but L^nnan fell short of the goal by about twenty miles. By the summer of 1709 Captain Wright had advanced his scouts to within forty miles of Chambly. In the last summer of Father Rale's 204 Connecticut River War he headed a band of volunteers who penetrated the wilderness farther than any previous English force had reached. Captain Thomas Wells of Deerfield was another of the veteran scouts of this war who led bands of savages far up the Valley. In the spring of 1725 he reached the Canadian frontiers with a company hastily recruited from Deerfield, Hatfield, and Northampton. Making note of its richness in passing, he afterward profited as a proprietor in one of the new townships. But the most effective work, in that it opened the region that first was settled, was accomplished by the scouts sent out from Fort Dummer, who ranged the country systematically between Northfield and the " Great Falls," — the Bellows Falls of to-day. These rangers were mainly directed by Captain Josiah Kellogg, then commander at Northfield. He was a returned Deerfield captive, experi- enced in the ways of the Canadian Indians from having lived their savage life. When captiu-ed at the Sack of Deerfield he was a boy of fourteen (native of Hadley), and in the distribution of captives he fell to a Macqua who took him for his own. He lived the free forest }ife for ten years, acquiring meanwhile, with the skill of the hunter and trapper, a know^ledge of French and of the language spoken by the northern tribes and by the Mohawks. Thus after his return to civilization he became of great value to the colonial leaders as an interpreter in their Indian councils. From the time of his return to his death in 1757 he was almost constantly employed in pub- lic service on the frontiers. The journals of his scouting bands sent out in the winter of 1724-25 tell their story with vividness and brevity. Some scaled the mountains — the wild Wantastequat, opposite Brattleborough, and Kilburn Peak by Bellows Falls — and spent long winter Upper River Settlement 205 nights on the summits " to view morning and evening for smoakes " of the enemy. Others scoured the woods on both sides of the River, crossing below the Falls and mak- ing a circuit of the country. Others pushed up West River, then steering northward, struck Saxton's River and fol- lowed that stream to its mouth in the Connecticut. The scouting was kept up for a while after the close of Father Rale's War with '' Lovewell's Fight " at what is now Fryeburg, Maine, and the death of De Yaudreuil in Canada, which "broke the mainspring" of the Indian campaign. Vigilance in the Valley was still necessary, for Gray Lock continued on the warpath, he having refused to join in the treaty of peace with the Eastern Indians. Sometime in 1726 he was actually on the way with a hos- tile party, which he had collected about Otter Creek, to fall upon the River towns. He expected to catch them unguarded, and was tiu-ned aside only by word from his scouts that a fighting force yet remained at Fort Dummer. Meanwhile, however, movements for new settlements had already begim. Quick upon the ratification of peace petitions for grants of lands above the northern and west- ern frontiers showered upon the General Court at Boston ; and soon the government was moving to establish new townships. First the Court made provision for a " careful view and survey" of lands between Northfield on the Con- necticut and Dunstable (Nashua, New Hampshire), on the Merrimack, ten miles in width, preliminary to marking out townships. A scheme at this time contemplated three lines of townships, " in a straight and direct course," one up the Connecticut, one up the Merrimack, and the third in the Eastern country, or Maine, between the Newicha- wannock (part of the Piscataqua River) at Berwick, and Portland, then Falmouth. The survivors of the Indian wars 206 Connecticut River and the families or heirs of those that had fallen were to have first preference in land grants issued. In January 1727-8, the Court authorized an exploration of the region between the northern frontiers and Canada. One party was " to march up the Connecticut River to a branch thereof called Amonusock [the Ammonoosuc] and up the same, and round the White Hills, and down Androscoggin River to Falmouth, observing the distance of rivers, ponds, and hills." Another party was to discover the country between the Connecticut and Lake Champlain. Later, traders explored the " Indian Road," — by way of the Con- necticut, Black River at the present Springfield, Vermont side, Otter Creek, and Lake Champlain, — the route usually taken by the Indians coming down from the north to the Truck House at Fort Dummer. The diary of a journey made in 1730 by one of these traders, — James Cross of Deerfield, — describing the course of this Road and the country about it, was laid before the government. The messages of the Massachusetts governor, now Belcher, repeatedly urged measures to advance the settlement of ungranted lands. At one time he advised the employment of " a good number of hunters " to travel the woods on the frontiers and so gain a knowledge of them that would con- tribute to the future quiet of the country. But the plan for lines of towns northward moved slowly. The Council non-concurred with the House in some of the details upon its periodical appearances through sev- eral years. In the interim a few grants were issued to individuals, soldiers and others ; and to petitioners for town- ships close to the established frontier towns. Two of these township grants were in the Valley. One was issued in 1732, to Colonel Josiah Willard, afterward commander at Fort Dummer, and sixty associates, for what became Upper River Settlement 207 Winchester, east of Hinsdale, New Hampshire side. The other, given out in 1734, went to the survivors and heirs of the dead of Captain Turner's company in the "Falls Fight" (Turner's Falls) of 1676, for the establishment of " Falls Fight Township," which evolved into Fallstown, and ultimately Bemardston (for Governor Bernard), west of Northfield. At length, in January, 1735-6, the Court and Council came to an agreement for a line of towns between the Merrimack and the Connecticut and set the machinery in motion to carry out this project. A survey was ordered of the lands between the two rivers from Rumford (now Con- cord, New Hampshire) to the Great Falls (Bellows Falls), twelve miles broad, or north and south ; and provision was made for the distribution of this territory into townships of the then regulation size of six miles square. Also, the lands bordering the Connecticut south of Bellows Falls, on the east side to Colonel Willard's town (the later Winchester), and on the west side to the " Equivalent Lands," were to be resolved into similar townships. The result of these measures was the plotting of twenty-eight townships be- tween the two rivers ; and two on the west side of the Connecticut. In November, 1763, at a meeting of peti- tioners for grants, called to assemble in Concord, Massachu- setts, grantees were admitted to four plotted townships on the east side of the Connecticut and two on the west side, designated by numbers, those on the east side being num- bered in sequence going up stream, and those on the west side, going down stream. The next step was taken a month later when a grantee in each group was appointed to caU first meetings of the several proprietors for organization. Thomas Wells of Deerfield was named to organize the pro- prietors of Number 4, the uppermost east side township. 