Cftlifatttitt No Division Range Shelf..... Received. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIFT OF DANIEL C. OILMAN A . NARRATIVE OF THE INDIAN WARS iy NEW-ENGLAND FROM THE FIRST PLANTING TH YEAR 1607, TO THE YEAH 16 11 : CONTAINING ItELAflON OF fHK or. Off f HE WAR WI*H fa SRN, WESTERN^ :. ERN PARTS BY WILLIAM UUBBA.RD, A MINI*TER OF IPSWICH, And the L Book. Which That 1 The following NARRATIVE OF THE INDIAN WARS, was published by Authority in the Year 1677, as appears by the following Recommendation prefixed to the Edition then published viz. THE worthy Author of this Narrative (of whose fidelity we are well assured J by his great pains and in dustry, in collecting and compiling the several occur rences of this Indian War, from the relation of snch as were present in the particular actions, hath faithful ly and truly performed the same, as far as the best in formation agreeing could be obtained, which is there fore judged meet for publit view ; and we whose names are underwritten, deputed by the Governor and Council of Massachusetts Colony to peruse and licence the same, have, and do accordingly order it to be imprinted, as being of public benefit, and judge the Author to have deserved due acknowledgment and thanks for the same. SIMON BRADSTREET, DANIEL DENN1SON, DUDLEY. Boston, MarchP, 1S97, I PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. THE gracious hand of Divine Providence in the pre servation of the New-England Colonies in th jir ii state, gloriously appears from the facts, briefly, bnt faith fully transmitted down to us, by one of our venerable forefathers in the following Narrative of the troubles with the Indians in New-England, a very numerous and bar barous people, dispersed through the wilderness in every part of the land. These Savages began a War with the first English Ad venturers, while they were few in number, yea very few, and strangers in the land. This rendered their deliver- ance an event truly great and memorable. They were saved indeed as by fire : Their loss of men and substance, compared with their numbers and ability, was very great, and long severely felt. Heavy as the public expences were to support the War, these were but a very inconsiderable part of the burdens and charges to which particular towns, families and indi viduals were necessarily subjected, in guards, garrisons, and watchings in their own defence. The whole Country was the seat of War, and every man procured hi^^jy^copardy of his life. LikeNehemiah s^HMpeach one toiled with his weap on of war in one hanJ^nd his instrument of labor in the other ; exposed every moment to death, from a watchful unseen foe. In the frequent alarms which spread from town to A 2 VI PREFACE* town, some escaping from danger, ran into greater : others met their own fate in their attempts to relieve their neighbors in the same, or different scattered settlements. This was the deplorable state of the New-England co lonies, a very few towns excepted ; a distress, more easi- ly conceived than expressed, and indeed scarcely conceiv able by the greater part of the present generation, since the then hideous wilderness is become a fruitful field, ana well settled towns overspread the land. The reader unacquainted with this country in its un cultivated state, may here inquire, Why the first settlers thus exposed themselves, by making disjoined and very distant settlements ? Necessity led to this : The lands near the sea coasts were generally less fertile, and found hard to subdue : therefore, for present subsistence in their feeble condition, they were obliged to seek the borders of rivers and streams, for the sake of intervals and meadows, both on account of their fertility, and of their being open and prepared for immediate improvement. They were also encouraged in making these scattered settlements by the general friendly disposition of the Na tives, who freely sold their lands, for which a valuable consideration was paid, without exception, where a claim was made. The Indians perceived their interest in admitting their English neighbors, as they fjUB ^mm with means of much easier subsistence ; andlBHmost care was taken ^^^fr by the several governments of the united colonies, to pre vent every occasion of distrust. PREFACE. Til The Pequod War was confined to the westerly parts of Connecticut,* Philip s War, as it is called, began in Plymouth Colo ny ,f but spread through Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, and Province of Maine, in extent above 300 miles. And within the compass of one year, the numerous tribes of Savages within the limits of New-England, were drawn into this war against us, a very few excepted. Surely we may say, had not the Lord been on our side, when men thus rose up against us, they had quickly swallowed us up. Our Fathers, indeed had come out of great tribulation, into this wilderness, which, under providence, was a means of improving them in faith, fortitude and patience, to endure hardships beyond a parallel, until they obtained deliverance : And some of the first adventurers lived to see the wilderness become a fruitful field. But this was not their intended rest : They had sub- Hmer views ; They looked for another and better country, that is an heavenly. And however they may have been misrepresented, by ignorant or ill designing persons, they were men of whom the world was not worthy. The cruel charges of peculiar bigotry, and a persecuting spirit, wantonly alleged against them, are founded on facts not truly stated. According to tljj^^ural course of things in this depra ved and mutable^BBBlbir descendants at this day, as might be expected^jj^ in a measure, departed from that simplicity of manners, by which their renowned an- * Not far from New-London. t His Head Quarters were at Mount Hope, now Bristol. Till PREFACE. eestors were justly distinguished : But notwithstanding it may with truth be asserted, that no instance can be pro duced, in the present or &ny past age, among like numbers, where good order has so universally prevailed, as in the New-England colonies, even in populous and opulent towns, especially our capital. We of this province, with inconsiderable intermissions, from that early period, at unknown expence and loss, have been called to defend our lives and properties against the incursions of more distant savages. Our trust hath been in the name of the Lord our fathers God and Deliv erer ; and hitherto he hath delivered us. May we never be unmindful of his signal benefits ! We are now under the smiles of divine Providence in creased to a multitude of people. Our many frontier settlements are continually exposed to savage invasion : And though we trust not to our own bow ; yet as prudence directs, we are all armed and pre pared for a defensive War. And yet, having the worm wood and the gall still in remembrance, no people more ardently wish and pray, that Wars may forever cease, and peace on earth, and good will among men universally prevail. Boston, May 20, ITT 5* A NARRATIVE OF THE INDIAN WARS IN NEW-ENGLAND, &C. &C. . *;:- 3 KNOWN unto God are all his works from the foun dation of the world, though manifest to us, only by the events of time, that fruitful mother of all things, which in the former age did bring forth, at least did bring to light the knowledge of this western world, called Amer ica, that in all foregoing times and ages, lay hid in this obscure and remote region covered with a veil of ignor ance, and locked up from the knowledge of all the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. To whom the honor of its investigation doth of right more properly belong, is sufficiently declared by the history and reports of such as were eye witnesses thereof and not intended to be any part of the present disquisition. The most consid erable part of all the north side of America, is called New-England. Iif the fertility of the soil, salubrious* ness of the air, and fl^pfther commodious advanta ges, most resembling the country from whence it borrow ed its appellation. For the knowledge thereof the world is most beholding to the discoveries of the Eng lish, under the conduct of Sebastian Cabot, a famous Portuguese, sent out under the commission of Henry the 10 A NARRATIVE OP Vllth, about the year 1497, though since much perfect ed by the industry and travels of Capt. Gosnold, Capt. Hudson, Capt. Smith, and others of the English nation. North-America, this posthumous birth of time, is as to its nativity, of the same standing with her two elder sis ters, Peru and Mexico, yet was suffered to lie in its swadling clothes, one whole century of years, nature having promised no such dowry of rich mines of silver and gold to them that would espouse her for their own, as she did unto the other two, which possibly was the reason why she was not so hastily courted by her first discoverers, nor yet so early secured by any of the Princes of Europe, lying wholly neglected as it were Hntil a small company of planters, under the command of Captain George Popham, and Captain Gilbert, were sent over at the charge of Sir John Popham in the year 1607, to begin a colony upon a tract of land about Saga- dehock, situate on the south eide of the river Kennebec and about that called Shipscot river, and about twenty miles south west from PernmaqukJ, the most northerly bound of all New-England. But th \t design within two years expiring with its first founder, soon after some honorable persons of the west of England, commonly called the Council of Plymouth, being more certainly informed of several navigable rivH* and commodious havens, with other places <*4fefor traffic or planting, newly discovered by many skilful navigators, obtained a grant by patent, under the great seal, from King James, of all that part of North America, called New England, from the 40 to the 48 deg. of north latitude. From which grant and original patent, all other charters and THE INDIAN WARS. 11 grants of land from Pemmaquid to Delaware Bay, along the sea coast, derive their lineage and pedigree. Thus was that vast tract of land, after the year 1612, cantoned and parcelled out into many lesser divisions and parcels, according as adventurers presented, which said grants being founded upon uncertain, or false descriptions, and reports of them that travelled thither, did many of them interfere one upon another, to the great disturbance of the first planters, and prejudice of the proprietors them selves, as is too well known by any that have had occa sion to stay ever so little among them, many of whom are yet surviving. For notwithstanding the great charge and vast expenses the first adventurers were at, the first proprietors of the whole Pi ovince of Maine and others, (reaching from the head of Casco-Bay north east, to the mouth of Piscataqua river about sixty miles westward) and the hopes they might have conceived of being the first founders of New Colonies, and of enlarging their estates and inheritances by those new acquired posses sions and lordships, there was little profit reaped from thence after the rich fleeces of beaver were gleaned away, nor any great improvement made of those large portions of lands, save the erecting of some few cottages for fishermen, an^gg^jr inconsiderable buildings for the planters which were jgfcjmose occasions drawn over the sea, to settle upon tEe most northerly part of New- England. But whether it were by the imprudence of the first adventurers, or the dissoluteness of the persons they sent over to manage their affairs, or whether for want of faithfulness or skill to manage their trust, they were by A NARRATIVE O* degrees in a manner quite deserted almost of law and government, and left to shift for themselves ; by which means at last they fell under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts colony, not by usurpation, as is by great mistake suggested to his Majesty, but by necessity, and the earnest desire of the planters themselves ; to accept of whom, those of the Massachusetts Colony were the more easily induced ; in that they apprehended the bounds of their own patent, by a favorable interpreta tion of the words describing the northern line (three miles beyond the most northerly branch of Merimac river) do reach somewhat beyond Pemmaquid, the most northerly place of all New-England. This was the first beginning of things in New-Eng land, at which time they were not unlike the times of old, when the people of Judah were said to be without attaching priest, and without law ; and no wonder things were no more successfully carried on. In the year 1620, a company belonging to Mr. Rob inson s church at Leyden, in Holland, although they had been courteously entertained by the Dutch, as stran gers sojourning amongst them, yet foreseeing many in conveniences like to increase, and that they could not so well provide for the good of 4Bfe posterity, under the government of a foreign nflftL they resolved to in- treat so much favor from their own sovereign Prince King James, as to grant them liberty under the shelter of his royal authority, to place themselves in some part of New-England, then newly discovered ; wherefore having obtained some kind of patent or grant, fcr some place about Hudson s river, they set sail from Plymouth THE INDIAN WARS. 13 in September, for the southern parts of New-England, but as they intended to bend their course thitherward, per various casus, per tot discrimina rerum, they were at last cast upon a bosom of the south cape of the Mas- tachusetts Bay, called Cape Cod, about the 1 Ith of No vember, from whence the winter so fast approaching, they had no opportunity to remove ; and finding some encouragement from the hopefulness of the soil, and courtesy of the heathen, they resolved there to make their abode for the future, which they did, laying the foundation of a new colony, which from the remem brance of the last town in England, they sailed from, they called New Plymouth ; containing no very con siderable tract of land scarce extending an hundred miles in length through the whole Cape, and scarce half so much in breadth where it is the broadest. The first founders of that colony aiming more at religion than earthly possessions, aspiring not to any large dimension of land in their settling upon those coasts. At Wey mouth also was a plantation begun by Mr. Weston in the year 1622, but it came to little. The north and south border of Massachusetts Bay being thus planted, the middle part was the more easy to be filled up, wl^g^as thus brought about. Some gentlemen and others, o||gerving how it fared with those of New Plymouth, were desirous upon the like ground to make the same attempt for themselves, wherefore hav ing by a considerable sum of money purchased of some gentlemen that had a grant for the council of Plymouth all their right and interest in a plantation begun in the B 14 NARRATIVE OF Massachusetts Bay, and having attained a confirmatioE thereof by patent from King Charles, in the year 1628, they sent over a Governor with several other persons to lay some foundation of another colony in the Massa chusetts Bay : And in the year 1630, more of the per sons interested in the said patent (thence commonly called patentees) with several other persons, intended to venture their lives and all with them, transported themselves and their families into the said Massachusetts, who did in a short space of time by the accession of many hundreds, who every year flocked after them, make such an increase, that in the space of five or six years, theee were twenty considerable towns built and peopled ; and many of the towns first planted became so filled with inhabitants, that like swarms of bees they were ready to swarm, not only into new plantations, but into new colonies, insomuch that in the year 16*55, a new colony began to be planted upon Connecticut river, partly by combination amongst themselves, removing from some towns about the Massachusetts Bay, and part ly by the interest of a patent purchased of that honora ble gentleman, Mr. Fenwick, agent for the Lord Say, and Lord Brook, the Lords proprietors of the said river Connecticut, at the mouth of wlfid^river they built a fort, (called after their own titleU Say Brook fort) com- manding the passage of the said river. Yea, such was the confluence of people making over into those parts, that in the year 1637, a fourth colony began to be planted, bearing the name of New-Haven, from the first town erected therein, seated near the midway betwixt THE INDIAN WARS. 15 Hudson s river and that of Connecticut. The sea coast, from the pitch of Cape Cod, to the mouth of Connecticut river, inhabited by several nations of Indians, Wampa- noogs (the first authors of the present rebellion) Narra- gansets, Pequods, Mohegins, a^e more inland part of the country by the Nipnets (a genaral name for all in land Indians betwixt the Massachusetts and Connecticut river.) The sea coast south west from Plymouth was first possessed by some discontented with the govern ment of Massachusetts colony, from which some being exiled, others of their friends accompanying them, set tled themselves upon a fair liland to the south west of Cape Cod, now called Rhode Island ; others settled upon the Main at a place called Providence, and so by decrees planting towards Narraganset Bay, made another plantation called Warwich, which places are since by patent conferred upon the inhabitants of Rhode-Island ; the rest of the country from Pequod river to the river Connecticut, falling within the bounds of Connecticut colony have since by patent also, been confirmed to the said colony. Things had been very prosperously and successfully carried on in all the aforesaid colonies and jurisdiction, from the year 1620, to the year 1636, at which time the war with the Pequods began. The fol lowing account was either left tinder the bands of such as commanded in chief, or is taken from the mouths of faithful witnesses, that were not only then present but personally concerned and engaged in the service. There was a nation of the Indians in the southern parts of New-England, called Pequods, seated on a fair 16 A NARRATIVE OP navigable river, twelve miles to the eastward of the mouth of the great and famous river of Connecticut ; who (as was commonly reported about the time when New-England was first planted by the English) being a more fierce, cruel, and war like people than the rest of the Indians, came down out of the more inland parts of the continent, and by force seized upon one of the goodliest places near the sea, and became a terror to all their neighbors, on whom they had exercised several acts of inhuman cruelty ; insomuch that being flushed with vic tories over their fellow Indians, they began to thirst after the blood of any foreigners, English or Dutch, that ac cidentally came amongst them, in a way of trade, or upon other accounts. In the year 1634, they treacherously and cruelly murdered Capt Stone, and Capt. Norton, who came occasionally, with a bark into the river to trade with them. Not long after, within the compass of the next year, they in like treacherous manner, slew one Mr. Oldham, (formerly belonging to new Plymouth, but at that time an inhabitant of Massachusetts) at Block Island, a place not far from the mouth of their harbor, as he was fairly trading with them : Besides some other such like acts of perfidious cruelty towards some of the Dutch that had formerly been trading up Connecticut river : By which practices perceiving that they began to stink in the nostrils of their neighbors whose revenge they now began to fear, and not willing to have to deal with too many enemies at once, they imitated the subtlety of the children of Aramon, when they began to stink THE INDIAN WARS. 17 before David ; endeavoring to strengthen themselves with alliance of some of those (hey had formerly provo ked, that by their assistance they might defend them selves against the rest, not doubting bat to make their part good with their foreign enemies, if they could be reconciled to their Indian neighbors, the Narragansetta or other home-bred enemies, and could but fortify !hem- selves by a league of friendship with any of their for eign neighbors that were newly come to plant in theie parts. To this end they sent messengers with gifts to the Massachusetts in the latter end of the same year 1634 ; the first messengers were dismissed without an answer : But they being sensible of their own danger, and of the great importance a peace with the English of the Massachusetts might be, pursued the business very earnestly, sending messengers a second time, who offer ed much Wampam (Indians money) and beaver, with these second messengers : The Governor and Council of the Massachusetts had much conference many days ; and at last after the best advice they could take among themselves, concluded a peace arid friendship with them, upon these conditions. 