208 Connecticut River amonor whom were several other Deerfield men, and their first meetings were held in Hatfield. The others generally met in eastern Massachusetts. Number 1 west side was organized in Taunton. Thiis were started, but not yet settled, the up-river townships that became Chesterfield, Westmoreland, Wal- pole, and Charlestown on the New Hampshire side ; and Westminster and Putney on the Vermont side. The terms upon which these and other township grants were made are interesting to recall. Each grantee was required to give bonds in forty pounds as secm-ity for the performance of the conditions named. The grantees were to build •* a dwelling-house eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least on their respective house-lots ; fence in or break up for plowing, or clear, and stock with English grass, five acres of land ; and cause their respective lots to be inhabit- ed within three years from the date of their admittance." Also within the same time they were required to '•' build and finish a convenient meeting-house for the public wor- ship of God, and settle a learned orthodox minister." Each township was divided into sixty-three rights : sixty for the settlers, and the other three, one for the first settled minister, one for the second settled minister, and the third for a school. Scarcely a foothold had been effected in these new River townships when the climax of the boundary dispute between New Hampshire and Massachusetts was reached by the king's decree which shifted them all outside the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and made necessary readjust- ment of the titles. By this decree, March 5, 1739-40, which established the line as it now runs, Massachusetts lost all of the new townships marked out between the two rivers, and on either side of the Connecticut above North- Upper River Settlement 209 field, together with a large amoimt of unoccupied land that lay intermixed, and a vast tract on the west side of our River. New Hampshire on the other hand was given a far greater domain than she had ever claimed, her new bounds embracing a territory more than fifty miles in length, and extending due west, above the new north Massachusetts line, to " his majesty's other governments," which was assumed to take in all of the present Vermont, and northward to the province of Quebec. Then the royal province of New Hampshire was reinstated under its own governor, and in July, 1741, Benning Wentworth, son of the previous Lieutenant-Governor Wentworth, and an opulent merchant of Portsmouth, received the king's com- mission as governor-in-chief, empowered to grant town- ships, in the king's name, in the new territory which the province had acquired. For a few years after the shifting of jurisdiction the proprietors of the new River townships continued under their Massachusetts charters, while little groups of settlers ventured on their lands. In 1740, at about the time of the boundary decision, three families from Lunenburg, north of Lancaster, Massachusetts, toiled up the River with their supplies and began the east-side settlement of Number 4, which became Charlestown. The next year, John Kilbiu-n, originally of Wethersfield, Connecticut, left Northfield with his family, and started the plantation which became Walpole. Not long after, a pioneer was at Nimiber 1, — Chesterfield. He planted, perhaps, near a preserve of five hundi-ed acres granted to Governor Bel- cher in 1732, partly in the limits of this township, and embracing West Mountain, or Wantastequat, and long after known as " The Governor's Farm." In 1741, also, a family or two had moved up from Northfield to Number 210 Connecticut River 1 on the west side, — Westminster, — where was akeady one rough log-house set up by pioneers two years earlier. By 1742 a few families from Lancaster and Grafton, in central Massachusetts, had made a clearing on " Great Meadow" in Putney, beside the "Equivalent Lands," and had here built a fort. Then, in 1744, after eighteen years of comparative security and quiet, the Indians were again on the war-path with the outbreak of the "Old French War," or "Cape Breton War" (1744-1748), and most of these settlements were abandoned, the settlers falling back to the refuge of Fort Dummer and of fortified Northfield. There now re- mained above Fort Dummer on the west side only the small fort on Putney Meadows; and on the east side, Kilburn's slender holding, together with a fortified block-house at Walpole ; and the remote settlement of a few families at Number 4 with a fort erected the previous year. The brunt of the enemy's raids down the Valley in this four-years' war was sustained by Number 4 as the outer- most post ; but, as in the previous war, the older towns of the Massachusetts Reach suffered much from the stealthy foe. As before, many of the heads of families were drawn from their regular occupations for defensive work or for army service, and many of the lusty young men exchanged the prosy toil of the farm and field for hazardous but exhilarating and promisingly profitable adventure, — for large bounties were offered for captives and scalps, — with ranging parties in the Wilderness. The war opened with the Valley gravely exposed, since Massachusetts and New Hampshire were at strife growing out of the botmdary matter, and union of action in protecting the River fron- tiers was impossible. New Hampshire, indeed, bluntly Site of the Historic Fort " No. 4," of the French and Indian Wars, Charlestown. Upper River Settlement 211 refused to take over the charge of the forts which had come into her jurisdiction, and would make no move to protect the River settlements above the new boundary line. " The people " here, her Assembly declared, " had no right to the lands which by the dividing line had fallen within New Hampshire." There was no danger, the Assembly concluded, and shrewdly, that the forts would want sup- port, since it was certainly " the interest of Massachusetts, by whom they were erected, to maintain them as a cover to her frontiers." The Indians who now again took the war-path were fully acquainted with the condition of affairs. They were aware of the state of the forts ; knew the lay of the towns with their farms and fields, and the customs of the English. Those who had come down to trade at the Fort Dummer Truck House had been free to hunt and to rove at pleasure. " They lived in all the towns and went in and out of the houses of the settlers, often sleeping at night by the kitchen fire." At the Truck House six Indian commis- sioners from the northern tribes had been maintained by the Massachusetts government for ten years, receiving regular pay and rations. At the first threatening note of war they suddenly left. Fort Dummer, however, happened to be in good con- dition, and the defences at Northfield were soon strength- ened. In addition to these a cordon of forts was erected from Fort Dummer over the mountains to the New York line. Of this series Fort Shirley in Heath, Fort Pelham in Howe, and Fort Massachusetts in Adams (then East Hoosick), scant settlements along the north Massachusetts line westward, were built by the province of Massachusetts. Others completing the chain, fortified block-houses, in Vernon (then part of Northfield), Bernardston (Falltown), 212 Connecticut River Colerain, and Charlemont, were erected at town or indi- vidual charge. At Greenfield and Deerfield new defences were also set up, or old ones strengthened, when " mounts," towers for watch-boxes, were ordered built on the fortified houses. Fort Dummer and Fort Massachusetts stood out the strongest posts on this part of the frontier ; whereas, between Fort Dummer and Number 4, thirty miles up the River, there remained only the slight structure at Putney. On the east side, at Keene, then Upper Ashuelot, east of Westmoreland, were also some slight defences. Colonel John Stoddard of Northampton was again at the front, charged now with the general superintendence of the defence of these frontiers, with Colonel Israel Williams of Hatfield as second ofiicer. The headquarters of command were at Northampton and Hatfield, and Northfield was the depot of stores and headquarters of service, soldiers rendezvousing here, with scouting and ranging parties. Captain Josiah Willard was in charge of Fort Dummer, and Captain Phinehas Stevens was early at Number 4. Captain Stevens became the " hero of Number 4 " in this war. He was a soldier of exceptional skill, fertile in re- sources, and was familiar with the methods of Indian war- fare, for he had been in his youth a captive among the St. Francis tribe, taken with a brother, at Rutland, Massa- chusetts, in Gray Lock's first raid of Father Rale's War. Number 4 was now a plantation of nine or ten families living in log houses grouped near together for mutual pro- tection. Before the outbreak of the war quite a number of Indians were here in friendly association with the set- tlers. They had taken part in the festivities at the erection of the first saw-mill when all the inhabitants had a dance on the first boards that were sawn at the mill. With the opening of hostilities they disappeared, but were known to Upper River Settlement 213 be lurking in the neighborhood ready to swoop upon the settlement at the first opportunity, or to join attacking forces coming down from the north. The surrounding country was " terribly wild," with no English posts of consequence nearer than Fort Dummer and the settlements on the Merrimack thirty-three miles off as the crow flies. Still during the first year the place escaped molestation, while the handful of townspeople held the fort, and scouting parties from down river occasionally ranged the region about it. The few depredations of that year were com- mitted lower in the Valley, the single tragic one at the Putney fort, when one Englishman was taken captive, and another, coming down the River in a canoe, was slain. But in the spring of the second year, 1746, when the French planned the destruction of the frontier forts w^hile the English were mainly engrossed in the invasion of Can- ada, Number 4's tribulations began. Late in March Cap- tain Phinehas Stevens, having been employed in other parts, returned with forty-nine men to save the fort from falling into the enemy's hands ; and arrived just in time, for a force of French and Indians under Ensign De Niver- ville was then close upon it. On the 19th of April a few of De Niverville's Indians, watching the settlement from ambush, waylaid three men on their way to the grist-mill with a team of four oxen, burnt the mill, and capturing the men marched them off to Canada. Others of De Niver- ville's red men hovered about the place for some time, mak- ing no open attack, but constantly harassing the settlers and soldiers. One morning in May several women going to milk the cows, under the protection of a guard, were at- tacked by eight of them concealed in a barn, and one of the guard, Seth Putnam, was killed. As the Indians were scalping their victim the guard rallied and routed them. 214 Connecticut River A few days after, twenty of a troop of horse who had arrived to reinforce the fort, loitered out to see the place where Put- nam was killed, and were caught in an ambush. Captain Stevens rushed men from the fort to their aid, as they were fighting against odds, when the assailants fled, but not be- fore a number of the troopers had been killed or captured. In June several of the men of another troop of horse, come to relieve the first troop, also fell into an ambush almost immediately upon their arrival, when in the meadows after their horses. They fought the foe off, however, without serious hurt. At length in July the fort was besieged for two days. Through the rest of the summer it was blockaded and all were obliged to take refuge within the pickets. So close was the investment that one man incautiously step- ping out was killed within a few feet of the fort. At night a soldier crept to this dead comrade with a rope, and the body was secretly drawn into the enclosure and buried. In August the investing enemy destroyed all the horses, cattle, and hogs in the settlement and soon after appar- ently withdrew. In the autumn, weary with watching, and fearful of the dangers of the forest when winter set in, all evacuated the place and fell back to the lower settlements. Meanwhile in August an army of eight hundred of the enemy under General Rigaud de Vaudreuil (son of the late Governor de Vaudreuil and subsequently himself governor) had oper- ated on the lower frontiers, taking Fort Massachusetts, after which a detachment had raided Deerfield with a loss to that much-enduring town of five men killed and one more of the many carried into captivity. Number 4 lay deserted till spring, when in March, after the snow had gone, Captain Stevens again returned, now with thirty rangers. He found the fort uninjured and