1. That they should deliver up to the English those persons amongst them that were guilty of Capt. Stone s death, and the rest that were with him. 2. That if the English desired to plant in Connecti cut they should give up their right to them. 3. That the English should henceforward trade with them as their friends, which was a chief thing aimed at ; the said Pequods being at that time at war with the 18 A NARRATIVE OF Dutch, and the rest of their neighbors, on the reasons forementioned. To tnese conditions they readily agreed, and also cunningly insinuated their desire that their new confederates, the Massachusetts, should mediate a peace for them with the Narragansetts ; intimating likewise their willingness that a part of the present which they promised to send should be given to them, standing so much upon their honor, that they would not be seen to give any thing themselves ; such was the pride and height of spirit lodged in this company of treacherous villains, the dregs and lees of the earth, and the dross of mankind. As for Capt. Stone s death they slily evaded the guilt of it, falsely adding that there were but two left that had any hand therein, and that it was a just quarrel wherein he was slain : For, said they, he surprised some of our men, and would by force have compelled them to shew him the way up the river, whereupon the said Stone coming ashore, with two more, was watched by nine of ourjosa (say they) who finding them asleep in the night, slew them to deliver our own men, one of whom going afterward to the bark, it was suddenly blown up : Whereas the truth of the matter was thus. The said Capt. Stone formerly belonging to St. Chris tophers in the West-Indies, occasionally coming to these parts as he passed between this place and Virginia put in at that river, where the Indians after they had often been on board his vessel to trade with him, at the last came friendly on board as they used to do, but finding the Capt. asleep in his cabin, took the opportunity to THE INDIAN WARS. 19 murder him as he lay, casting a covering over him that he might not be discerned by the rest whom they pres ently after dispatched one after another, all but Captain Norton who made stout resistance, for a long time de fending himself in the cook room of the bark til! the gun powder which he had set in au open vessel, to be more ready for his use, accidentally took fire, by which fatal accident he was so burned, and his eyes so blinded that he could not make any longer resistance, but forthwith fell into the hands of these cruel and blood thinty wretches, who after they had taken away his life made a prey of all that was in the vessel. As for Mr. Oldham, he was murdered at an Island called by the Indians, Manisses (since known by the name of Block island) but -those that murdered him (probably inhabitants of said Island) fled presently to the Pequody, by whom they were sheltered, and so be came also guilty themselves of his blood. In the year 1636, the death of this Mr. Oldham* was so manifest that it could neither be concealed nor excus ed, the discovery whereof being remarkable, is here in serted. One John Gallop, with one man more, and two boys, coming from Connecticut, and intending to put in at Long Island, as he came from thence, being at the mouth of the harbor was forced by a sudden change of the wind to bear up for Block Island, or Fisher s Island, * The account of Mr. Oldharn s death is added to this^editton from Mr Hubbard sMass. History of New-England, from its beginning 10 1680, 20 A NARRATIVE OP where, as they were sailing along, they met with a Pin- nace, which they found to be John Oldham s, who had been sent to trade with the Pequods, (to make trial of the reality of their pretended friendship after the murder of Captain Stone) they hailed the vessel, but had no an swer, although they saw the deck full of Indians (14 in all) and a little before that had seen a canoe go from the vessel full of Indians likewise, and goods, whereupon they suspected they had killed John Oldham, who had only two boys and two Narraganset Indians in his ves sel besides himself, and the rather because they let slip, and set up sail (being two miles from the shore, the wind and tide coming off the shore of the Island, where by they drove toward the main land of Narraganset) therefore they went ahead of them, and having nothing but two pieces, and two pistols, they bore up near the Indians, who stood on the deck of the vessel ready arm ed with guns, swords and pikes ; but John Gallop, a man of stout courage, let fly among them, and so galled them, that they got all down under the hatches, and then they stood off again, and returning with a good gale, they stemmed her upon the quarter, and almost overset ber, which so affrightened the Indians, as 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, they bored her bow through with their anchor ; and sticking fast to her, they made divers shot through the sides of her, and so raked her fore and aft (being but inch board) as they must needs kill or hurt some of the Indians ; but seeing none THE INDIAN WARS. 23 df them come forth, they got loose from her, and thea stood off again : then four or five more of the Indians leap ed into the sea, and were likewise drowned ; whereupon there being but four left in her, they boarded her ; when an Indian came up and yielded ; him they bound and put into the hole : then another yielded ; him they also bound, but Gallop, being well acquainted with their skill to unloose one another, if they lay near together, and having no place to keep them asunder, flung him bound into the sea ; then looking about, they found John Old- ham under an old sail, stark naked, having his head cleft to the brains ; his hands and legs cut as if they Jiad been cutting them off; yet warm : so they put him in to the sea ; but could not well tell how to come at the ether two Indians (who were in a little room underneath with tkeir swords) so they took the goods which were left, and the sails, 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 Narraganset shore, where they left her. On the 26th of the said July, the two Indians which were with John Oldham, and one other Indian, came from Canonicus (the chief Sachem of the Narragansets) with a letter from Mr. Williams, to signify what had be fallen John Oldham, and how grievously they were of- fenced : and that Miantonimo (the second Sachem of the Narragansets) was gone with 17 canoes and 200 men to take revenge. But upon examination of the oth er Indian, who was brought prisoner to them, they found that all the Sachems of the Narragansets, except Canon- 22 A NARRATIVE OF icus and Miantonimo, were contrivers of John Oldham s death, and the occasion was because he went to make peace, and trade with the Pequods last year ; The pris oner said also that Oldham s two Indians were acquaint ed with it ; but because they were sent as messengers from Canouicus, they would not imprison them : But the governor wrote back to Mr. Williams, to let the Narrasansets know, they expected they should send home John Oldham s two boys, and take revenge upon the Islanders, and withal gave Mr. Williams caution to look to himself, if there should be occasion to make war with the Narragansets (for Block Island was under them) and the next day lie wrote to Canonicus, by one of those Indians, that he had suspicion of him that was senf^and yet he had sent him back, because he was a messen ger : but did expect, if he should send for the two In dians, he should send them to him. Four days after John Oldham s twb boys were sent home by one of Miantonimo s men, with a letter from Mr. Williams, that Miantonimo had caused the Sachem of Niantic to send to Block Island for them, and that he had near 100 fathom of peak, and mulii other goods of Oidham s which should be reserved for them. And three of the seven that were drowned were Sachems, and that one of the two which was hired by the Niantic Sachem, was dead also. So they wrote back to have the rest of those which were necessary to be sent, and the rest of the goods, and that he should tell Canonicua and Miantonimo that they held them innocent, but the iix other Sachems were guilty. THE INDIAN WARS. 23 Lieut. Gibbons and Mr, Higginson were sent after, with Cusbmakiii the Sachem of the Massachusetts, to Ca- flonicus, to treat with him about the murder of John Qldham. They returned with acceptance and good success of their business ; observing in the Sachera much state, great command of his men, und marvelous wisdom in his answers ; and in the carriage of the whole treaty, clearing himself and his neighbors Qf the murder, and offering revenge of it, yet upon very safe and wary conditions. The English of Massachusetts, after the peace con cluded with the Pequods, sent a bark thither for trade, that trial might be made of the reality of their friendship, but they found them treacherous and false, aud that no advantage was to be had by any commerce with them, insomuch as they took up a resolution never more to have to do with them ; which the said Indians perceiv ing, made no account of the former peace, but took all advantage to do us mischief, not only by harbor! pg those who had murdered Mr. Oldham, but surprizing many of the English in the year 1638, when Connecticut riv er began first to be planted, divers of whom were killed (nine at one time in April, 1637) by them about Weth- ersfield, when the plantation there first began, so as they could not pass up and down the river without a guard, but they would be in danger of being cut off or carried away, as two maids were said to be ; thirty men have tilled by them in all ; those who fell into their hands alive, were cruelly tortured, after a most barbar ous manner, by insulting over their prisoners io a bias* A NARRATIVE OF phemous wise, when in their dying agonies wilder the ; mity of Ihv :ir pains (their flesh being first slashed with knr then filled with burning embers) they d uj;o G-:>d and Christ with gasping groans, resign- ir -iiuils into their hands ; with which words $ie*e wretched caitif. -d to mock the English after- when th< i iu their hearing and view. About the >;, , some agents sent over by the Lord Say /nod the Lord Brook, built a fort at the % nnonth *1 i ON ie^ficut river, wherein was placed one Lieutenant Gardiner, and a convenient number of jers to secure the place, intended soon after to be l;ccl, but all the winter following, being the end of the year 1036, they were little better than besieged by the said savages, not daring to stir out of the command of the fort, but they were ready to be seized by these )arous enemies : At one time the Lieutenant him- with ten or twelve of the soldiers, marching out of fort "with intent to pass over a neck of land, to burn raarabes ; as soon as they bad passed over the :d*t; of the neck, they espied a company of Indians ang towards the said isthmus, which if they could not recover, they saw they must all perish ; where upon returning back with all speed, they narrowly es caped, and were two or three of them killed notwith standing, before they could get back to the fort, which gently surrounded with multitudes of them; but the discharging of a piece of ordnance gave them warn-- ing to keep forfher from the walls. Somet noe* Jhoy Came ivith their .canoes into the river in view of the so?- THE INDIAN WARS. 25 diers within the fort, and when they apprehended them selves out of the reach of their guns, they would imitate the dying groans and invocations of the poor captive, which English soldiers were forced with silent patience to bear, not being then in a capacity to require their in solent blasphemies. But they being by these horrible outrages justly provoked to indignation, unanimously agreed to join their forces together, to root them out of the earth, with God s assistance. The Governor and Council having soon after assem bled the rest of the magistrates, and the ministers, to advise with them about doing justice for Oldham s death, they all agreed it should be done with all expedition ; and accordingly on the 25th of August following, 80 or 90 men were sent out under the command of Capt. En- dicot of Salem, who went to the Pequod country by water, with commission to treat with the said Pequods, first offering terms of peace, if they would surrender the murderers of the English, and forbear further acts of hostility, or else fight them. The Captain aforesaid coming ashore with his Com pany, by a message sent them by an interpreter, obtain ed little speech with a great number of them at a dis tance ; but after they understood what was propounded to them, first cunningly getting behind a hill, they pres ently ran away into the woods and swamps, where there was no pursuing of them : however, one discharging a gun among them as they were taking their flight, stay ed the course of one, which was all that could be done against them at that time. 26 A NARRATIVE OF Winter approaching, and no encouragement present ing further to pursue them at that time, it was resolved better to return back for the present, and wait a further season, when more forces could be gathered together to pursue the quarrel to the utmost. Miantonimo soon after sent a message to them with a letter from Mr. Williams, to signify that they had taken one of the Indians, who had broken prison, and had him safe for them, when thy should send for him (as they had before sent to him for that end) and that the other had stolen away (not knowing it seems that he was their prisoner) and that according to their promise they would not entertain any of that Island, which should come to them ; but they conceived it was rather in love to him whom they concealed, for he had been his ser vant formerly, but when they sent for those two Indians, one was sent them, but the other was said to be dead before the messenger came : But the Pequods harbor ed those of Block-Island, and therefore justly brought the revenge of the English upon them. Amongst those soldiers that were sent under Capt. Endicot, were twenty that belonged to Saybrook-fort, and were appointed to stay there, to defend the place against the Pequods : After the said Capt. and the rest were departed, those twenty lay wind bound in the Pe- quod harbor, and in the mean while went all of them ashore, with sacks to fetch some of the Pequods corn ; and having fetched each man one sack full to their boat, they returned for more, and having loaded themselves the Indians set upon them, so they set down their corn* THE INDIAN WARS. gave fire upon the Indians, and the Indians shot their arrows against them ; the place was open about the distance of a musket shot ; the Indians kept the covert, save when they came forth at a .time and dis charged their arrows : The English put themselves in a single file, and ten only that had pieces that could reach them, shot, the others stood ready to keep them from breaking in. So they continued most part of the afternoon ; the English, as they supposed, killed divers of them, and hurt others ; and the Indians wounded but one of the English, who was armed, all the rest being without : For they shot their arrows compass-wise, so as they could easily see and avoid them standing single, then always gathered up their arrows : At the last the Indians being weary of the sport, gave the English leave to retire to their boat This was in October, 1636. About two days after, five men of Saybrook went up the river about four miles to fetch hay out of a meadow on the Pequod side : The grass was so high as some Pequods hiding themselves in it, set upon the English before they were aware, and took one that had hay on back, the rest fled to their boat, one of them had five arrows in him, yet recovered : He that was taken was a goodly young man, whose name was Butterfield : whereupon the meadow was ever after called Butter- field s meadow. Icarus Icariis nomina dedil aquis. About fourteen days after, six of the soldiers were Bent out of the fort to keep an house which they had set op in a corn-field, about two miles from the fort. Three 28 A NARRATIVE OF of them went forth a fowling, which the Lieutenant had strictly forbidden, two had pieces, and the third only a sword, when suddenly about an hundred Indians came out of the covert and set upon them, he who had the sword brake through, and received only two shot, and those not dangerous, and so escaped to the house which was not above a bow shot off, and persuaded the other two to follow, but they stayed still, till the Indians came and took them, and carried them away with their pieces. Soon after they beat down the said house, and out- bouses, and hay stacks, and within a bow shot of the fort, killed a cow, and shot diverse others, which came with arrows sticking in them. After Mr. Endicot s departure, the Pequoda per ceiving that they had by several late injuries and out rages, drawn upon themselves the hatred of all the Eng lish, as well as of their own people by former wrongs, and distrusting their own ability to deal with them all at once, did at the last by all subtile insinuations and per suasions, try to make their peace with the Narragaiisets, using such arguments as to right reason seemed not only pregnant to the purpose but also (if revenge, that be witching and pleasing passion of man s mind had not blinded their eyes) most cogent and invincible : but they were, by the good providence of God, withheld from embracing those counsels, which might otherwise have proved most pernicious to the design of the Eng lish, viz. That the English were strangers, and began to overspread the country, which would soon be pos sessed by them to the depriving the ancient inhabitants of their right, if they were not timely prevented ; and THE INDIAN WARS. 29 that the Narragansets would hut make way for their own ruin, by helpins; to destroy the Pequods ; for after them selves were subdued, it would not be long ere the Nar- ragansets themselves, would in the next place be rooted out likewise : whereas if they would but join together against the English they could demonstrate how the English might easily either be destroyed or forced to leave the country, and that without any danger to them selves : Teliing them also that they never need come to any open battles, they might destroy them only by firing their houses, and killing their cattle, and lying in wait for them as they went about their ordinary occa sions ; which course, if it were pursued, they said their new and unwelcome neighbors could not long subsist ; but would either be starved with hunger and cold, or forced to forsake their country. Machiavel himself if he had sat in council with them could not have insinuated stronger reasons to have per suaded them to a peace. It is said that so much reason was apprehended in these motives, that the Narragansets were once waver ing, and were almost persuaded to have granted an ear to their advice and persuasion and joined all against the English ; but when they considered what an advantage they had put into their hands by the strength and favor of the English, to take a full revenge of all their former injuries, upon their inveterate enemies, the thought of that was so sweet, that it turned the scale against all other considerations whatsoever. Soon after this, Miantonimo, Sachem of the Narragan- sets, came to Boston (being sent for by the Governor) f i 9. 30 A NARRATIVE OP with two of Canonicus s sons, and another Sachem, and near 20 of their men, whom they call Sannaps. The Governor, having notice by Cushamakin, the Massachu setts Sachem, sent twenty musketeers to Roxbury to meet them. They came to Boston about noon, where the Governor had called together all Magistrates and Ministers to give countenance to their proceedings, and to advise about the terms of peace, After dinner, Miantonimo declared what he had to say to them in several propositions, which were to this effect, that they had always loved the English, and now desired a firm peace with them, and that they would continue war with the Pequods, and their confederates, till they were sub dued, and desired the English would do so too : Prom ising to deliver their enemies to them, or kill them, and two months after to send them a present. The Gover nor told them they should have an answer the next morning, which was done, upon articles subscribed by him, and they also subscribed with him, wherein a firm peace was concluded, but because they could not make them well understand the articles, they told them they would send a copy to Mr. Williams, who could best interpret the same to them. So after dinner they took leave, and were conveyed out of town by some musket eers, and dismissed with a volley of shot. THE ARTICLES HERE FOLLOW. I. A firm peace betwixt them and their friends on either part (if they consent) and their confederates (if they will observe the articles) and their posterity. II. Neither part to make peace with the Pequods without the other s consent THE INDIAN WARS. II I. Not to harbor any of the Pequods. IV. To put to death, or deliver up any of the mur derers of the English. V. To return fugitive servants. VF. The English to give them notice when they go out against the Pequods, and the other to send them guides. VII. None of them to come near the English planta tions during the war with the Pequods without some Englishman 01 known Indian. IX. To continue to the posterity of both parties. These Articles were indifferently well observed by the Narragansets, till the Pequods, their mortal enemies, were totally subdued ; but then they began to grow in solent and treacherous, especially this Miantonimo him self ; as will appear in the sequel. Cushmakin also, the Sachem of Massachusetts, sub scribed these articles with the English. The report of the unheard of cruelties forementioned, which had been perpretrated by the Pequods filling the ears of the English throughout the country ; it was a- greed by the joint consent of the English throughout the three colonies to unite all their forces together for suppressing the common enemy, early in the spring, A. D. 1637, who were also moved thereunto by their own necessities as well as by the earnest request of their friends at Connecticut. Those of Plymouth being written unto by the Gov ernor of the Massachusetts, appeared very cordially willing thereunto, to which end they agreed to send fifty men at their own charge, with as much speed as the mat ter required, with sufficient leaders appointed, and a 32 A NARRATIVE OF bark provided to cany them provisions, and tend upon them on all occasions ; but before they could be dis patched away the next spring, news was brought that the enemy was wholly routed, so as their journey was stopped, and their good will accepted for the deed ; as if they realty had been there to have borne their part in the service ; their non-appearance in time and place be ing not to be imputed to any backwardness in their minds, but to their too late invitation to the service^ ; The motion fetching a large compass from the Connecti cut down to the Massachusetts ; from whom in the last place they were solicited thereunto. And for the oth er two colonies, those of Connecticut being quickened on by the spur of necessity, and present sense of the in solence daily acted at their very doors, were soonest upon their march, and by the good hand of God upon them, they had given the main stroke before the friends of the Massachusetts could come up with them, yet there was no repining for the want of the glory of the victory, nor was there any cause, those that were the chief act ors therein being forward to give God the glory of the whole, and not willing to pocbfet up any thing thereof themselves, acknowledging that they never saw more ot God, or less of man in any business of that nature, as may more fully be understood by particulars ensuing. The colony of the Massachusetts determined to send an hundred and sixty, of whom an hundred and twenty were ordered under the conduct of Capt. Patrick of Wa- tertown, and Capt. Trask of Salem, Capt. Stoughton of Dorchester being to command in chief; with whom was sent that holy man of God, Mr, John Wilson, (pastor of THE INDIAN WARS. 33 the church of Boston) the chariots and horsemen of our Israel, by whose faith and prayer, as sometimes was said of Luther, (in reference to Germany) the country was preserved, so as it was confidently believed that no en emy should break in upon a place whilst he survived, which as some have observed accordingly came to pass. The matter requiring great expedition, and it being long before the whole company could be dispatched a- way, Capt. Patrick with forty men were sent before hand, to be sure to meet with those of Connecticut in ease they should be in action, before the rest of our forc es could get into a readiness, which accordingly came to pass ; for the main business in taking the fort was over, even before the said Patrick could get thither. Capt. Underbill was sent by Mr. Vane the Governor to Saybrook tie winter before to strengthen the garrison there. The assaulting and surprising of this Indian fort being the most remarkable piece of service in that whole expedition ; take it as it was delivered in writing by that valiant, faithful and prudent commander, Capt. Ma son, chief in the action, who lived long after to reap the fruit of his labor, and enjoy the benefit of that day s service, having an inheritance given him in that part of the country, as a just reward of his faithful service on that day as well as at other times. Wequash, a Pequod by nation, but disgusted by the Sachem, proved a good guide to the English, by whose direction they were led to a fort near Mystic river, some miles nearer than Sas- sacous s fort, which they first intended to assault. On the second Wednesday of May, being the tenth day of that month, we set sail with ninety men of the 34 A NARRATIVE OF English in one Pink, one Pinnace, and two Boats, tow ards the Pequods, with seventy river Indians ; having somewhat a long passage to Say brook fort, about forty of our Indians desired to go down by land on Saturday, but on Monday they went forth from the fort, and meet ing seven Pequods and Nianticks they slew five out right, took one prisoner, and brought him into Saybrook fort, where he was executed by Capt. Underbill, the other escaped. On Monday we landed at Saybrook fort, and stayed there until Tuesday ; Capt. Underbill joining nineteen men with himself to us : Whereupon we sent back twen ty of ours to strengthen our plantations ; and so set sail on Thursday towards Narraganset, and arrived there on Friday. Oil Saturday, myself, with Capt. Underbill, and Lieut. Sealy, with our guard marched to Canqnicus by land, being about five miles distant, where we were kind ly entertained after their manner : Having had party with him, we sent to Mian too i mo, who would give ^o present answer ; and so our Sabbath being on the mor row, we adjourned our meeting until Monday, at which time there assembled Miantonimo with the chiefeat of them about two hundred men ; and being solemnly set for consultation after their manner, told them we were now going, God assisting, to revenge the wrong commit* ted and bloodshed by their and our enemies, upon our native countrymen, not any way desiring their aid, un less they would voluntarily send, which they did ex ceedingly approve of : Moreover we told them that the English and they had always been friends for ought we THE INDIAN WARS. 35 knew, and so were we with the Indians that had not wronged Englishmen, which they acknowledged, and so made a large description of the Pequod s country, and told us they would send men with us ; so we resolved there to keep our rendezvous at Cononicus plantation, on the morrow night, being Tuesday ; but the wind be ing stiff, we could not land our men until five or six of the clock in the afternoon, at which time I landed on Narraganset shore with thirty-two men, and so marched to the place of rendezvous formerly appointed : Capt Underbill and my Lieut, landed the rest, and came up to me that night. About two hours before day, came an Indian with a letter from Capt. Patrick, being then at Robert Williams s plantation with forty men, who desir ed us to stay for his coming and joining us, not intimat ing when that would be : which being considered and debated, we thought it could not be our safest course to wait for him, (though his present assistance was much desired) for these reasons. 1. " Because the day before when we had absolute ly resolved to go, the Indians plainly told us they tho t we were but in jest, and also that Englishmen did talk much, but not fight ; nay, they concluded they would not go on ; and besides, if we should defer, we feared we should be discovered by reason of the frequent re course between them by certain Squaws (who have mu tual intercourse) whereupon we were constrained to set forward towards the Pequods, with seventy-seven Eng lish, and about sixty river Indians, and as I suppose near two hundred Narragansets, and marched that night to the eastern Niaiiticks, where we kept our rendezvous 36 A NARRATIVE OF that night : the Sachem of the place adding about an hundred of his men unto us. We set forward and marched about ten miles, where making an alta (or halt) there we held a consultation with the Indians, who desired to know what we intended ? We told them that we resolved to assault Sassacous a fort, at which they were all stricken and as it were a- mazed with fear, as they plainly confessed ; after a long debate and pressing of them, taxing them with coward ice, some of them resolved to go along with us, though I supposed they had no such intention, as appeared after ward ; some of them left us to the number as I suppose of an hundred or less ; and marching on five miles fur ther, we made another alta, where they told us we had near a dozen miles to Sassacous s fort, as we gathered by their relation ; we were constrained to alter our res olution, and resolved to attempt that fort, which they had formerly described to be three or four miles near er ; and also one ofCapt. Underbill s men failing put it out of doubt. But whosoever saith that Capt. Under bill had any falling out about that or any thing else, doth speak an untruth ; for x we both resolved to attack Sassa- cous s fort, as we concluded in our consultation at Nar- raganset, and so continued our resolution till we receiv* ed the former reasons as grounds sufficient to persuade us to tl e contrary, and to prosecute that which was most likely to be accomplished. They drew a plot of the situation of the Pequods, and described Sassacous s fort to be the nearest, which was the chief cause we determined to assault that first, and had no reason leaning till our last alta, where, upon the THE I5TDIAN WARS, 8? reasons formerly mentioned, we changed our resolution : This greatly pleased the Indians that were with us, as it was what they much desired ; for it was dreadful to them to hear the name of Sassacous. From thence we marched two or three miles where we kept our rendezvous, supposing we had been within one mile of the fort : An Indian having been sent be forehand, brought us news that they were secure, having been fishing with many canoes at sea, and divers of them walking here and there. About two hours before day we marched toward the fort, being weary and much spent ; many of us having slept none at all. And so we began to march towards the fort, the Lord being pleased wonderfully to assist and encourage us, after a tedious marr> of three or four miles : About break of day we came fair in view of the fort, standing on the top of an hill not steep ; the Indians all falling back, were suddenly vanished out of sight, so we made an alta, and sent back for our guide who had promised to go with us to the fort, but his heart we saw much fail ed him ; we asked him what they intended who promised to wing us, and to surround the fort ; he told us they were much afraid ; but he, seeing our resolution, went to them and prevailed with divers of them to come up to us ; we told them their best course would be to flank the fort on both sides, and having no time longer to con fer, we proceeded ; Capt. Underbill to the western en trance with one division, myself to the eastern as silent as possibly we could ; so it pleased God we came up within two rods of the Palisado, before we were discov- D 88 A NARRATIVE OF ered, at which time a dog began to bark, and an Indian cried cut, but not being myself rightly informed by the Indian guide, of the right entrance, though there was a little postern door, which I had thought to have attempt ed to break down with my foot ; but the Lord directed me otherwise for the better ; for I then feared we could not there enter with our arms, which proved true. So J suddenly hasted to the Palisado, and putting in the muzzle of my piece, and discharged upon them, and so did the rest with all celerity ; we then suddenly hasten- cned on toward that side which stood toward the wa ter ; where I concluded was an entrance, and instantly fell upon it, being only barred with two forked boughs, or branches of some trees, and hastening over them, I drew one after me : my Lieutenant drawing the other outward. We suddenly fell upon the wigwams ; the Indians cried out in a most hideous manner, some issu ing out of the wigwams, shooting at us desperately, and so creeping under beds that they had. We had resolv ed awhile not to have burned it, but seeing we could not come at them, I resolved to set it on fire, after divers of them were slain, and some of our men sore wounded ; so entering one of their wigwams, I took a fire brand [at which time an Indian drawing an arrow had killed him, but one Davis, his Sergeant cut the bowstring with his cutlass] and suddenly kindled a fire in the matts where with they were covered, and fell to a retreat and sur rounded the fort ; the fire encreasing violently, inso much as that they were constrained to climb to the top of the Palisado ; from whence they were soon fetched down, I suppose to the number of an hundred and forty. THE INDIAN WARS. 39 Many of them issuing forth were suddenly slain either by the English or Indians, who were in a ring without us ; all being dispatched and ended in the space of an hour, having two of our men slain, and sixteen wounded. Being very hot and dry, we could very hardly pro cure any water, we continued theie one hour not know ing what course to take or which way to go, our Pinnac es not being come in, neither did we know how far or which way to go to them, our Interpreter, being an In dian, we could hardly come to speak with him : When we did, he knew nothing of what his countrymen intend ed, who were all hurried and distracted with a few hurt men, but chiefly as I conceive with fear of the enemy. " But the enemy approaching, they began to cleave unto us, and I verily think durst not leave us. " Our Pinnaces then coming in view with a fair gale, being guided as it were to serve our necessity by the good hand of God, which I think was never more emin ently seen in a matter of like moment, and less of man in several passages. Then we set our men in order, and prepared for fight, and began to march toward the harbor where the Pinnaces were to ride : the enemy ap proaching, Capt. Underbill, with divers Indians and cer tain English, issued out to encounter them, but they would not stand to it, for the most part they lay behind rocks, trees and bushes. We marched on, they still dodging of us ; sometimes hazarding themselves in open field, where some of them were slain in open view, and as we hear, many wounded. I was somewhat cautious in bestowing many shot upon them heedlessly, because I expected a strong opposition ; and thus they continu- 40 A NARRATIVE OF ed to follow us till we came within two miles of our Pin naces, where they wholly left us, which was nearly six miles as I conceive, it being then about two miles more to the river. " Four of our wounded men we were forced to carry ourselves, while at length we hired the Indians to bear them both in this and all the following enterprizes against the Pequods." This service being thus happily accomplished by these few hands that came from Connecticut ; within a while after, the forces sent from the Massachusetts under the conduct of Capf. Stoughton as commander in chief, arrived there also, who found a great part of the work done to their hands, in the surprisal of the Pequods fort as aforesaid, which was yet but the breaking of the nest, and unkennelling those savage wolves ; for the body of them, with Sassacous the chief Sachem (whose very- name was a terror to all the Narragansets) were dispers ed abroad *nd scattered all over their country, yet so far were the rest dismayed, that they never durst make any assault upon the English, who in several parties were scattered about in pursuit of them. It was not long after Capt. Stoughton s soldiers came up, before news was brought of a great number of the enemy, that were discovered by the side of a river up the country, being first trappanned by the Narragansets, under pretence of securing them, but were truly hem med in by them, though at a distance, yet so as they could not, or durst not stir, from the place, by which means our forces of the Massachusetts made an easy THE INDIAN WARS. 41 conquest of some hundreds of them, who were there cooped up as in a pound ; not daring to fight, nor able to fly away, and so were all taken without any opposi tion. The men among (hem to the number of 30, were turned presently into Charon s ferryboat, under the com mand of skipper Gallop, who dispatched them a little without the harbor ; the females and children were dis posed of according to the will of the conquerors, some being given to the Narragausets, and other Indians that assisted in the service. The rest of the enemy being first fired out of their strong hold, were taken and destroyed, a great number of them being seized in the places where they intended to have hid themselves, the rest fled out of their own country over Connecticut river, up towards the Dutch plantation. Our soldiers being resolved by God s as sistance to make a final destruction of them, were mind ed to pursue them which way soever they should think to make their escape, to which end in the next place, our soldiers went by water towards New Haven, whith- ei- they heard, and which in reason was most likely, they bent their course : soon after they were informed of a great number of them, that had betaken themselves to a neighboring place not far off, whither they might hope it was not likely they should be pursued ; but upon search, they found fifty or sixty wigwams, but without an Indian in any of them, but heard that they had pass ed along toward the Dutch plantation ; whereupon our soldiers that were before, all embarked for Quillepiack, afterwards called New-Haven, and being landed there, D2 42 A NARRATIVE OF they had not far to march unto the place where it was* most probable they should either find or hear of them ; accordingly in their march they met here and there with sundry of them, whom they slew or took prisoners, amongst whom were two Sachems, whom they present ly beheaded ; to a third that was either a Sachem or near akin to one, they gave his life upon condition that lie should go and enquire where Sassacous was, and ac cordingly bring them word : this Indian, overlooking all thr national or natural obligations, in consideration of his life that was received on that condition, proved very true and faithful to those that sent him ; his order was to have returned in three days, but not being able with in so short a time to make a full discovery of the busi ness, and also to find a handsome way to escape, he made it eight dayg before he returned, in which some thing fell out not a little remarkable ; for those he was sent to discover, suspecting at the last by his withdraw ing himself, that he came for a spy, pursued after him, so he was forced to fly for his life, and getting down to the sea side, he accidentally met with a canoe a little be fore turned adrift, by which means he paddled by some {shift or other so far out of the harbor, that making a sign lie was discerned by some on board one of the vessels that attended on our soldiers, by whom being taken up, lie made known what he had discovered. But after he was <rone, Hassacous suspecting (and not without just cause) what the matior was, made his escape from the rest vith-20or 30 of his men to the Mohawks, by whom himself and they that were with him, were all THE INDIAN WARS. 43 murdered afterward, being hired thereunto by the Nar- ragansets, as was confidently affirmed and believed.