Upper River Settlement 215 received a joyous welcome from two inmates that he en- comitered — an old spaniel and a cat left behind at the evacuation. Making things comfortable and strengthening the defences, he awaited developments, for attacks were threatened at different points on the frontiers. Before the close of March Captain Eleazer Melvin of Northfield, famous among the scout leaders of this war, came up with sixty rangers, but they were soon off on scouting expeditions. On the 4th of April the enemy appeared. It consisted of a body of trained French soldiers and Indian warriors, variously estimated at from four hundred to seven hundred, led by General Dabeline, an experienced captain. They made an ambuscade near by, and their presence was scented by the dogs of the garrison. Then followed the siege of which Captain Stevens was the hero. Rising from then- ambush, General Debeline's men began the attack with a furious assault upon all sides of the fort. But Captain Stevens and his thirty men stood firm each at his post, and beat them back with sharp plays of musketry. Five full days the siege lasted, and " every stratagem which French policy and Indian malice could invent was practiced to reduce the garrison," but without success. Says the captain's crisp report to Governor Shirley : " The wind being very high, and everything exceedingly dry, they set fire to all the old fences, and also to a log house about forty rods distant from the fort, to the windward, so that in a few minutes we were entirely surrounded by fire — all which was performed with the most hideous shouting from all quarters, which they continued in the most terrible manner till the next day at ten o'clock at night, without intermission, and during this time we had no opportunity to eat or to sleep. But notwithstanding all these shoutings and threatenings, our men seemed to be not in the least daunted, but 216 Connecticut River fought with great resolution, which undoubtedly gave the enemy reason to think that we had determined to stand it out to the last degree." Fire-arrows were also discharged, which set several parts of the fort ablaze. But some of the soldiers, while others were fighting, had dug trenches at the bottom of the stockade, and through these they passed with buckets of water and extinguished the flames. Eleven such trenches were dug, so deep that a man " could go and stand up- right on the outside and not endanger himself." Thus they were enabled to wet all the outside of the fort, and keep it so, which they did through the five nights of the siege. The fire-arrows failing to accomplish their purpose the besiegers filled a cart with fagots, and setting them on fire, a number of Indians began rolling this fiery engine toward the timbered structm-e. Suddenly, however, it was checked in its coiu-se, the besiegers calling a cessation of hostilities till the next morning, proposing then to come to " parley." At this parley General Debeline promised that if the fort were immediately surrendered and the men should lay down their arms and march out, they should all have their lives, and liberty to take sufficient quantity of provisions to supply them on their way as prisoners to Montreal. But before Captain Stevens could reply the French officer broke in with the threat that upon refusal he would " imme- diately set the fort on fire and run over the top, for he had seven hundred men with him." " ' The fort,' said he, ' I am resolved to have or die. Now do what you please, for I am as easy to have you fight as to give up.' " This the captain, undaunted, met with the quiet remark that inas- much as he was sent here to defend the fort it would not be consistent with his orders to give it up unless he was Upper River Settlement 217 better satisfied that the Frenchman was able to perform what he had threatened. " Well," the other retorted, " go into the fort and see whether your men dare fight any more or not, and give me an answer quick, for my men want to be fighting." Without further words the captain did as he was bid. Assembling his men he " put it to vote which they chose, either to fight on or resign ; and they voted to a man to stand it out as long as they had life." So, the captain's report continues, " I returned the answer that we were determined to fight it out. Then they gave a shout, and then fired, and so continued firing and shout- ing till daylight next morning." At about noon of this day the last stage was reached. Calling out " Good Morning," the besiegers advised a ces- sation of arms for two hours, and another parley. Two Indians came with a flag of truce in place of the com- mander. The proposal now was that " in case we would sell them provisions they would leave and not fight any more." To this the captain made shrewd answer. He could not sell them provisions for money, for that would be " contrary to the laws of nations " ; but " if they would send in a captive for every five bushels of corn " he " would supply them." The messengers retired to report to their general, and pretty soon after, " four or five guns were fired at the fort and they withdrew, as we supposed, for we heard no more of them." So ended this remarkable battle of seven hundred against thirty, with the complete discomfiture of the seven hundred. Of the besiegers many were slain ; while the besieged suffered no loss in killed, and but two were woimded. The record of their valorous defence reads like a story of prowess in the old heroic days. Said the orator on a commemorative occasion in the village that has 218 Connecticut River evolved from " Number 4/' lying now " peacefully in its fertile savannahs," — "except for that self-immolation, I cannot see that the prowess of Leonidas and his three hundred is worthy of higher admiration than that of Stevens and his thirty." An " express " carried the news of the battle to Boston with Captain Stevens's report, which was received with high satisfaction by the governor and council. His gallant defence also won for the captain the admiration, expressed in the gift of " an elegant " sword, of Sir Charles Knowles of the British Navy, then in Boston. In consideration of Sir Charles's generosity the knightly sailor's name was subsequently bestowed upon the settlement, — as Charles- town. One might without prejudice hold that the soldier who saved the fort rather than the knight who rewarded the act was the more entitled to this distinction. One more attack was made on Number 4 in this war. That was in the spring of 1748, after a few of the settlers had returned and were living within the stockade with the soldiers. The men of the garrison were without snow- shoes, and so helpless in pursuit. This fact being learned by the enemy, a party of twenty Indians came down the Valley in the deep snow and ambushed near the fort. Their