* Thus this treacherous and cruel villain with his com panions, having against his faith and promise, as well as contrary to the laws of nature and nations, murdered several others, both of the Dutch and English nation, is in the same manner himself, against the laws of hospital ity murdered by those to whom he fled for refuge. Vengeance is mine, saiih the Lord, 1 will repay it. It is worthy our observation, that this Sassacous, (he chief Sachem of the Pequods, as afterwards Philip of Mount Hope, (both of them in their several times and places the contrivers of many bloody and cruel mis chiefs, yet) escaped the hands of those whom they had so many ways provoked to the utmost degree of indig nation, that so they might not too much gratify their own spirit in taking revenge ; but it must be brought about by those means by which the glory of divine ven geance and justice shall more eminently shine forth, that it might be truly said of them, as Atlonibezek con fessed of himself, As I have done, so God hath requit- ted me. But to return : The rest of the Pequods from whom Sassacous had made an escape, shifted every one for himself, leaving but three or four behind them (when a party of soldiers according to the direction of him that was sent as a spy came upon the place) who would not or could not tell them whither their company were fled ; Sassacous s scalp was sent down to the English, sacbusetts History, 44 A NARRATIVE OP but our soldiers ranging up and down as Providence guided them, at the last, July 13, 1637, they lighted upon a great number of them, they pursued them to a small Indian town seated by the side of an hideous swamp (near the place where Fairfield or Stratford now stands) into which they all slipt, as well Pequods as na tives of the place, before our men could make any shot upon them, having placed a centinel to give warning, Mr. Ludlow and Capt. Mason with half a score of their men happened to discover this crew. Capt. Patrick and Capt. Trask with about an hundred of the Massa chusetts forces came in upon them presently after the alarm was given ; such commanders as first happened to be there gave special orders that the swamp should be surrounded (being about a mile i n compass) but Lieut. Davenport belonging to Capt. Trask s company, not hearing the word of command, with a dozen more of his company, in an over eager pursuit of the enemy, rush ed immediately into the swamp, where they were very rudely entertained by those evening wolves that newly kennelled therein, for Lieut. Davenport was sorely wounded in the body, John Wedwood of Ipswich in the belly, and laid hold on by some of the Indians ; Thom as Sherman of said Ipswich in the neck ; some of their neighbors that ventured in with them were in danger of the enemy s arrows that flew very thick about them, others were in as much hazard of being swallowed by the miry boggs of the swamp, wherein they stuck so fast, that if Sarjeant Riggs, of Roxbury, had not rescued two or three of them, they had fallen into the hands of THE INDIAN WARS. 45 the enemy ; but such was the strength aud courage of those that came to their rescue, that some of the In dians being slain with their swords, their friends were quickly relieved and drawn out of the mire and danger. But the Indians of the place, who had for company- sake run with their guests the Pequods into the swamp did not love their friendship so well as to be killed with them also for company sake, wherefore they began to bethink themselves they had done no wrong to the Eng lish, and desired a parley, which was granted, and they presently understood one another by the means of Thom as Sfanton, an exact interpreter then at hand. Upon which the Sachem of the place with several others and their wives and children, that liked better to live quiet ly in their wigwams than to be buried in the swamp, came forth and had their lives granted them : After some time of further parley with these, the iaterpreter was sent in to offer the like terms to the rest, but they were possessed with such a spirit of stupidity and aul- ienness that they resolved rather to sell their lives for what they could get there ; and to that end began to let fly their arrows thick against him as intending to make his blood some part of the price of their own ; but thro the goodness of God toward him, Lis life was not to be sold on that account, he being presently fetched off. By this time night drawing on, our commanders per ceiving on which side of the swamp the enemies were lodged, gave orders to cut through the swamp with their swords, that they might the better hem them round in one corner which was presently done ; and so they were 46 A NARRATIVE OF begirt in all night, the English in the circumference ply* ing them with shot all the time, by which means many of them were killed and buried in the mire, as they found the next day. The swamp by the forementioned device being reduced to so narrow a compass, that our soldiers standing at twelve feet distance could surround it, the enemy kept in all the night ; but a little before day break (by reason of the fog that useth to arise about that time, observed to be the darkest time of the night) twenty or thirty of the lustiest of the enemy broke through the besiegers, and escaped away into the woods, some by violence and some by stealth cropping away, some of whom notwithstanding were killed in the pursuit ; the rest were left to the mercy of the conquerors, of which many were killed in the swamp like sullen dogs, that would rather in their self-wiliedness and madness sit still to be shot or cut in pieces, than receive their lives for asking at the hand of those into whose power they were now fallen. Some that are yet living and worthy of credit do affirm, that in the morning entering into the swamp, they saw several heaps of them sitting close to gether, upon whom they discharged their pieces laden with ten or twelve pistol bullets at a time, putting the muzzles of their pieces under the boughs within a few yards of them ; so, besides those that were found dead (near twenty it was judged) many more were killed and sunk into the mire and never were minded more by friend or foe ; of those who were not so desperate or sul len as to sell their lives for nothing, but yielded in time, the male children were sent to the Bermudas, of the fe^ 3>H INDIAN WARS. 47 males some were ditsributed to the English towns, some were disposed of among the other Indians, to whom they were deadly enemies as well as to ourselves. This overthrow given to the Pequods struck such a terror into all the Indians in those parts (some of whom had been ill affected to the English before) that they sought our friendship, and rendered themselves to be under our protection, which they then obtained, and have never since forfeited it any of them, till the late rebellion of Philip, the subject of the following discourse. Amongst the rest of the prisoners special notice was taken of the wife of a noted Indian called Mononotto, who with her children submitted herself, or by the chance of the war fell into the hands of the English : it was known to be by her mediation that two English maids (that were taken from Weathers- field, upon Connecticut river) were saved from death, in requittal of whose pity and humanity, the life of her self and her children was not only granted her, but she was in special recommended to the care of that honora ble gentleman Mr. John Winthrop, at that time being the worthy Governor of Massachusetts ; who taking no tice of her modest countenance and behavior, as well as of her only request (not to suffer wrong either as to the honor of her body or fruit of her womb) gave special charge concerning her, according to his noble and Chris tian disposition. After this slaughter at the swamp, the Pequods being upon every turn exposed to the revenge of the Mohe- S A NARRATIVE OF gins on one side, and the Narragansets on the English,* by whom they were put, some under the Mohegins and some under the Narragansets, which at last proved the occasion of the present quarrel as is conceived, through the ambition of Miantonimo, as will be hereafter related. On the 12th of July, 1637, one Aganemo, a Sachem <&f the Niantick Indians (who were a branch of the Nar- ragansets) came to Boston with seventy of his own men : he made divers propositions to the English, which they took into consideration, and promised to give him an answer the next day : but finding that he had res cued divers of the Pequods, submitting to him since the last defeat, they first demanded the delivery of them, which he sticking at, they refused further conference with him : But the next morning he came and offered what they desired. So the Governor referred him to the Captains at the Pequod country, and writ instructions to them how to deal with him. So receiving his tea fathoms of wampum, they friendly dismissed him. In July 1638, Uncas the Sachem of the Mohegins, liaving entertained some of the Pequods, came to the Governor at Boston with a present, and was much de jected because it was not first accepted : Bat afterwards the Governor and Council being satisfied about his inno- cency, they accepted it, whereupon he promised to the order of the English, both touching the Pequods he had received, and as concerning the differences betwixt the Narragansets and himself, and confirmed all with this compliment ; this heart, said he, (laying his hand upon * Seven hundred of them were thought to be destroyed. THE INDIAN WARS. 49 his heart) is not mine but your s, command me any dif ficult service and I will do it, I have no men but they are all yoiir s, I will never believe any Indian against the English any more ; and so he continued for ever after, as may be seen in the following transactions between the Indians and the English : whereupon he was dismissed with some small reward, and went home very joyful, carrying a letter of approbation for himself and his men, through the English plantations. This was the issue of the Pequod war, which in the day of it here in New-England was as formidable to the country in general as the present war with Philip ; the experience of which, because it may administer much comfort and encouragement to the surviving generation as well as of praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God, from all those who have thus long quietly enjoyed the benefit and reaped the fruit of their labor and courage who engaged therein, the more pains hath been taken to search out the broken pieces of that story and thus put them together, before the memory thereof was bu ried in the ruins of time, and past the recovery and knowledge of the present age. After subduing the Pequods in the year 1637, the Narragansets, the most numerous of the other Indians, either out of discontent, that the whole sovereignty over the rest of the Indians was not adjudged to belong to them, or out of envy, that Uncas the chief Sachem of the Mohegin Indians, had insinuated further than them selves into the favor of the English, were observed to be always contriving mischief against them, notwith- E A NARRATIVE OF standing a firm agreement was made between the Eng lish and the said Narragansets in the Year 1637, when they had helped to destroy the Pequods, and also not withstanding the tripple league between the said Narra gansets, the Mohegins, and the English at Hartford (the chief town of Connecticut) made in the year 1638, wherein the said Indians were solemnly engaged not to quarrel with the Mohegins or any other Indians, until they had first asked the advice of the English, to whose determination, they had likewise obliged themselves to atand in all following differences among them. They carried it subtilly and underhand for some years, and were pretending quarrels with the said Uncas, against whom they always had an inveterate malice, ever since the agreement made about distributing the Pequods, after the war with them was ended, expecting in all probabiU ity that all should have been left to their sole arbitra ment. The Mohegins on the other side, though not so cumeroiis, yet a more warlike people and more politic, always made their recourse to the English, complaining of the insolence of the Narragansets, contrary to their league, so as they would hardly be kept from making open war against them, when they saw all other attempts to kill and destroy Uncas the Mohegin Sachem, by treachery, poison and sorcery prove ineffectual. Inas much that at last the malice of Miantonimo and his Nar ragansets grew to that height, that they began to plot against the English themselves, for defending Uncas. The Narragansets were animated by the haughty spirit and aspiring mind of Miantonimo, the heir appa- THE INDIAN WARS. 51 rent of all the Narraganset people, after the decease of the old Sachem, Canonicus, who was his uncle. This Miantonimo was a very goodly personage, of tall stature, subtle and cunning in his contrivements, as well as haughty in his designs. It was strongly suspected that in the year 1642, he had contrived to draw all the In dians throughout the country into a general conspiracy against the English : For, the first of September, 1642, letters came to the Court of Connecticut, and from two of the Magistrates there, that the Indians had conspired to cut off the English all over the country : Mr. Ludlow certified as much from the place where he lived near the Dutch. The time appointed for the assault, was said to be after harvest ; the manner to be by several companies, entering into the chief men s houses, by way of trade, and then to kill them in their houses, and seize their arms, and others should be at hand to prosecute the massacre : This was also confirmed by three In- dians that were said to reveal it in the same manner, and at the same time, to Mr. Ludlow and to the Gover nor of New-Haven. It was added also that another In dian should discover the same plot to Mr. Haines of Connecticut by some special circumstances, viz. that being much hurt by a cart (which usually there are drawn with oxen) he should send for Mr. Haines ,md tell him, that Englishman s God was angry with him, and sent Englishman s cow (meaning the oxen in the cart, or wayne) to kill him because he had concealed a plot against the English, and so told him all as the other Indians bad done. ,02 A NARRATIVE OF Upon this, their advice from Connecticut was, tot we should begin with them and enter upon a war pres ently, and that if Massachusetts would send 120 men to Saybrook, at the river s mouth, they would meet them wi:h a proportionable number. This was a very proba ble story, and very likely it was, that the Indians had been discoursing of some such business among them selves. But the General Court of Massachusetts when called together, did not think those informations to be a sufficient ground whereon to begin a war. Although the governor and Magistrates as many as could convene together before the Court, ordered that all the Indians within their jurisdiction should be disarmed, which they willingly yielded unto : And upon all the enquiries and examinations which were made by the Coart when as sembled together, they could not find any such violent presumption of a conspiracy. * c f " Ko f1 _~ .~ *,<* me ground of a war. Besides, it was considered, that the reports of all Indians were found by experience to be very uncertain, especially when it may be raised and carried by such as are at variance one with another ; who may be very ready to accuse one another to ingratiate themselves with the English. Miartonimo, Sachem of Narraganset, wa? sent unto, and by his readiness to appear, satisfied the English that he was innocent as to any present con spiracy ; though his quarrel with the Mohegins (who bordered upon Connecticut colony) might very proba bly, as was judged, render him the subject of such a report, or an occasion of it. The said Miantonimo when he came before the THE INDIAN WARS. 53 Court peremptorily demanded that his accusers might be brought before him face to face, and if they could not prove it, then to be made to suffer, what himself, if he had been found guilty, had deserved, i. e. death, his reasons for which were very plausible. He urged very much the prosecuting such a law against his accu sers ; alleging, that if the English did not believe it, why did they disarm the Indians round about : And if they did believe it, equity required, that they who ac cused him should be punished according to the offence charged upon himself. He offered also to make it good against Uncas, Sachem of the Mohegins, that the report was raised either by him or some of his people. The English answered, that divers Indians had robbed some of the Englishmen s houses, which might be a sufficient ground to disarm ; and with that he was something satis fied. The Connecticut men were hardly prevailed with to forbear the war against them, but at last they were overcome with the allegations of the Massachusetts to lay it aside. Miantonimo when he was at Boston was very deliber ate in his answers, shewing a good understanding in the principles of justice and equity, as well as a seeming in genuity withal : But though his words were smoother than oil, yet, as many conceived, in his heart were drawn swords. It was observed also, that he would never speak but when some of his Counsellors were pre sent, that they might, as he said, bear witness of all his speeches at their return home. They spent two days in the treaty, wherein at last E 2 54 A NARRATIVE OP he gave them satisfaction in all things, though he held off long about the Nianticks, of whom he said they were as his own flesh, engaging on their behalf, that if they should do any wrong, so as neither he nor they could satisfy without blood, then he would leave them to the mercy of the English. At his departure he gave his hand to the Governor, telling him, that was for the Magistrates that were absent. While he was at Boston one of his own followers had Jbeen a principal evidence against him ; he however promised to deliver him to the Mohegin Sachem whose subject he was ; notwithstanding which promise, going homeward he cut off his head to prevent his telling more iales. And, with great discontent, as he was going home said, he would come no more to Boston, wherein he proved a truer prophet than he himself believed when he uttered the words, for in the end of the same year, 3643, making war upon Uncas, he was taken prisoner by him, and soon after by the advice of the Commis sioners of the four colonies (at that time firmly united into a league offensive and defensive, on which account they were after that time called the united colonies of jNew-England ; though since that time they are reduced to but three colonies ; that of New-Haven and Connecti cut by the last patent being united in one) his head was cut off by Uncas, it being justly feared, that there would never be a firm peace, either betwixt the English and the Nanagansete, or betwixt the Narragansets and the Mohegin*, while Miantonimo was left alive : However, the iNarragansets have ever since that time THE INDIAN WARS. ilil bore an implacable malice against Uncas, and all the Mohegins, and for their sakes secretly against the Eng lish, so far as they durst discover it. In the year 1645, and 1646, they grew so insolent, that the Commissioners of the united colonies were com pelled to raise forces to go against them, but when they perceived that the English were in good earnest, they began to be afraid, and sued for peace, and submitted to pay tribute to satisfy the charges of preparation for the war, but were always very backward to make payment until the English were forced to demand it by new forc es, so that it appeared they were unwilling to hold any friendly correspondence with the English, yet durst never make any open attempt upon them, until the pres ent rebellion, wherein they had no small hand, is too evident, notwithstanding all their pretences to the con trary, as will appear in the sequel of this history. Thus it is apparent upon what terms the English stood with the Narragansets, ever since the cutting ofFMian- tonimo, their chief Sachem s head by Uncas, it beiis- done with the advice and counsel of the English, 1643. As for the rest of the Indians, ever suppression of the Pequods, in the year 1637, unt: nns year 1675, there was always in appearance amity * good correspondence oa all sides, scarce an En^iish^ 1 " 1 Mas ever known to be assaulted or hurt by any of their until after the year 1674, when the son of one Matoo- nas, who, as was supposed, being vexed in his mind that the design against the English, intended to begin 1671, did not take place, out of mere malice and spite against them, slew an Englishman travelling along the road, the 56 A NARRATIVE OF said Matoonas being a Nipnet Indian, which Nipnets were under the command of the Sachem of Mount Hope, the author of all the present mischiefs. Upon a due enquiry into all the preceding transac tions between the Indians and the English, from their first settling in these coasts, there will appear no ground of quarrel that any of them had against the English, nor any provocation upon one account or another ; for when Plymouth colony was first planted, within three months after their first landing, March 16, 1620, Massasoit, the chief Sachem of all that side of the country, repaired to the English at Plymouth, and entered into a solemn league upon sundry articles, (printed in Ne ^-England s Memorial, 1689) which are as follows, viz. 1. Th-dt neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of their people. 2. That if any of his did any hurt to any of theirs, he should send the offender that they might punish him. *^3. That if any thing were taken away from any of f lc -s, he should cause it to be restored ; aud they int Mld do the like to his. tlie 3 That if any did unjustly war against him, they ^ e id aid him, and if any did war against them, he to ild aid them. 5. That he should send to his neighbor codfederates, to certify them of this, that they might not wrong them, but might likewise be comprised in these conditions of peace. 6. That when bis men came to them upon any occa- THE INDIAN WARS. 57 sion, they should leave iheir arms (which were then bows and arrows) behind them. 7. That in so doing, their Sovereign Lord, King James, would esteem him as their friend and ally. This league the same Sachem, September 26, 1630, a little before his death, coming with his eldest son, af terwards called Alexander, did renew with the English at the Court of Plymouth, for himself and his son, and their heirs and successors : And after that he came to Mr. Brown s, who lived not far from Mount Hope, bringing his two sons, Alexander and Philip with him, desiring there might be love and amity after his death, between his sons and them, as there had been betwixt himself and them in former times : Yet it is very re- Biarkable that this Massasoit, called also Woosamequen, (how much soever he affected tk Win-iSoM .- . .__ . .. ._*i.ii,..K,.i, tma never in the least degree well affected to the religion of the English, but would in his last treaty with his neighbors at Plymouth, when they were with him about purchas ing some land at Swanzey, have had them engaged nev er to attempt to draw away any of his people from their old pagan superstition, and devilish idolatry, to the Chris tian religion, and did much insist upon it till he saw the English were resolved never to make any treaty with him more upon that account, which when he discerned, he did not further urge it : but that was a bad omen, that, notwithstanding whatever his humanity was to the English, as they were strangers, (for indeed they had repayed his former kindness to them, by protecting him afterwards against the insolences of the Narragansets) he manifested no small displacency of spirit against 58 A NARRATIVE OF them, as they were Christians : which strain wag evident more in his son that succeeded him, and all his people, insomuch that some discerning persons of that jurisdic tion have feared that nation of Indians would all be root ed out, as has since come to pass. The like may be observed concerning the Narragansets, who were always more civil and courteous to the English than any of the other Indians, though never have aa yet received the least tincture of the Christian religion, but have in a man ner run the same fate with their neighbors of Mount Hope, there being very few of them left standing. Nor is it unworthy the relation, what a person of quality a- rnongst us hath lately affirmed, viz. One much conver sant with the Indians about Merrimac river, being An- DO 1660, invited by some Sagamores or Sachems to a great dance, (which solemnities are the times they make use of to tell their stories, and convey the knowledge of some past and most memorable things to posterity) Pas- aaconaway, the great Sachem of that part of the coun try, intending at that time to make his last and farewell speech to his children and people, that were then all gathered together, addressed himself to them in this manner: I am now going the way of all flesh, or ready to die, and not likely to see you ever met together any more : I will now leave this word of counsel with you, that you may take heed how you quarrel with the Engjisb, for though you may do them much mischief, yet assuredly you will all be destroyed, and rooted off the earth if you do ; for I was as much an enemy to the English, at their first coming into these parts, as any one whatsoev- THE INDIAN WAR8. 59 cr, and did try all ways and means possible to have de stroyed them, at least to have prevented them sitting down here, but I could no way effect it, therefore I ad vise you never to contend with the English, nor make war with them :" And accordingly his eldest son Wa- nalancet by name, as soon as he perceived that the In dians were up in arms, withdrew himself into some re mote place, that he might not be hurt by the English, or the enemies, or be in danger by them. This passage was thought fit to be inserted here, it having so near an agreement with the former, intimating some secret awe of God upon the hearts of some of the principal amongst them, that they durst not hurt the English, although they bear no good affection to their re ligion, wherein they seem not a little to imitate Balaam, who, whatever he uttered, when he was under the awful power of divine illumination, yet when left to himself, was as bad an enemy to the Israel of God as ever be fore. But to return. After the death of this Woosamequen, or Massasoif, his eldest son succeeded him about 20 years since, Al exander by name, who notwithstanding the league he had entered into with the English, together with his fa ther, in the year 1639, had neither affection to the Eng lishmen s persons, nor yet to their religion, but had been plotting with the Narragansets, to rise against the Eng lish ; of which the Governor and Council of Plymouth being informed, they presently sent for him to bring him to the Court ; the person to whom that service was com mitted, was a prudent and resolute gentleman, the pres- 60 A NARRATIVE Ofc ent Governor of the said colony, who was neither atraid of danger, nor yet willing to delay in a matter of that moment, he forthwith taking eight or ten stout men with him well armed, intended to have gone to the said Alex ander s dwelling, distant at least forty miles from the Governor s house, but by a good providence, he found him whom he went to seek at an hunting-house, within six miles of the English towns, where the said Alexan der, with about eighty men, were newly come in from hunting, and had left their guns without doors, which Major Winslow with his small company wisely seized and conveyed away, and then went into the wigwam, and demanded Alexander to go along with him before the Governor, at which message he was much appalled, but being told by the undaunted messenger, that if he stir red or refused to go he was a dead man ; he was by one of his chief Counsellors, in whose advice he most confid ed, persuaded to go along to the Governor s house, but such was the pride and height of his spirit, that the ve ry surprizal of him, so raised his choler and indignation, that it put him into a fever, ^?bich notwithstanding all possible means that could be used, seemed mortal ; whereupon entreating those that held him prisoner, that he might have liberty to return home, promising to re turn again if he recovered, and to send his son as host age till he could so do ; on that consideration he was fairly dismissed, but died before he got half way home. Here let it be observed, that, although some have taken up fa se reports as if the English had compelled him to go further and faster than he was able, ajid so he fell in- THE INDIAN WARS. 61 to a fever, or as if he was not well used by the physi cian that looked to him, while he was with the Eng lish ; all which are notoriously false ; nor is it to be imagined that a person of so noble a disposition as is this gentleman (at that time employed to bring him) should himself, or suffer any one else to be uncivil to a person allied to them, by his own, as well as his father s league, as the said Alexander also was ; nor was any thing of that nature ever objected to by the English of Plymouth, by the said Alexander s brother, by name Philip, com monly for his ambitious and haughty spirit nicknamed King Philip, when he came in the year 1662, in his own. person with Sausaman his Secretary and chief Counsel lor, to renew the former league that had been between his predecessors and the English of Plymouth ; but there was as much correspondence betwixt them for the next seven years as ever had been in any former times. What can be imagined, therefore, besides the instigation of Satan, that envied at the prosperity of the church of God here seated, or else fearing lest the pow er of the Lord Jesus, that had overthrown his kingdom in other parts of the world, should do the like here, and so the stone taken out of the mountain without hands, should become a great mountain itself, and fill the whole earth ; no cause of provocation being given by the Eng lish ! For once before this, in the year 1671, the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning, had so filled the heart of this savage miscreant with envy and malice against the English, that he was ready to break out in open war against the inhabitants of Plymouth, pretend* F 62 A NARRATIVE OF ing some trifling injuries done him in his planting land,, but when (he matter of controversy came to be heard by divers of the Massachusetts Colony, yea, when he him self came to Boston, as it were referring his case to the judgment of that colony, nothing of that nature could be made to appear, whereupon in way of submission, he was of necessity by that evident conviction forced to acknowledge that it was the naughtiness of his own heart, that put him upon that rebellion, and nothing of any provocation from the English ; and to a confession of this nature with a solemn renewal of this covenant, de claring his desire, that this covenant might testify to the world against him, if ever he should prove unfaith ful to those of Plymouth, or any other of the English Colonies therein, himself with his chief counsellors sub scribed in the presence of some messengers sent on pur pose to hear the difference between Plymouth and the said Philip. But for further satisfaction of the reader, the said agreement and submission shall here be pub lished. TAUNTON, APRIL 10, 1671. " Whereas my father, my brother, and myself have formerly submitted ourselves and our people unto the King s Majesty of England, and to this colony of New Plymouth, by some solemn covenant under our hand ; but I having of late through my indiscretion, and the naughtiness of my heart violated and broken this my cov enant with my friends, by taking up arms, with evil in tent against them, and that groundlessly ; I being now deeply sensible of my unfaithfulness and folly, do desire THE INDIAN WARS. 63 at this time solemnly to renew my covenant with my an cient friends, and my father s friends abovementioned, and do desire this may testify to the world against me if ever I shall again fail in my faithfulness towards them, (whom I have now and at all times found kind to me) or any other of the English colonies ; and as a real pledge of my true intentions, I do freely engage to resign up unto the government of New Plymouth, all my English arms, to be kept by them for their security, so long as they shall see reason. For true performance of these premises, I have hereunto set my hand together with the rest of my Council. The mark P. of Philip, chief Sachem of Pakanoket, The mark V. of Tavoser, The mark JW.ofCapt. Wispoke, The mark T. of Wookaponchunt, The mark 8. of Nimrod." In presence of WILLIAM DAVIS, WILLIAM HUDSON, THOMAS BRATTLE* Philip also in the same year signed the following Ar tides : 1. " We Philip and my Council and my subjects, do acknowledge ourselves subject to his Majesty the King of England, and the government of New Plymouth, and to their laws. 2. " I am willing and do promise to pay unto the gov ernment of Plymouth, one buudred pounds in such 64 A NARRATIVE OF things as I have : But I would intreat the favor that I might have three years to pay it in, forasmuch as I can not do it at present. 3. " I do promise to send unto the Governor, or whom he shall appoint, five wolves heads, if I can get them : Or, as many as I can procure, until they come to five wolves yearly. 4. " If any difference fall between the English and myself, and people, then I do promise to repair to the Governor of Plymouth, to rectify the difference amongst us. 5. " I do promise not to make war with any, but with the Governor s approbation of Plymouth. 6. "I promise not to dispose of any of the lands that I have at present, but by the approbation of the Gov ernor of Plymouth. " For the true performance of the said Sachem, Phil ip of Paukamakett, do hereby bind myself and such of my Council, as are present, ourselves, our heirs, our successors, faithfully, do promise, in witness thereof, we have hereunto subscribed our hands, the day and year above written." The mark P. of Philip, the Sachem of Pokanoket, The mark [ of Uncomdaen, The mark J of Wocokom, The mark 7 otSamkaina.* In ike presence of the Court and divers of the Magistrates and other gentlemen of Massachusetts and Connecticut. THE INDIAN WARS. 65 To which, for the further clearing the justice of the present war the result of the debate of the Commission ers of the united colonies about the matter of the war shall be here inserted. At a meeting of the Commissioners of the United colo- uies held at Boston, September 9th, 3675. " We having received from the Commissioners of Plymouth, a Narrative, shewing the rise and several steps of that colony, as to the present war with the In dians, which had its beginning there, and its progress iiito Massachusetts, by their insolencies and outrages, murdering many persons, and burning their houses in sundry plantations in both colonies. And having duly considered the same, do declare that the said war be both just and necessary, and its first rise only a defen sive war. And therefore we do agree and conclude that it ought to be jointly prosecuted by all the united colo nies, and the charges thereof lo be borne and paid as is agreed in the articles of confederation. JOHN WINTHROP, JANES RICHARDS, THOMAS UANFORTH, WILLIAM STOUGHTON, JOSIAII WINSLOW, THOMAS HINCKLEY." But whatever his submission was before, or his sub jecting himself and his people to our King, or his en gagement to pay a sum of money in part of the charges then occasioned by him (and notwithstanding the Eng lish in or about Plymouth, since, or before that time ere never any ways injurious to him, or any of his peo F2 66 A NARRATIVE OF pie) all which are fully declared in a Narrative given by the Commissioners of the colony of Plymouth, wherein they also signified that the settlement and issue of the former controversy between Philip and them, was ob tained and made (principally) by the mediation, and in- posed advice and counsel of the other two confederate colonies, and also in a letter under the Governor s hand, in the following words : " I think I can clearly say, that before these present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of land in this colony, but what was fairly obtained by Jhonest purchase of the Indian proprietors : Nay, be cause some of our people are of a covetous disposition, and the Indians are in their straits easily prevailed with Jo part with their lands, we first made a law that none should purchase or receive by gift, any land of the In dians without the knowledge and allowance of our Court, and penalty of a fine, five pounds per acre, for all that should be so bought or obtained. And lest yet they should be straitened, we ordered that Mount Hope, Po- casset, and several other necks of the best land in the colony, because most suitable and convenient for them, should never be bought out of their hands, or else they would have sold them long since. And our neighbors at Rehoboth and Swanzy, although they bought their lands fairly of this Philip and his father and brother, yet because of their vicinity, thrt they might not trespass upon the iiidiaus, did at their own cost set up a very substantial fence quite across that great neck between the English and the Indians, and payed due damage if THE INDIAN WARS. 6? at any time an unruly horse or other beasts broke in and trespassed. " And for divers years last past (that all occasion of offence in that respect might be prevented) the Eng lish agreed with Philip and his, for a certain sum yearly to maintain the said fence, and secure themselves. And if at any time they have brought complaints before us, they have had justice impartial and speedily, so that our own people have frequently complained, that we erred on the other hand in shewing them over much favor. JOS. WINSLOW." Marshfield, May 1, 1676. Yet did this treacherous and perfidious caitiff still harbor the same or more mischievous thoughts against the English than ever before, and hath been since that time plotting with all the Indians round about, lo make a general insurrection against the English in all the colo nies which, as some prisoners lately brought in have confessed, should have been put in execution at once, by all the Indians rising as one man, against all those plantations of the English, which were next to them. The Narrae^ansets having promised, as was confessed, to rise with four thousand fighting men in the spring of 1676* But by the occasion hereafter to be mentioned about Satisaonn, Philip was necessitated for the safety of his own life to begin the rebellion the year before, when the desirn was not fully ripe. Yet some are rea dy to think, th i if his own life had not now been in jeopardy by the guilt of the murder of the aforesaid Sausaman, his heart might have failed him ; when it 68 A NARRATIVE OF should have come to be put in execution, as it did be fore in the year 1671, which made one of his Captains, of far better courage and resolution than himself, when he saw his cowardly temper and disposition, fling down his arms calling him a white livered cur, or to that pur pose, and saying tbaf he would never own him again, or fight under him ; and from that time hath turned to the English, and hath continued to this day a faithful and resolute soldier in their quarrels. That the Indians had a conspiracy amongst them selves to rise ag .inst the English, is confirmed by some of the Indians about Hadley, although the plot was not come to maturity when Philip began, the special provi dence of God therein overruling the contrivers : For when the beginning of the troubles first was reported from Mount Hope, many of the Indians were in a kind of amaze, rot knowing well what to do, sometimes ready to stand for the English, as formerly they had been wont to do ; sometimes ready to strike in with Philip, (which at the last they generally did) which if it had been foreseen, much of that mischief might have been prevented that fell out in several places, more by per fidious and treacherous dealing than any other ways ; the English never imagining that after so many obliging kindnesses received from them by the Indians, besides their many engagements and protestations of friendship as formerly, they would have been so ungrateful, per fidiously false and cruel, as they have since proved. The occasion of Philip s so sudden taking up arms the last year was this there was one John Sausaman a very cunning and plausible Indian well skilled in Eng- THE INDIAN WARS. 69 lish language, and bred up in a profession of the cbris- tian religion, employed as a schoolmaster at Natick, the Indian town, who upon some misdemeanor fled from his place to Philip, by whom he was entertained in the room and office of a Secretary, and his chief counsellor, whom he trusted with all his affairs and secret counsels : Bat afterwards, whether upon sting of his own conscience, or by the frequent solicitations of Mr. Elliot, that had known him from a child and instructed him in the prin ciples of our religion, who was often laying before him the heinous sin of his apostacy, and returning back to his old vomit he was at last prevailed with to forsake Philip, and return back to the Christian Indians at Natick, where he was baptized, manifesting public repentance for all his former offences, and made a serious profes sion of the Christian religion ; and did apply himself to preach to the Indians, wherein he was better gifted than any other of the Indian nation, as he was observed to conform more to the English manner than any other Indian ; yet having occasion to go up with some others of his countrymen to Namasket ; (now Middleborough) whether the advantage of fishing, or some such occasion, it matters not ; being there not far from Philip s coun try, he had the occasion of being in the. company of Phiiip s Indians, and Philip himself ; by which means lie discerned by several circumstances, that the Indians were plptting anew against us ; which out of faithfulness to the English, the said Sausaman informed the Gover nor of, adding also, that if it were known that he reveal ed it, he knew they would presently kill him. There appearing so many concurrent testimonies from others^ 70 A NARRATIVE OF making it the more probable, that there was a certain truth ID the information, some enquiry was made into the business, bj examining Philip himself, and several of Hi Indians, who although they would own nothing, yet could rot free themselves from just suspicion. Philip therefore soon after contrived the said Sausaman s death, which was strangely discovered, notwithstanding it was so cunningly effected, for they that murdered him met him upon the ice on a great pond, and presently after they had knocked him down, put him under the ice, yet leaving his gun and bat upon the ice, that it might be thought he fell in accidentally through the ice and was drowned : but being missed by his friends, who finding his hat and gun, they were thereby led to the place, where his body was found under the ice When they took him up to bury him, some of his friends, par ticularly one David, observed some bruises about his head, which made them suspect that he was first knock ed down before he was put into the water, however they buried him near the place where he was found, without making any further enquiry at present : Never theless David his friend, reported these things to some English at Tannton (a town not far from Namasket) which occasioned the Governor to enquire further into the business, wisely considering that as Sausaman had told him that if it were known that he related any of their plots, they would murder him for his pains : where fore, by special warrant the body of Sausaman being digged again out of his grave, it was very apparent that he had been killed and not drowned. And by a strange providence, an Indian was found, that by accident stand- THE INDIAN WARS. 71 ing unseen upon a hill, had seen them murdering the said Sausaman 3 but durst never reveal it for fear of los ing his own life likewise, until he was called to the court at Plymouth, or before the Governor where he plainly confessed what he had seen. The murderers being apprehended, were convicted by his undeniable testimo ny, and other remarkable circumstances, and so were all put to death, being three in number ; the last of them confessed immediately before his death, that his father (one of the Counsellors and special friends of Philip) was one of the two that murdered Sausaman, himself only looking on. This was done at Plymouth Court, held in June, 1675, insomuch that Philip, apprehending the danger his own head was in next, never used any further means to clear himseff from what was like to be laid to his charge, either about his plotting against the English, nor yet about Sausaman s death ; but by keep ing bis men continually about him in arms, and gather ing what strangers he could to join with him, marching up and down constantly in arms, both while the Court sat as weli as afterwards. The English of Plymouth, hearing of all this, yet took no further notice than to or der a military watch in all the adjacent towns, hoping that Philip, finding himself not likely to be arraigned by order of the said Court, the present cloud might blow over as some others of like nature had done before ; but in conclusion, the matter proved otherwise, for Phil ip finding his strength daily increasing by the flocking of neighboring Indians unto him, and sending over their wives and children to the Narragansets for security (as 72 A NARRATIVE OF they use to do when they intended war with any of their enemies) they immediately began to alarm the English at Swanzy (the next town to Philip s country) as it were daring the English to begin ; \ last their insolencies .grew to such an height, that they began not only to use threatening words to the English, but also to kill their cattle and rifle their houses ; whereat an English man was so provoked, that he let fly a gun at an Indian, but did only wound, not kill him ; whereupon the la- dians immediately began to kill all the English they could, so that on the 24th of June, 1675, was the alarm of war first sounded in Plymouth colony, when eight or nine of the English were slain in and about Swanzy ; they first making a shot at a company of English as they returned from the assembly where they were met in a way of humiliation on that day, whereby they killed one and wounded others, and then likewise at the same time they slew two men on the high way, sent to call a surgeon ; and the same day barbarously murdered six men in and about a dwelling-house in another part of the town ; all which outrages were committed so sud denly, that the English had no time to make any resist ance : For on the 14th day of the same month, besides endeavors used by Mr. Brown, of Swanzy, one of the Magistrates of Plymouth jurisdiction, an amicable letter was sent from the Council of Plymouth shewing their dislike of his practices, and advising him to dismiss his Strange Indians, and not suffer himself to be abused by false reports, concerning; them that intend him no hurt ; but no answer could be obtained, otherwise than threat- THE INDIAN WARS. 7# eiiing of war, which it was hoped might have been pre vented, as heretofore it had been, when things seemed to look with as bad a face as they then did. However, the Governor and Council of Plymouth, understanding that Philip continued in his resolution, and manifested no inclination to peace, they immediately sent up what forces they could to secure the towns therea bouts, and make resistance as occasion might be ; and also dispatched away messengers to the Massachusetts Governor and Council, letting them know the state of things about Mount Hope, and desiring their speedy assistance ; upon which care was immediately taken with all expedition to send such supplies as were desired : But in the mean time two messengers were dispatched to Philip, to try whether he could not be diverted from liis bloody enterprize, so as to have prevented the mis chief since fallen out, hoping, that as once before, viz. in the year 1671, by their mediation a stop was put to the like tragedy, so the present war might by the same means have been now turned aside : For in the said year Philip had firmly engaged himself, when he was at Boston, not to quarrel with Plymouth until he had first addressed himself to Massachusetts for advice and ap probation : But the two messengers aforesaid, finding the men slain in the road, June 24, as they were going for the surgeon, apprehended it not safe to proceed any further, considering also, that a peace now could not hon orably be concluded after such barbarous outrages com mitted upon some of the neighbor colony : Wherefore, returning with all speed to Boston, the Massachusetts 74 A NARHATIVE OP forces were dispatched away with all imaginable haste, as the exigence of the matter did require, some of them being then upon, or ready for their march, the rest were ordered to follow after, as they could be raised. The sending forth of which, because it was the first engage ment in any warlike preparations against the Indians, shall be more particularly related. On the 26th of June, a foot company under Capt. Daniel Henchman, with a troop under Capt. Thomas Prentice, were sent out of Boston towards Mount Hope ; It being late in the afternoon before they began to march, the central eclipse of the moon in Capricorn happened in the evening before they came up to the Neponset riv er, about twenty miles from Boston, which occasioned them to make a halt, for a little repast, tiil the moon re covered her light again. Some melancholy fancies would not be persuaded, but that the eclipse falling out at that instant of time was ominous, conceiving also that in the centre of the moon they discerned an unusual black spot, not a little resembling the scalp of an Indian : As others not long before, imagined they saw the form of an Indian bow, accounting that likewise ominous (al though the mischief following were done by guns, and not l>y bows) both the one and the other, might rather have thought of what Marcus Crassus the Roman Gen eral, going forth with an army against the Parthians, once wisely replied to a private soldier, that would have dissuaded him from marching that time, because of an eclipse of the moon in Capricorn, that he was more a- fraid of Sagitarius than of Capricornus, meaning the ar- THE INDIAN WARS. 7& rows of the Partisans (accounted very good archers) from whom as things then fell out, was his greatest dan ger. But after the rnoon had waded through the dark shadow of the earth, and borrowed her light again, by the help thereof, the two companies marched on towards Woodcock s house, thirty miles from Boston, where they arrived next morning ; and there retarded their motion till afternoon, in hope of being overtaken by a company of volunteers, under the command of Capt. Samuel Moseley, which accordingly came to pass, so that on June 20, they all arrived at Swanzy, where, by the advice of Capt. Cudwoth the commander in chief of Plymouth forces, they were removed to the head quarters, which for that time was appointed at Mr. Miles s house, the Minister of Swanzey, within a quarter of a mile of the bridge, leading into Philip s lands. They arriving there some little time before night, twelve of the troops, unwilling to lose time, passed over the bridge, for discovery, into the enemies territories, where the.y found the rude welcome of eight or ten Indians firing upon them out of the bushes, killing one William Ham mond, wounding Corporal Belcher, his horse being also shot down under him ; the rest of the troopers having discharged upon those Indians, who run away after the first shot, carried off their two dead and wounded com panions, and so retired to their main guard, for that night pitching in a baricado about Mr. Miles s house. The enemy thought to have braved it out by a bold as sault or two at first ; but their hearts soon began to fail them when they perceived the Massachusetts and 76 A NARRATIVE OP Plymouth forces both engaging them : for the next morning they shouted twice or thrice, at half a mile s distance, and nine or ten of them shewing themselves on this side of the bridge, our horsemen, with the whole body of the volunteers under Capt. Mosely, not at all daunted by such kind of alarms, and not willing to lose the bridge, ran down upon them over the said bridge, pursuing tbem a mile and a quarter on the other side : Ensign Savage, that young martial spark, scarce twenty years of age, had at that time one bullet lodged in his thigh, another shot through the brim of his hat, by ten or twelve of the enemy discharging upon him together, while he boldly held up his colours in front of his com pany : But the weather not suffering any further action at that time, those that were thus far advanced, were compelled to retreat back to the main guard, having first made a shot upon the Indians, as they run away into a swamp near by, whereby they killed five or sis of them, as was understood soon after at Narraganset : This resolute charge of the English forces upon the enemy made them quit their place on Mount Hope that very night, where Philip was never seen after ; till the next year, when he was by a divine mandate sent back ; there to receive the reward of his wickedness where he first began his mischief : The next day Major Savage that was to command in chief over the Massachusetts forces being come up with other supplies, about six o clock over night the whole body intended to march ii to Mount Hope, and there beat up the enemy s quar ters, or give him battle, if he durst abide it : But the THE INDIAN WARS. 77 weather being doubtful, our forces did not march till near noon, about which time they set out, with a troop of horse in each wing, to prevent the danger of the ene my s ambuscadoes ; after they had marched about a mile and a half, they passed by some houses newly burned : Not far off one of them found a bible newly torn, and the leaves scattered about by the enemy, in hatred of our religion therein revealed ; two or three miles further they came up with some heads, scalps, and hands cut off from the bodies of some of the English, and stuck upon poles near the highway, in that barba rous and inhuman manner bidding us defiance ; the com mander in chief giving order that those monuments of the enemy s cruelty should be taken down, and buried : The whole body of the forces still marched on two mileg further, where they found divers wigwams of the ene my, among which were many things scattered up and 1 . down, arguing the hasty flight of the owners ; half a mile further, as they passed on through many fields of stately corn, they found Philip s own wigwam ; every* place giving them to perceive the enemy s hasty departure^ from thence ; after they had marched two miles furtkei* they came to the sea side, yet in all this time meeting with no Indians, nor any signs of them, unless of their 1 flight to some other places. The season being likely to prove very tempestuous and rainy, Capt. Cudworth with some of the men of Plymouth passed over to Rhode-Island. The forces under Major Savage were? forced to abide all night in the open field, without any shelter, notwithstanding the abundance of yaiD that-fell 78 A NARRATIVE OF and in the morning despairing to meet with an enemy on Mount Hope, they retreated back to their head quarters at Swanzy, in their way meeting with many Indian dogs, that seemed to have lost their masters. That night Capt. Prentice s troops for conveniency of quarters, as also for discovery, were dismissed to lodge at Seaconk or Rehoboth, a town within six miles of Swanzy. As they returned back in the morning, Capt. Prentice divi ded his troops, delivering one half to Lieut. Oakes, and keeping the other himself, who as they rode along, es pied a company of Indians burning a hous , : but could not pursue them by reason of several fences, that they could not go over till the Indians had escaped into a swamp. Those with Lieut. Oakes had the like discov ery but wi(h better success, as to the advantage of the ground, so as pursuing of them upon a plain, they slew four or five of them in the chase, whereof one was known to be Thebe, a Sachem of Mount Hope, another of them was a chief Counsellor of Philip s ; yet in this attempt the Lieutenant lost one of his company, John Druce by name, who was mortally wounded in his bow els, whereof he soon after died, to the great grief of his companions. After the said troops came to head quar ters at Swanzy, they understood from Capt. Cuuworth that the enemy were discovered upon Pocasset,* anoth er neck of land lying over an arm of the sea more to wards Cape Cod : However it was resolved that a more narrow search should be made after them, both upon *Tbe main land over against the easterly end of Rhcde-Uland, where now Tiyerton, &g, was called Pocasset. THE INDIAN WARS. 79 / Mount Hope and upon the ground between Swanzy and Rehoboth to scout the swamps and assault them if they could find where they were entrenched. Capt. Hench man and Capt. Prentice were ordered to search the swamps, while Capt. Mosely and Capt. Paige with their dragoons attended on Major Savage, should return back into Mount Hope, that they should be sure to leave none of the enemy behind them, when they should re move to pursue them elsewhere. About ten o clock the next morning, July 4th, Capt. Henchman, after a long and tedious march, came to the head quarters, and informed that he came upon a place where the enemy had newly been that night, but were escaped out of his reach : But the following night be fore they were determined on any other motion, Capt/ Hutchinson came up from Boston with new orders for them to pass into Narraganset, to treat with the Sachems there, and if it might be to prevent their joining with Philip. Capt. Cudworth by this time was come up to the head quarters, having left a garrison of 40 men upon Mount Hope neck. The next morning was spent v in consultation how to carry on the treaty ; it was then resolved, that they should go to make a peace with a sword in their hands, having no small ground of suspi cion that the said Narragansets might join with the ene my, wherefore they thought it necessary to carry all the Massachusetts forces over info the Narraganset country, to fight them if they should be needed ; Capt. Mosely passed over by water to attend Capt Hutchin son in his dispatch ; the other companies with the troop- BO A NARRATIVE OF era riding round about. As they passed they found the Indians in Pombarn s country (next adjoining to Philip s borders) all fled, and their wigwams without any people in them. After they came to the Narraganset Sachems, three or four days were spent in a treaty, after which a peace was concluded with them by the messengers of Connec ticut colony (who were ordered to meet with those of Massachusetts) and the commanders of the forces sent against Philip : Hostages were also given by the said Narragansets for the performance of the agreement. A copy of the said agreement, and the articles on which a peace was concluded, here follow. It being always un derstood, that Plymouth colony was included in the said agreement, although their forces were not then present, but remained at home near the enemies borders, to secure their towns, and oppose Philip as there might be occasion, if he offered to make any new attempt in the mean time. Articles, covenant and agreements had, made and concluded by, and between Major Thomas Savage, Capt. Edward Hutchinson, and Mr. Joseph Dudley, in behalf of the government of Massachusetts colony, and Major Wait Winthrop and Mr. Richard Smith, on be half of Connecticut colony the one party ; and Agamaug, Wampsh alias Corman, Tailson Tawageson, Counsel lors and attorneys to Canonicus, Ninlgret Matataog, old Queen Quaiapeo, Quananshit and Pomham, the six present Sachems of the whole Narraganset country on the other party, referring to several differences and THE INDIAN WARS. 81 troubles lately risen between them ; and for a final con clusion of settled peace and amity between the said Sa chems, their heirs and successors forever, and the Gov ernors of the said Massachusetts and Connecticut, and their successors in the said governments forever. I. That all and every of the said Sachems shall from time to time carefully seize, and living or dead deliver unto one or other of the above said governments, all and every of Sachem Philip s subjects whatsoever, that shall come, or be found within the precinct of any oth er lands, and that with great diligence and faithfulness. II. That they shall with their utmost ability use all acts of hostility against the said Philip and his subjects, entering his lands or any other lands of the English, to kill and destroy the said enemy, until a cessation from war with the said enemy be concluded by both the a- bovesaid colonies. III. That the said Sachems, by themselves and their agents, shall carefully search out and deliver all stolen goods whatsoever taken by any of their subjects from any of the English, whether formerly or lately, and shall make full satisfaction for all wrongs or injuries done to the estate of any of the subjects of the several colo nies, according to the judgment of indifferent men, in case of dissatisfaction between the offenders and the of fended parties, or deliver the offenders. IV. That all preparations for war or acts of hostility against any of the English subjects, shall forever for the future cease ; together with all manner of thefts, pilfer- ings, killing of cattle, or any manner of breach of peace whatsoever shall with the utmost care be prevented, and 82 A NARRATIVE OP instead thereof, their strength to be used as a guard round about the Narraganset country, for the English is- habitants safety and security. V. In token of the abovesaid Sachems reality in this treaty and conclusion, and for the security ot the sever al English governments and subjects, they do freely de liver unto the abovesaid gentlemen, in the behalf of the abovespid colonies, John Wobequod, Weowthim, Pevv- kes 3 Weenew, four of their nearest kinsmen and choice friends, to be and remain as hostages in several places of the English jurisdictions, at the appointment of the honorable Governors of the abovesaid colonies, there to be civilly treated, not as prisoners, but otherwise at their honors discretion, until the abovesaid articles are fully accomplished to the satisfaction of the several govern ments, the departure of any of them in the mean time to be accounted a breach of the peace, and of these pres ent articles. "VI. The said gentlemen in the behalf of the govern ments to which they belong, do engage to every the said Sachems and their subjects, that if they or any of them shall seize and bring into either of the abovesaid English governments, or to Mr. Smith inhabitant of Nar raganset, Philip Sachem alive, he or they so delivering, shall receive for their pains, forty trucking cloth coats, in case they bring his head, they shall have twenty like good coats paid them : For every living subject of said Philip s so delivered, the deliverer shall receive two coats, and for every head one coat, as a gratuity for their service herein, making it appear to satisfaction, that the heads or persons are belonging to the enemy, and that they are of their seizure. THE INDIAN WARS. YTI. The said Sachems do renew and confirm unto the English inhabitants or others, all former grants, gales, bargains or conveyances of lands, meadows, tim ber, grass, stones, or whatever else the English have heretofore bought or quietly possessed and enjoyed, to be unto them, and their heirs, and assigns forever ; as also all former articles made with the confederate colo nies. Lastly, The said counsellors and attornies do pre- meditately, seriously, and upon good advice covenant, and conclude and agree all abovesaid solemnly, and call God to witness they are, and shall remain true friends to the English governments, and perform the abovesaid articles punctually, using their utmost endeavor, care and faithfulness therein : In witness whereof they have set their hands and seals. Petaquamscot, July 15, 1675. Tarvageson, his C mark. Taytson, his D mark. Agamoug, his T mark. Wampsh alias Gorman, his X mark. Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of us underwritten, being carefully inter preted to the said Indians before sealing, DANIEL HENCHMAN, THOMAS PRENTICE, NICHOLAS PAIGE, JOSEPH STANTON, Interp. HENRY HAWLAWS, PECOE BUROW, JOB NEFF. 84 A NARRATIVE OF During this treaty of peace with the Narragansets, Capt. Cudworth with the forces from Plymouth, under his command, found something to do nearer home, tho* of another nature as it proved, viz. to make war whilst the others were (as they thought) making peace : In the first place therefore he dispatched Capt. Fuller (joining Lieut. Church together with him in commission) with fifty in his company to Pocasset, on the same ac count, as the other went to Narraganset ; either to con clude a peace with them, if they would continue friends, and give hostages for the confirmation thereof, or fight them if they should declare themselves enemies, and join with Philip ; himself intending to draw down his forces to Rehoboth, to be ready for a speedy march to Taunton, and so down into the other side of the country, upon the news that some of the enemy were burning and spoiling Middleborough and Dartmouth, two small villages lying in the way betwixt Pocasset and Plymouth. Upon Thursday, July 7, Capt. Fuller and Lieutenant Church went into Pocasset to seek after the enemy, or else as occasion might serve to treat with those Indians at Pocasset, with whom Mr. Church was very well ac quainted, always holding good correspondence with them. After they had spent that day and most of the Dight, in traversing the said Pocasset neck, and watch ing all night in a house which they found there, they could hear no tidings of any Indians ; insomuch that Capt. Fuller began to be weary of his design : Mr. Church in the mean while assuring him that they should find Indians before it were long, yet for greater expedi- THE INDIAN WAR?. 85 (ion they divided their company, Capt. Fuller taking down toward the sea side, where it seems, after a little skirmishing with them wherein one man only received a small wound, he either saw or heard too many Indiana for himself and his company to deal with, which made him and them betake themselves to a house near the wa ter side, from whence they were fetched off by a sloop before night to Rhode-Island. Capt. Church (for so he may well be stiled after this time) marched further into the neck, imagining that if there were Indians in the neck, they should find them about a pease field not far off. As soon as they came near the said field he espied two Indians among the pease, who also at the same time espied him ; and presently making some kind of shout, a great number of Indians came about the field, pursuing the said Capt. Church and his men in great numbers to the sea side : there being not above fifteen with Church, yet seven or eight score of Indians pursuing after them. Now was a fit time for this young Captain and his small company to handsel their valor upon this great rout of Indians, just ready to devour them : But victory stands no more in the number of soldiers, than verity in the plurality of voices : And although some of these fifteen had scarce courage enough for themselves, yet their Captain had enough for himself, and some to spare for his friends, which he there had an opportunity of im proving to the full. When he saw the hearts of any of his followers fo fail, he would bid them be of good courage and fight stoutly, and (possibly by some divine impression upon his heart) assured them not a bullet of the enemy should hurt any one of them ; which one of 86 A NARRATIVE OF the company more dismayed than the rest could hardrj believe, till he saw the proof of it in his own person, for the captain perceiving the man was not able to fight, made him gather rocks together for a kind of shelter and baricado for the rest, that must either of necessity fight or fall by the enemies. It chanced as this faint hearted soldier had a flat stone in his arms, and was car rying it to the shelter that he was making upon the bank, a bullet of the enemy was thus warded from his body, by which he must else have perished, which ex perience put new life into him, so as he followed his biF siness very manfully afterward, insomuch that they de fended themselves under a small shelter, hastily made up, all that afternoon, not one being either slain or woun ded, yet it was certainly known that they killed at least fifteen of their enemies : and at the last, when they had spent all their ammunition, and made their guns unser viceable by often filing, they were fetched all off by Capt. Gokling s sloop and carried safe to Rhode-Island in spite of all their enemies : yea, such was the bold and undaunted courage of this champion, Opt. Church, that not willing to leave any token behind of their flying for want of courage, he went back in the face of his ene mies to fetch his hat, which he had left at a spring, whith er the extreme heat of the weather, and his labor io fighting had caused him to repair for the quenching of his thirst an hour or two before. It seems in the for mer part of the same day, five men coming from Rhode- Island, to look up their cattle upon Pocasset Neck, were assaulted by the same Indians ; one of the five was THE INDIAN VVAR3. 8? Oapt. Church s servant, who had his leg broke in the skirmish, the rest hardly escaping with their lives: This u as the first time that ever any mischief was doue by the Indians upon Pocnsset Neck. Those of Rhode* Island were hereby alarmed to look to themselves, as well as the rest of the English of Plymouth, or the Mas sachusetts colony. This assault rather heightened and increased than daunted the courage of Capt. Church ; for not making a cowardly flight, but a fair retreat, which providence of fered him by the sloop aforesaid, after his ammunition was spent, he did not stay long at Rhode-Island, but hastened over to the Massachusetts forces, and borrow ing three files of men of Capt. Henchman with his Lieu tenant ; Mr. Church and he returned again to Pocasset, where they had another skirmish with the enemy, wherein some few of them (fourteen or fifteen) were slain, which struck such a terror into Philip, that he betook himself to the swamps about Pocasset, where he lay hid till the return of the rest of the forces from the Narragansets, like a wild boar kept at bay by this small party till more hands came up. Thus were the Plymouth forces busied, during the time of the treaty with the Narragansets, which being is sued as it was : On Friday July 15, our forces marched for and ar rived at Rehoboth, where having no intelligence of the enemy nearer than a great swamp on Pocasset, eighteen miles from Taunton ; they marched next day twelve miles to an house at Metapoiset (a small neck of land in. the bottom of Taunton Bay, in the midway between 88 A NARRATIVE OP Mount Hope and Pocasset Neck) from whence they marched for Taunton, July 17, whither after a tedious inarch of 20 miles, they came in the evening, and found the people generally gathered into eight garrison houses. On Monday, July 18, they marched 18 miles before they could reach the swamp where the enemy was lodg ed : As soon as they came to the place, Plymouth forc es being now joined with them, our soldiers resolutely entered in amongst the enemies, who took the advantage of the thick under-wood, to make a shot at them that first entered, whereby five were killed outright, sev^n more wounded, some of whose wounds proved mortal : After the first shot, the enemy retired deeper into the swamp, deserting their wigwams (about 100 in all) newly made of green bark, so as they would not burn : In one of them they found an old man, who confessed that Phil- ip had been lately there. Having spent some time in searching the swamp, and tired themselves to no pur pose, (yet it was said that one half hour more would Lave at that time utterly subdued Philip and all his pow er) the commander in chief, night drawing on apace, not thinking it safe to tarry longer in so dangerous a place, where every one was in as much danger of his fellows as his foes, being ready to fire upon every buih they saw move, supposing Indians were there, ordered a retreat to be sounded, that they might have time to dispose of their dead and wounded men, which accord ingly was attended to :* Plymouth forces who had en tered in the rear, returning in the front, it was judged * The English lost fifteen men in this expedition- Hutchinson, THE INDIAN WARS. 89 that the enemy being by this means brought into a pound, it would be no hard matter to deal with them, and that it would be needless charge to keep so many companies of soldiers together to wait upon such an inconsiderable enemy, now almost as good as taken : Whereupon most of the companies belonging to Massachusetts were drawn off, only Capt. Henchman with 100 foot being left there together with the Plymouth forces, to attend the ene my s motion, being judged sufficient for that end. Ma jor Savage, Capt. Paige, with Capt. Mosely and their companies returned to Boston : Capt. Prentice with his troop were ordered towards Mendham, where it seems, about the middle of July, some Indians, wishing well to Philip s design, had made an assault upon some of the inhabitants, as they were at labor in the field, killing five or six of them ; as soon as they had done, flying away into the woods, so as they could not easily be pursued. The inhabitants of the same village, lying in the heart of the enemy s country, began to be discouraged, so as within a little time after, they forsook the place, aban doning their houses to the fury of the enemy, which by them were soon after turned into ashes. But to return to King Philip, who was now lodged in the great swamp upon Pocasset Neck, of seven miles long : Capt. Hench man arid the Plymouth forces kept a diligent eye upon the enemy, but were not willing to run into the mire and dirt after them in a dark swamp, being taught by late experience how dangerous it is to fight in such dis mal v/oods, when their eyes were muffled with the and their arms pinioned with the thick boughs H2 90 A NARRATIVE OP of the trees, as their feet were continually shackled with the roots spreading every way in those boggy woods. It is ill fighting with a wild beast in his own den. They resolved therefore to starve them out of the swamp, where they knew full well they could not long subsist : To that end they began to build a fort, as it were to beleaguer the enemy, and prevent his escape out of the place, where they thought they had him fast enough. Philip in the mean time was not ignorant of what was doing without, and was ready therein to read liis own doom, if he tarried much longer there, he knew Jie should fall into their hands, from whom he could ex pect no mercy : The case therefore being desperate, he iresolved with an hundred or two of his best fighting men to make an escape by the water, all passages by the land being sufficiently guarded by the English forc es. The swamp where they were lodged being not far from an arm of the sea, coming up to Taunton, they ta king the advantage of a low tide, either waded over one night in the end of July, or else wafted themselves over upon small rafts of timber, very early before break of <tayj by which means the greatest part of his company escaped away into the woods, leading into the Nipmuck country, altogether unknown to the English forces that fey encamped on the other side of the swamp. A- bout one hundred more of the women and children which were likely to be rather burdensome than serviceable, were left behind, who soon after resign ed up themselves to the mercy of the English. Phil ip s escape thus from Pocasset could not long be con- THE INDIAN WARS. 9 cealed after the day appeared, there being much cham paign land through which he was to pass, and being dis covered by the inhabitants of Rehoboth, they presently followed him, together with a party of the Mobegins, that a little before came to Boston, offering their services against Philip, and were sent into those parts to be or dered by Capt. Henchman, but before they came to him were easily persuaded to go along with any of the Eng lish that were engaged in the pursuit of Philip. News also thereof was carried to Capt. Henchman, who as soon as he could get over with six files of men (rowing hard all or most part of the day to get to Providence) follow ed after the enemy. The Mohegins with the men of Re hoboth, and some of Providence came upon their rear over night, slew about 30 of them, took much plunder from them, without any considerable loss to the Eng lish. Capt. Henchman came not up to them (pursuing them only by the track) till the skirmish was over, and having marched 22 miles that day, was not well able to go any further that night ; on the other hand, the for ces that came from Rehoboth and those belonging to Plymouth, having left their horses three miles off, could not go back to fetch them without much loss of time, and therefore looking at it altogether bootless to go after them in the morning, returned back the next day, leav ing Captain Henchman with his six files, and the Mohe gins to pursue the chase to Nipsachet, which he did the next moraine;. Capt. Henchman, that he might the bet ter engage tb> Mohegins to march with him 30 miles, gave them half his provision, and was himself recruited 92 A NARRATIVE OP again by the care of Capt. Edmunds of Providence, and Lieut. Brown who brought provision after him to the Nipmuck forts. Mr. Newman, the Minister of Reho- both, deserved not a little commendation for exciting his neighbors and friends to pursue thus far after Philip, animating of them by his own example and presence : But why Philip was followed no further, it is better to suspend, than too critically to enquire. This is now a third time when a good opportunity of suppressing the rebellion of the Indians, was put into the hands of the English ; but time and chance happeneth to all men, so that the most likely means are often frustrated of their desired end. All human endeavors shall arrive at no other success, than the counsel of God hath pre-ordain ed, that no flesh might glory in their own wisdom, but give unto God the praise of all their successes, and quiet ly bear whatever miscarriages he hath ordered to befal them. It appears by the issue of these things, that al though this wound was incurable, yet much more blood must be taken away before it could be healed. But by this means Philip escaped away to the westward, kind ling the flame of war in all the western plantations of the Massachusetts colony wherever he came, so that by this fatal accident the 6re that was in a likely way to be ex tinguished, as soon almost as it began, did on a sudden break out through the whole jurisdiction of the Massa chusetts colony, both eastward and westward, endanger- ing also the neighboring colony of Connecticut, which hath also suffered somewhat by the fury of this flame, though not considerable to what the other colonies have undergone. THE INDIAN WARS. 93 While things after this manner proceeded in and Vibout the colony of Plymouth, the Commissioners of the rest of the colonies were consulting and advising what was to be done to prevent the mischief threatened from spreading any further, fearing, (as indeed there was too much cause) that although Philip only appeared to make the first attempt, yet more either already were, or soon might be persuaded to join with him in acting this bloody tragedy. It hath been already declared what hath been done for the securing of the Narragansets, those that were sent as messengers on that errand, always reported that the elder people were in appearance, not only inclinable to peace, but seemed very desirable thereof, insomuch as their two elder Sachems expressed much joy when it was concluded ; but as since hath appeared, all was but to gain time, and cover their treacherous intents and purposes, that they might in the next spring fall upon the English plantations all at once, as some prisoners lately brought in have owned and confessed ; nor have any of those Indians with whom the present war hath been, ever regarded any agreements of peace made with the English, further than necessity and slavish fear com pelled thereunto, as may be seen by the records of the united colonies from the year 1643 to the present time, notwithstanding all their fair pretences ; for Ninigret, the old Sachem of the Narragansetts, who alone of all the rest of that country Sachems disowned the present war, and refused to have any hand therein, had threatened, as was proved to his face before the commissioners, in the 94 A NARRATIVE OF years 1646 and 1647, that they would carry on the war against the Mohegins, whatever were the mind of the commissioners, and that they would kill the English cat tle, and heap them up as high as their wigwams, arid that an Englishman should not stir out of his door but they should kill him ; all which he could not deny, yet this old fox made them promises of peace, when the dread of the .English ever since the Pequod war moved him thereunto ; foreseeing as he is said to have told his neighbors, that they would all he ruined if they made war with the English, as is since come to pass. How ever, the good hand of God was seen in so ordering things, that the Narragausets were for the present res trained from breaking out into open hostility against the English, at the time when Philip began ; which if they bad then done, according to the eye of reason, it would have been very difficult, if possible, for the English to have saved any of their inland plantations from being destroyed. Thus, although God hath in his wisdom Buffered so much of the rage of the heathen to be let loose against this people here, as sorely to scourge them, that by the wrath of men praise might be yielded to his holy name, yet hath he in his abundant goodness res trained the remainder that it should not consume. The next thing in order to be related is the calamity that befel the village of Brookfield, which, notwithstand ing all the care that was taken, fell into the hands of the perfidious Nipnet Indians, as shall here in the next place be declared ; only as we pass along, to remind the rea der ia a few words, what was the issue of Capt. Hench- THE INDIAN WARS. 9i> man s pursuit of Philip. The Plymouth forces being returned home, as was said before, Capt. Henchman with his six file of men, and the Mohegin Indians, hav ing continued in the pursuit of Philip till they had spent all their provision, and tired themselves, yet never com ing within sight of him, the Mohegin Indians in their company directed them to Mendham, and then leaving them, returned also to their own country. Capt. Hench man in his march towards Mendham, or at Mendham, met with Capt. Mosely coming up to bring him provis ion, and advertising him of what success he had met with in the pursuit, they altered their course, for Capt. Henchman was sent down to the Governor and Council, to know what they should do : They presently remand ed him to Pocassef, and ordered him to stay there if there was need, or else to draw off, surrendering the fort he had been building to the Plymouth forces, which last was chosen by those of Plymouth, whereupon Capt. Henchman returning to Boston, was ordered to disband his men. Capt. Mosely was ordered to march to Qua- baog or Brookfield, where he continued awhile, with the other captains sent up for the relief of the people there, and to seek after the enemy in those woods ; but after some time spent in ranging the country thereabouts^ not meeting with any of the infidels, he with his com pany came downwards, searching the woods betwixt Lancaster (where a man and his wife with two children were slain on the Lord s day, Aug. 22) and Marlboro*, where also a lad keeping sheep was shot at by an Indian that wore a sign, as if he had been a friend : the Indian 96 A NARRATIVE OF was supposed to belong to the Hassanemesit Indians, at that time confined in Marlborough, where they had lib erty to dwell in a kind of a fort. The next day the inhabitants sent to demand their guns ; Capt. Mosely acquainted therewith, marched to the fort and found much suspicion against eleven of them, for singing and dancing, and having bullets and slugs, and much powder hid in their baskets ; insomuch that eleven of them were sent down prisoners to Boston, upon suspicion that they had had a hand in killing the four at Lan caster, and shooting at the Marlborough shepherd : But upon trial, the said prisoners were all of them ac quitted of the fact, and were either released, or else were, with others of that fort, sent for better security, and for preventing further trouble of the like kind, to some of the islands below Boston toward Nantasket - About this time Capt. Mosely was sent with a com pany of soldiers to some Indian plantations upon Merri- mac river, as high as Pennycook, but they found no Indians there ; those that belonged to the place having withdrawn themselves from their native place, that they might not meddle in the present quarrel, as is confident ly believed that Woonalonset the Sachem of that coun try had so resolved. That coast being clear of the en emies, Capt. Mosely soon after was sent up with his men to the towns westward about Hadley, if it might be, to subdue the enemy, who a little before, and at that time, was doing all the mischief he could in those western plantations, both by fire and sword. But to return and pursue the rebellious Indiana, and TfeE INDIAN WARS. $7 keep peace with them in our history, though our forces as yet could never overtake them in the woods. The Governor and Council of Massachusetts were sensible of as much danger from the Nipnet Indiana, as from the former ; they being the inland part of the country be twixt the sea coast and Connecticut river westward, and the towns about the Massachusetts Bay eastward, where upon some persons that used to trade with the said Nip- nets, were sent to sound them, and find how they stood affected, for which also there was the more reason, be cause they Were always in subjection to the Sachem of Mount Hope, and so were the more like to engage in the present quarrel ; of which there had been sufficient proof already ; when 14th of July, some of the Nipnet Indians next bordering on Philip s country set upon some of the inhabitants of Mendham,* where they kill ed four or