most serious assault at this time was upon a bunch of eight men going to the forest to cut wood. One they killed, and another they took into captivity. The one killed was a son of Captain Stevens. Indian depredations continued in the Valley for some months after the peace, reached in October, 1748, but not proclaimed in Boston till May, 1749. Notwithstanding the dangers, however, the settlers were returning to the new townships, and by the following year most of them Upper River Settlement 219 were reoccupied, to be held till the renewal of hostilities four years later in the final French and Indian War. In 1751 the proprietors of the townships on the east side of the River above Northfield applied to New Hamp- shire for new grants in place of their Massachusetts char- ters. Accordingly in 1752 Governor Benning Wentworth issued charters for Chesterfield, Westmoreland, and Wal- pole; and for Charlestown in 1753. In 1752, also, he gave out charters for Westminster and Rockingham on the west side; and in 1753, for Hinsdale, and for the west side towns of Brattleborough, Dummerston, and Putney. This was the beginning of the "New Hampshire Grants." XVI The "New Hampshire Grants " Governor Benning Wentworth's great Scheme of Colonization — Collision with New York over his Grants for Townships on the present Vermont Side of the River — Captain Symes's Plan for laying out the Cobs Country killed by Indian Threats — A great Powwow at " Number 4" — Captain Powers's Exploring Expedition — Interruption of Wentworth's Scheme by the Out- break of the last French and Indian War — Settlers again fall back on the Fortified Places — The River Frontiers now Established. GOVERNOR Benning Wentworth's scheme of coloni- zation at the outset contemplated the occupation of the " Coos country " of the Upper Valley, and of the domain on the west side of the River now embraced in Vermont. He was stimulated at the close of the Old French War promptly to move on the Coos lands through apprehension that the French, who had already begun to encroach upon territory claimed by the British crown, Avould step in and possess this valuable region. His motive in hastening to establish footholds in the country west of the River was evidently to sustain the questioned extent of New Hampshire's bounds westward to twenty miles east of the Hudson, in line with the west bounds of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The initial move was in the western domain, when, in January, 1749, the governor made a grant for a township at its tip end, which became Bennington, so called in allu- sion to his own Christian name. This act brought him into quick collision with New York, and then began the bitter controversy over the "New Hampshire Grants" 220 o o o > New Hampshire Grants 221 which lasted for forty-two years with its attendant troubles in border towns on both sides of the River. The dispute opened, however, most politely, with a diplomatic correspondence between the governors of the two provinces. This was begun by Governor Went worth in November following his Bennington grant, when he acquainted Governor Clinton of his commission from the king with his instructions to make grants of the unim- proved lands within his government to intending settlers ; and asked a statement as to the exact eastward bound of the New York province, " that he might govern himself accordingly." To this Governor Clinton replied, under date of April, 1750, with the opinion of his council that the bounds of their province extended eastward quite to the Connecticut, citing in evidence the letters-patent of Charles II to the Duke of York, which expressly granted " all the lands from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." Governor Wentworth made answer, the same April, that this opinion would be entirely satisfactory to him " had not the two charter governments of Connecticut and Massachusetts-Bay ex- tended their bounds many miles to the westward of said River." He then announced that, in accordance with the opinion of his council, he had, before his excellency's letter had come to hand, granted one township in the territory in question, presuming that his government was " bounded by the same north and south line with Connecticut and Massachusetts-Bay before it met with his Majesty's other governments." With the assurance that it was far from his desire " to make the least encroachment or set on foot any dispute on these points," he would ask to be informed by what authority the Connecticut and Massachusetts governments claimed so far to the westward as they had 222 Connecticut River settled. In the meantime he should " desist from making any further grants on the western frontier" of his govern- ment that might have " the least probability of interfering with the government of New York." Governor Clinton responded, in Jime, wdth the information that Connecti- cut's claim was founded upon an agreement with New York in or about the year 1684, afterward confirmed by King William ; and that Massachusetts presumably possessed itr self of the lands west of the River "by intrusion, and through the negligence of this government have hitherto continued their possession." He expressed surprise that Governor Wentworth had not waited for his previous letter before making a grant in this territory, and remarked that he had reason to apprehend that the same lands or part of them, had been already granted in New York. If it were still in Governor Wentworth's power to recall his grant his " doing so would be a piece of justice to the New York government." " Otherwise," Governor Clinton signifi- cantly observed, " I shall think myself obliged to send a representation of the matter to be laid before his Majesty." Governor Wentworth replied anticipating the other's move with the statement that his council were "unanimously of the opinion not to commence a dispute with your excel- lency's government respecting the extent of the western boundary of New Hampshire, till his Majesty's pleasure should be further known." Accordingly he should make a representation to the king, taking it for granted that Governor Clinton's government would acquiesce in the king's determination of the question. As to his grant, it was impossible now to vacate it, " but if it should fall by his Majesty's determination in the government of New York it would be void, of course." In July Governor Clinton wrote approving the reference to the king, and New Hampshire Grants 223 proposed an exchange of copies of each other's representa- tions. In September Governor Wentworth assented to the latter proposal. So the issue was joined. And here the matter rested till after the last French and Indian War, 1754-1763, the intervention of which prevented any determination of it by the crown. But bold Governor Wentworth had gone right on issuing his grants west of the River, and between the springs of 1751 and 1754 he had given out grants for thirteen townships on that side. The move into the Coos country began upon a quite ambitious plan matured in the spring of 1752. In March Captain William Symes of North Hampton, New Hamp- shire, sent a memorial to Governor Wentworth offering to raise a company of four hundred men to explore the region, and cut a road from Number 4 to the Cowass meadows sixty miles above, with a view to its settlement, his men to have four townships. From Captain Symes's memorial the plan developed. It was proposed to lay out a line of townships between the two points, one on each side of the River, and opposite to each other; to erect in each township a stockade with lodgments for two hundred men, encircling a space of fif- teen acres ; and to set up in the middle of this space a " citidel " to contain the public structures and granaries, and large enough to receive all the inhabitants and their movable effects in case of invasion or other necessity. To render these new plantations inviting to settlers it was provided that they should have courts of judicature and other civil privileges among themselves. They should be under strict military discipline, so that each plantation would be at once a settlement and a military post. Toward the end of spring a party were sent up to 224 Connecticut River " view the meadows of Cowass " and survey the proposed townships. But before work had begun a delegation of six warriors of the St. Francis tribe appeared at Number 4 and asked for a conference with Captain Phinehas Stevens who remained in charge there. They had come from their tribe to protest against the movement, and did so with alarming vehemence. " For the English to settle Cowass was what they would not agree to." The land was theirs, and if its occupation were attempted "they must think that the English had a mind for war." If that were so, they would " endeavor to give them a strong war." There were " four hundred Indians now a-hunting on this side of the St. Francis River," and if the English scheme were not abandoned they at Number 4 might " expect to have all their houses burnt." This interview Captain Stevens reported by an "express" to Captain Israel Williams at Hatfield, who in tm-n reported to Governor Shirley at Boston ; and Governor Shirley lost no time in communicat- ino" it to Governor Wentworth at Portsmouth. The threat was sufficient. The design was discouraged, and it was relinquished as "under the circumstances impracticable." Trouble, however, followed close upon the Indian pro- test. Their blood was up, and roving bands, perhaps from the four hundred hunters, were committing petty depreda- tions here and there. Preparations, too, were making for the next French and English struggle. In the spring of 1754 Governor Wentworth heard reports that the French had actually begun a settlement in the Coos country, and were building a fort there. To ascertain if these reports were true he sent out another expedition. This comprised a company mostly of soldiers under Captain Peter Powers, of Hollis, New Hampshire, a " brave and experienced offi- cer." They started from Rumford (Concord) and followed > o > New Hampshire Grants 225 the course of the previous party, striking the River at the present Piermont, next south of Haverhill. Thence they marched up the Valley alongside of the Fifteen-Miles Falls, through the Lower and into the Upper Coos, as far as Northumberland, at which point it had been said the French had placed their fort. No fort was found, nor any sign of a settlement. But there were significant evidences of a recent Indian encampment on the River side, and of the making of canoes. They returned as they had come, unmolested, but Indians were close on their heels. Then, soon after, Indian hostilities were openly threat- ened with the outbreak of the last French War, and plans for warfare took the place of colonization projects. Again the few up-river plantations were mostly aban- doned, their settlers falling back upon the fortified places about the Massachusetts line. Number 4, now Charles- town, however, retained its inhabitants, increased at this time to about thirty-two families ; and at Walpole the Kilburn family remained, with Colonel Benjamin Bellows, the township's chief proprietor, and some farm hands also there. Ncav Hampshire as before would afford no protec- tion for her River frontiers, and Massachusetts at first proposed to confine her defences to her northern line, thus leaving all the posts above exposed. Later, however, the holding of Number 4 from the enemy being of first impor- tance, Massachusetts undertook its maintenance, reporting New Hampshire's dereliction to the king. As affairs grew graver New Hampshire made slight provision for the defense of Walpole, ordering a handful of men there to Colonel Bellows's charge, moved to this action, doubtless, by Colonel Bellows's associate proprietors in the township, — Colonel Theodore Atkinson, the province secretary, and Colonel Josiah Blanchard of Dunstable (Colonel 226 Connecticut River Bellows's brother-in-law), both influential men in provincial affairs. New Hampshire's attitude in this matter of River pro- tection was not as censurable as would appear. It was due not so much to indifference, or to assurance that Massachusetts would have to care for her own protection, as to the fact that her abilities were taxed to the utmost in furnishing troops for the Provincial army at the fight- ing line on the Canadian border. XVII The Last French War in the Valley "Number 4 " and the Charlestown Settlement constantly Imperilled — Capture of the Johnson Family the Morning after a Neighborhood Party' — Mrs. Johnson's graphic "Narrative" of their March to Canada and After Expe- iences — On the Second Day out she gives Birth to a Daughter — Fortunes of the Willard Family — The Johnsons after their Return from Captivity : a Remarkable Record — Attacks on the Lovper Frontiers — The gallant " Kil- bum Fight " at Walpole — Cutting out the " Crown Point Road " from " Number 4 " — Exploits of Robert Rogers's Rangers. CHARLESTOWN as the outmost post, with no settle- ment within forty miles of it, again bore the brunt of war, and throughout the troubled period, 1754-1760, suf- fered many hardships, while raids upon its inhabitants were the most frequent and tragic in the Valley. Lying in the line of march of the colonial troops of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire passing to and from the Canadian points about which this war centered, it was a constant military rendezvous, and wore the aspect more of a military camp than of a peaceful farming community. It received the first sharp shock of the outbreak sud- denly, on a late August morning of 1754, when a band of Indians, who had stealthily entered the town, burst into the house of Captain James Johnson, seized the seven in- mates, just roused from slumber, and hurried them all off, together with a neighbor, on the dread march to Canada. The story of the adventures of these captives, as told in Mrs. Johnson's " Narrative," is in incident and pathos second only to that of " The Redeemed Captive" of Deerfield. 227 228 Connecticut River The Johnson farm was then the most northerly place on the River. The substantial log house stood at what is now the north end of the village main street on the east side, about a hundred rods above the fort. The nearest habitation was Captain Phinehas Stevens's block-house on the meadows. Captain Johnson was a leading townsman and a considerable trader in the Valley. Mrs. Johnson was a daughter of Lieutenant Moses Willard, a first settler with the Farnsworths, his half-brothers ; earlier, with his kinsman, Colonel Josiah Willard, he had been a grantee of the lower township of Winchester. The Johnson house- hold comprised Captain Johnson and his wife Susanna, then a young matron of twenty-four, their three children, Sylvanus, Susanna, and Polly, aged six, four, and two re- spectively ; Mrs. Johnson's sister, Miriam Willard, a maid of fourteen; and two "hired men," Ebenezer Farnsworth and Aaron Hosmer. The settlers of the village had been uneasy for some time over reports that the Indians were out for their destruction, but discovering no signs of evil in the neighboring woods, they were going about their affairs as usual. The evening before the attack there had been a party of several neighbors at the Johnson house, gathered to wel- come Captain Johnson home from a trading trip down in Connecticut, and to look over the choice things he had brought back with him. The time had been spent " very cheerfully" with watermelons and flip till midnight, when all the company left except a " spruce young spark " who lingered a while longer to "keep company" with Miriam Willard. At length the household had retired with " feel- ings well tuned for sleep." So they rested " with fine com- posure " till sunrise, when a loud knock was heard on the outer door. This was the peaceful summons of Neighbor Last French War in the Valley 229 Peter Labaree, who had come to begm a day's work at carpentering by appointment with the captain. Then — Mr. Johnson slipped on his jacket and trousers and stepped to the door to let him in. But by opening the door he opened a scene — terrible to describe. "Indians! Indians !" were the first words I heard. He sprang to his guns, but Labaree, heedless of danger, instead of closing the door to keep them out, began to rally our hired men up stairs for not rising earlier. But in an instant a crowd of savages, fixed horribly for war, rushed furiously in. They had been lying in ambush near the house, and as Labaree was entering sprang up and pushed by him. I screamed [the Narrative goes on] and begged my friends to ask for quarter. By this time they were all over the house ; some up stairs, and some hauling my sister out of bed. Another had hold of me, and one was approaching Mr. Johnson, who stood in the middle of the floor to deliver himself up. But the Indian supposing he would make resistance and be more than his match, went to the door and brought three of his comrades, and the four bound him, I was led to the door fainting and trembling [she was then with child and within a few days of her time]. There stood my friend Labaree bound. Ebenezer Farns worth, whom they found up cham- ber, they were putting in the same situation. And to complete the shocking scene, my three little children were driven naked to the place where I stood. On viewing myself I found that I too was naked. An Indian had plundered three gowns, who, on seeing my situation, gave me the whole. I asked another for a petticoat, but he refused it. After what little plunder their hurry would allow them to get was confusedly bundled up, we were ordered to march. They were halted a few rods beyond the house, behind a rising ground, that the plunder might better be packed. While in the midst of this work an Indian, sent back pre- sumably to fire the house, returned on the run. Aaron Hosmer, who had hidden in the house and escaped capture, had given an alarm to the fort and a chase by the soldiers 230 Connecticut River was feared. At this report the march was resumed in a panic. Mrs. Johnson was grasped by two savages, each at an arm, and rushed along through the thorny thickets. The loss of her shoe soon inflicted cruel cuts on her bare foot. The three men-prisoners with arms bound, and also Miriam Willard and the terrified children, were similarly conducted by their hideously painted masters. So they proceeded for three miles, when a halt was made for breakfast, the danger of pursuit being apparently passed. It was learned afterward that no rescue force had been sent out, for Lieutenant Willard had dissuaded Cap- tain Stevens from despatching one lest the Indians, if at- tacked, should massacre the captives. The sylvan table was set forth with viands taken with the other loot from the house, — bread, raisins, and apples, — but the prisoners had no stomach for the repast. While the meal was in progress a riderless horse was sighted approaching, which the prisoners soon recognized as " Old Scoggin," Captain Stevens's horse. An Indian raised his weapon to shoot him, when Captain Johnson interceded. By gestures he plead that the beast be spared for the " white squaw " to ride, Mrs. Johnson's condition ha\dng become pitiable. Accordingly ''•' Old Scoggin " was caught instead of slain, and Mrs. Johnson was mounted upon him on a saddle of bags and blankets. Her bleeding feet were covered with moccasins provided by her Indian "master," and with Labaree's stockings which that knightly soul had stripped from his own bruised feet and "presented " to her. Thus they jogged on for seven miles when preparations were made to cross the River to the west side. Rafts of dry timber being constructed, Mrs. Johnson was put upon one of them, while her husband swam at its end and pushed it along j and Labaree swam the horse across. It being o w Last French War in the Valley 231 now late in the afternoon, a stop was made at the landing place for a supper of porridge cooked in Mrs. Johnson's kettles, which the Indians had brought with their plunder. After supper six or eight more miles were covered, Mrs. Johnson again riding the horse. The encampment for the night was established under the trees in Wethersfield be- low Ascutney's graceful height. When the prisoners lay down for rest they were ingeniously bound so that escape was impossible. ** The men were made secure in having their legs put in split sticks, somewhat like stocks, and tied to the limbs of trees too high to be reached. My sister . . . must lie between two Indians, with a cord thrown over her, and passing under each of them. The little children had blankets, and I was allowed one for my use." All were roused before sunrise, and after a break- fast of hot water gruel only, the signal " whoop " for the renewal of the march was sounded. Mrs. Johnson was lifted upon the horse, and Captain Johnson assigned to march by her side to hold her on, for she was now too weak to proceed unaided. When the procession had trav- elled on for an hour or two her supreme moment came: — I was taken with the pangs of child-birth. The Indians signified that we must go on to a brook. When we got there they showed some humanity by making a booth for me. . . . My children were crying at a distance, where they were held by their masters, and only my husband and sister to attend me, — none but mothers can figure to themselves my unhappy posture. The Indians kept aloof the whole time. About ten o'clock a daughter was born. They then brought me some articles of clothing for the child, which they had taken from the house. My master looked into the booth and clapped his hands for joy, saying " two monies for me, two monies for me ! " I was permitted to rest for the remainder of the day. The Indians 232 Connecticut River were employed in making a bier for the prisoners to carry me on and another booth for my lodging during night. They brought a needle and two pins and some bark to tie the child's clothes, which they gave my sister, and a large wooden spoon to feed it with. . . . In the evening I was removed to the new booth. The spot where this birth took place, and the site of the previous night's encampment, were identified in the town of Cavendish nearly half a century afterward, when the child had herself become a mother of children, and two inscribed stones were set up to indicate them. These tab- lets may yet be seen by the side of the main road lead- ing from Wethersfield .through Cavendish to Reading. The actual birthplace is said to be about half a mile from the road, in the northeast corner of Cavendish. At sunrise of the morning following the child's birth Mrs. Johnson was roused with the others, and when the usual breakfast of meal and water was over, she was shifted, with the infant at her breast, to the litter which the Indians had prepared. The march was then taken up, the men captives bearing the litter, Miriam Willard and the boy on Scoggin, and the two little girls each on the back of her master. When only about two miles on the way the wearied litter-bearers, weakened by the scant fare that had been their portion, broke down under their load. Thereupon the Indians by signs indicated that Mrs. Johnson must ride the horse or be left behind. Preferring this alternative to a miserable death alone in the forest, she was lifted to Scoggin' s back in place of Miriam and the boy, while the kindly Labaree took the infant. In this order the party again started off at a " slow mournful pace." Once an horn: the almost exhausted woman was taken from the horse and laid on the ground to rest. Thus her life was preserved through her second day of new Last French War in the Valley 233 motherhood. That night the party bivouacked at the head of Black River Pond. The supper, mainly of gruel, was enriched with the broth of a hawk which one of the Indians had killed. Through the next day, opening chill and foggy, they plodded on across miry plains and over steep and broken hills. Labaree still carried the infant and nourished it with occasional sips of water gruel. The next day was like its predecessor, " an unvaried scene of fatigue." Now famine threatened the party. Two or three hunting bands sent out returned without game, and the last morsel of meal was gone. It was determined to sacrifice faithful old Scoggin. Accordingly at dusk of this day the horse was shot, and a few minutes after his flesh was broiling on the embers of a fire which the Indians had made with the help of punk that they carried in horns. While the hungry savages gorged themselves with these horse-steaks they offered the best parts to the captives, an act which " cer- tainly bordered on civility." And, says the narrative, "an epicure could not have catered nicer slices, nor in that situation served them up with more neatness." For Mrs. Johnson and the babe a broth was made, "which was rendered almost a luxury by the seasoning of roots." After this novel supper " countenances began to brighten ; those who had relished the meal exhibited new strength, and those who had only snuffed its effluvia confessed them- selves regaled. The evening was employed in drying and smoking what remained for future use." The next morn- ing's breakfast was a feast of soup made from the pounded marrow-bones of old Scoggin and flavored with " every root, both sweet and bitter, that the woods afforded." Each of the captives partook of as much of the soup as " his feelings would allow." 234 Connecticut River At the start of this day's march Mrs. Johnson was obliged to walk. Her master tied her petticoats with bark "as high as he supposed would be convenient for walking," and ordered her to fall in line. " With scarce strength to stand alone " she stumbled on for about half a mile, with her little boy and three Indians, lagging behind the rest. Then losing power to move further, she dropped in a faint as one of the Indians was raising his hatchet over her head. Upon her return to consciousness she heard her master angrily assailing the savage for attempt- ing to kill his prize, and saw how her life had been spared. Restarting, Captain Johnson helped her along for a few hours. Then faintness again overcame her. Another council was held while she lay gasping on the ground. At length her master cut some bark from a tree and made a pack-saddle for her husband's back, and to this she was lifted. They marched onward the rest of this day, Captain Johnson staggering under his load, his bare feet lacerated by the rough path. Labaree still kept the infant. Farns- worth carried one of the little girls, and the other rode as before on her master's back. Miriam Willard, strong in her young girlhood, walked easily, keeping pace with her lusty master. That night the Indians made more horse- broth for supper. Another booth was built for the ex- hausted mother. Next morning she found herself greatly refreshed from a good night's sleep. But further peril was in store for her. On this day's march she was made to ford a beaver-pond. When half way over, " up to the middle in the cold water," her strength failed and she became stiffened and motionless. Her hus- band was sent to her relief. Taking her in his arms he carried her across, and on the bank a fire was built at which she was warmed back to life. For the rest of this > o a ci ^ o