five persons, which was the $rst mischief done upon any of the inhabitants within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, acted as Was said by one Matoonas, who was father to him that had committed a murder soon after Philip s first rebellion, Anno 1671. The Messenger that was sent thither, brought word back that they found the said Indians wavering : the young men very surly and insolent, the elder ones shewing some inclination to maintain the wonted peace. Soon after, July 28, 1675, Capt. Wheeler was sent to assist Capt. Hutchiason with a party of 20 horse to treat further about the peace, who going first to Quabaog, or Brook- A. town situate northward from Mount Hope, within 36 miles <*C Boston. S8 A NARRATIVE OF field, (a town situate about 60 or 70 miles from Boston^ in the road of Connecticut, lying about 25 miles from the said river, and not far distant from the chief seat of the Nipnet Indians) the inhabitants of the said Brookfield had been so deluded by those treacherous villains, that fearing no danger, they obtained of those Nipnets, the promise of a treaty upon the 2d of August ; whereupon some of the chief of the town rode along unarmed with the said Wheeler and Hutchinson, with their party of horse, until they came to the place appointed ; but find ing no Indians, so secure were they, that they ven tured along further, to find the infidels at their chief town, never suspecting the least danger, but when they Lad rode four or five miles that way, they fell into an ambush of two or three hundred Indians, laid in such a narrow passage, betwixt a steep hill on the one hand, and an hideous swamp on the other, that it was scarce possible for any of them to escape, eight of them being shot down upon the place (whereof three were of Brook- field) and three mortally wounded, whereof Capt. Hutch inson was one ; Capt. Wheeler was also near losing his life, whose horse was shot clown under him and himself shot through the body, so that all manner of hopes to escape had been removed from him, had it not been for his son, who wa?, by God s good providence, near or next unto him, this son being of undaanted courage, (notwithstanding his own arm was broken with a bullet) with great niiribleness and agility of body diomountecj/ himself, and speedily mounted his father upon his own horse, himself getting upon another, whose master was killed, by which means they both escaped, and were THE INDIAN WARSi 9? afterwards cured. Much ado had those that were left: aliv 7 e to recover Brookfield, which in all probability they would never have done (the common road being way laid with Indians on every side as was afterwards known) had it not been for one well acquainted with those woods, who led them in a by path, by which means they got thither a little before the Indians, who quickly came flocking into the town, with full intent to destroy it with fire and sword. But by special providence the inhabit ants were all gathered to the principal house of the vil lage (there being scarce 20 in the town) before the bar barous miscreants came upon them, immediately setting fire upon all the dwelling houses with most of the other buildings in the town, save that one into which the Sn- tiabitants were retired which they several times attempt ed to burn, but were almost miraculously defeated of their purpose by the immediate hand of God. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. For when they bad for two days assaulted that poor handful of helpless people, bpth night and day pouring in shot upon them incessantly with guns, and also thrusting poles with fire brands, and rags dipt in brimstone tied to the ends of them to fire the house ; at last they used this devilish stratagem, to fill a cart with hemp, flax and other com bustible matter, and so thrusting it backbard with poles spliced together a great length, after they had kindled it ; but as soon as it had begun to take fire, a storm of" rain unexpectedly falling, or else all the poor people,, , about 70 souls, would either have been consumed by &ierjdless,j(lamesjpr eke have fallen into the hands of their 4. NARRATIVE OF, cruel enemies, like wolves continually yelling and gaping, for their prey. Thus was that distressed company strangely deliver ed, who have forever cause to say with the Psalmist, Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us a prey to their teeth, our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers, the snare is broken and we are escaped. For the next night Major Willard, by acci dent, hearing of the danger the people were in, came with forty-eight dragoons to their relief. The occasion which brought Major Willard, and Capt. Parker of, Groton with forty-six more, so timely to their relief, was this ; Major Willard in pursuance of his commission from the Governor and Council, was upon Wednesday, AU-- gust 4th, in the morning, marching out after some In dians to the westward, to secure them : just as they "Were settfcg forth, some of the people of Marlborough ? . who had intelligence (by those that were going to Con necticut, and forced to return) what distress Brookfield was in, and knowing of Major WillarcPs purpose to go out that morning from Lancaster^ sent a post to acquaint feim therewith, which, though it did not find him in the town, yet overtook him before he had gone above four or ve miles from the place : -whereupon, conceiving it more needful to succour Brookfield in so imminent danger, than to proceed further upon his intended design, he al tered his course and marched directly thither, being about 30 miles distant when the tidings were brought him ; so he arrived there that night very seasonably^, ajbout an hour after it was dark, or else in all probability. THE INDIAN WARS* they had all perished before the relief sent up from Boston could have reached them, which was Dot til! three days after. The providence of God likewise in bringing in the said Major so safely, as well as seasona bly to their relief, was very remarkable : For the In dians had subtilly contrived to cut off all relief sent be fore it could come at them, by laying ambushes, and placing their scouts at two or three wiles distance round the town : About an hundred of them were lodged at an house not far off in the way toward Boston, to cut off any succour that might come from thence : but it is sup posed they were so intense upon the project they were about for firing the house, concluding it would without fail take place, that either they did not mind their busi- i>ess of watching, or made such a noise for joy thereof, that they did not hear their centinels when they shot off their guns,-, at two miles distance. It is said that another party of the Indians let the Major and his com pany purposely pass by thrra,- without any opposition^ waiting for the blow to be given at their first approach- near the house, purposing themselves to have fallen upon their rear, and so to have cut them- a!l off, before the besieged understood any thing thereof.- But it pleased God so to ordt rthings in providence, that no notice was taken of them by the besiegers, nor were they at all dis cerned by them, till they had made themselves known to their friends ; and were admitted within the court of guard. When the enemy had notice of it they poured^ in their shot abundantly upon them ;.- but they were- o r sheltered from the danger thereof ; only it seems their horses were exposed to their fury; as many of them;* 1JL% A NARRATIVE OP were maimed and killed, as were most of the cattle be* longing; to the inhabitants of the place soon after. Thia , lionored person, Major Wiilard, continued at Brookfield, after this famous exploit for the preservation of the poor besieged there, divers weeks, to order such companies as were sent up that way for the securing the plantations on that side of the country ; and not long after he went, fcimself also to Hadley upon the like service of the country in the present war ; but after sometime spent in those parts, he returned back to his own place, to order the affairs of his own regiment,, much needing his jpresence, and leaving the forces about Hadley under the command of the Major of that regiment. But to return to what was in hand before : After the, Indians understood that succours were come in to the feesieged, they fired all that they had left standirg for Ibeir own shelter, while they had besieged the place fcefore mentioned, and ran all away into their own dens, 5a the neighboring, woods : however, it was confessed by one of themselves, that the enemy had 80 of (heir, men killed and wounded in this business. . But ere we pass any further in pursuit of the history of these mat ters, it will not be amiss to let the reader understand the ixorrible, perfidious and treacherous dealings of those. Kipnet Indians, who although of all other they had the. least reason as to. any pretence, of injury, yet did most, deceitfully aud barbarously join with Phil p and his In dians, after they had been several times sent unto by the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, by the advice; <stf Plymouth, to have prevented their miog, as well a& r THE INDIAN the rising of the Narragansets, and also had faithfully- promised not to meddle in the quarrel, as may more fully appear by the engagement under the hands of their Sa chems, sometime before Capt. Hutchinson and Capt. Wheeler were sent up to them, which by reason of the baste and unskilfulness of the messengers on that behalf sent, is not so fit for public view : but the account of it, from their return, was under their hand and oath, July 24, 1675, when Lieut. Ephraim Curtice spake with five cf the Nipnet Sachems, four too many to govern so small a people, but lying upon the bead of the principal Indian territories, they were divided into so many small par ties, two of whom, viz. Sam, Sachem of Weshacum, and Netaump, wer& executed together afterwards at Boston. AH of them did at that -time solemnly renew their covenant and promise under their hands to come to Boston to speak further with the Governor ; instead of which, what they perfidiously did against Captain Hutchinson and others, hath already been declared. Upon the report of this sad disaster that befel the in habitants of Brookfield, forces were sent up under the command of Capt. Lathrop and others, to pursue after those Indians harboring about those places, arid if it might be to prevent them from joining with the Indians upon Connecticut river, who as yet had not discovered them selves as willing to espouse Philip s interest, but rather : made some semblance to the contrary. There was much time spent by Major Willard, and several compa- aies of soldiers left under his command, about the Nip net country, but all to BO purpose, for partly by the^ 104 A NARRATIVE OF treachery of some of the Indians that came to their as* sistance, that seemed to favor the English, but rather- acted in behalf of the enemy, partly by the subtleties of the enemies themselves, who could easily by their scouts discern the approach of bnr soldiers, and by the nimbleness of their feet escape them, our soldiers could" never meet wiih any of them, but only by that means driving them further westward, they gathered all the Indians they could to their party about Pecomptuck, al ias Deer field, Swanscott, and Squeakeag, where some plantations of the English newly began, whom they as saulted in the next place, and did what mischief they could upon them. It is here to be noted, that although t^t worthy pat- not and experienced soldier. Major Willard, hearing of 7 Ibe distress of Brookfield by some that were travelling - to Connecticut, was the first that relieved the distressed people of Quabaog or Brookfield, yet Major Pynchon of Springfield also by acci. eijt hearing of their calamity, had not only sent word thereof to Hartfoid, (from whom lie received a supply of 25 or 30 soldiers under Capt., Watts, but did also send a band of men under Lieut.. Cooper (afterwards villainously slain by the Springfield! Indians) who, with those sent from Hartford, and some Indians belonging to Springfield) seemingly forward to Jhelp the English) made up four score or thereabouts : these marched down to Brookfield the same day that Capt. Lothrop and Capt. Beers came up from Mass. Trho having spent some time in searching the woods about Springfield, and finding none of the Indians, did Ihe rie^t day march up to a place called Meminimisset TJHE INDIAN WARS. fey the Indians, where Capt. Hutchinson and Capt. Wheeler were assaulted, and finding no sign of any In dians amongst those woods and swamps, the company, that came from Springfield, left the soldiers (who re turned to their quarters at Brookfield) and went up themselves further northward, at least 20 miles from- the said Brookfield, and finding no track of Indians in all those woods, they returned back to Springfield, leav ing enough to defend the people of Brookfield, and the garrison there. By this it appears, that the Indians by this occasion, were driven reore westward into the woods between Hadley and Sqnakhead,^ where they soon effected their design, viz. to leaven the Indians on that side the country with the same prejudice and malice against the English, with which they themselves were (though with out cause) embittered ; for in a few days the device took place amongst the Hadley and Deerfield Indians, and was presently put in execution by the said Indians withdrawing from the English and assisting Philip and the Nipnetsto spoil and destroy all the towns westward^, as soon after came to pass r yet at the first some of the Hadley Indians pretended real friendship to the Eng lish, and offered themselves to fight against Philip, but, the Mohegin Indians that came afterward from Hartford began to suspect the treachery of the other, and told the English plainly, that no good would be done, while any of that company went along with them in pursuit of the enemy, for as was said, they would always give some shout when they came near the enemy, as if they should *.Nprtheld, fifty miles up the river from 106 A NARRATIVE OP thereby wish them to look to themselves : insomucM- that the said Hadley Indians fell into great suspicion with the English, and for a proof of their fidelity, they were required to bring in their arms to the English, but that very night they fled away from their dwellings,, which was in a wooden fortification, within a mile of Hatfield, whereby they plainly discovered that they had secretly plotted to join with Philip s party, as far as they had an opportunity to do them any eminent service.. Some think the English failed in point of prudence, not managing that business so warily as they might, which if they had done, their defection had been prevented, but it is most probable that Philip had hired them to his own quarrel, by sending them gifts in the spring ; and that the body of the said Indians were most readily in clined thereunto : but the Sachems and the elder ones of them, seemed loth at first to engage against the English* In the conclusion, when they had so falsely left their dwellings, and were running after Philip and the Nipnet; Indians (at that time harbored in those woods) theEng- li&h were so provoked ihat were under Capts. Lothrop* and Beers, that they pursued after them very early the next morning, and overtook them about ten miles above Hatfield, at a place called Sugarloaf hill, and had a small; skirmish with them, wherein there were nine or ten of the English slain, and about 26 Indians : Yet the rest escaped, and so joined with Philip and his company ;. presently after which accident, they \vere so embold ened, that upon the first of Sept* about seven dai s after? they set upon Deerfield, killed one man, and laid most of the houses in ashes. About two or three days aftea.- THE INDIAN WARS. 107 Ihey iell upon Squakeag, another new plantation, fifteen miles higher up the river, above Deerfield, where they killed nine or ten of the people, the rest hardly escaped into the garrison house. The next day, this disaster not being known, Capt. Beers, for fear of the worst, with 36 men, was sent up to the said Squakeag, with supplies both of men and pro visions to secure the small garrison there, but before they came very near the town, they were set upon by many hundreds of Indians out of the bushes by a swamp side. By this sudden surprisal, Capt, Beers (who was known to fight valiantly to the very last) with about 20 of his men, were slain, the rest flying back to Hadley. Here the barbarous villains shevred their insolent rage and cruelty, more than ever before, cutting off the heads of some of the slain, and fixing them upon poles near the highway, and not only so, but one (if not more) was found with a chain hooked into his under jaw, and so hung up on the bough of a tree, (it is feared he was hung up alive) by which means they thought to daunt and discourage any that might come to their relief and also to terrify those that should be the spectators of sa sad an object ; insomuch that Major Treat, with his company, going up two days after to fetch off the resi due of the garrison, were solemnly affected with that doleful sigh|, which made them make the more haste to bring down the garrison, not waiting for any opportuni ty to take revenge upon the enemy, having but 100 with him, too few for such a purpose. Capt. Appieton go ing up after him, met him coming down, and would wil lingly have persuaded them to have turned back, to see A NARRATIVE OF if they could have made any spoil upon the enemy, bu! the greater part advised to the contrary, so that they were all forced to return with what they could carry a- way, leaving the rest for a booty to the enemy, who shall ere long, pay a sad reckoning for their robberies and cruelties, in the time appointed : But the sufferings of the English were not as yet come to their height, for after they were come to Hadley, the commander in chief taking counsel with the officers of the soldiers, ordered them that were then present to garrison the towns about ; some to be at Northampton, Hatfield and Deerfield, and some to remain at Hadley, where were the head-quarters of the English. But perceiving that little good was to be done upon the enemy in those parts, it was agreed that what corn was left at Deerfield, being threshed out as well as they could in those tu mults (above 3000 bushels was supposed to be there standing in stack) should be brought to Hadley, and to wait further time to fight the enemy. It came to Capt. Lothrop s turn, or rather it was his choice with about 80 men to guard several carts laden with corn and other goods. The company under Capt. Mosely then quar tering at Deerfield, intended that day to pursue after the enemy. But upon Sept. 18, that most fatal day, the sad dest that ever befel New-England, as the company un der Capt. Lothrop were marching along with the carts, (it may be too securely) never apprehending danger so near, they were suddenly set upon, and almost all cut oiF, (90 killed, teamsters included) not above 7 or 8 es caping : Which great defeat came to pass by the uqpd- THE INDIAN WARS. 109 vised proceedings of the Captain (who was himself slain in the first assault) although he wanted neither courage nor skill to lead his soldiers ; but having taken up a wrong notion about the best way and manner of fighting with the Indians (which he was always wont to argue for) viz. that it were best to deal with the Indians in their own way, i. e. by skulking behind trees, and tak ing their aim at single persons, which is the usual man ner of the Indians fighting one with another ; but herein was his great mistake, in not considering the great disadvantage a smaller company would have in dealing that way with a greater multitude : For if five have to deal with one, they may surround him, and ev ery one take his aim at him, while he can level at but one of his enemies at a time : Which gross mistake of his, was the ruin of a choice company of young men, the very flower of the county of E<sex, all culled out of the towns belonging to that county, none of which were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate : their dear relations at home mourning for them, like Rachel for her children, and would not be comforted, not only because they were not, but because they were so miser ably lost. The like mistake was conceived to be the reason of the loss of the former persons slain with the said Lothrop, pursuing the Indians that ran away from Hadley, and of the 20 slain with Capt. Beers men, who betook themselves at first to the trees, and at the last a few got to their horses soon after their Captain was shot down. For had he ordered his men to march in a bo dy, as some of his fellow commanders advised, either backward or forward, in reason they had not lost a quar- 110 A NARRATIVE OP ter of the number of them that fell that day by the edge of the sword. For the Indians, notwithstanding their subtilty and cruelty, durst not look an Englishman in the face in the open field, nor were they ever yet known to kill any man with their guns, unless when they could ile in wait for him in ambush, or behind some shelter, taking aim undiscovered ; so that it was judged by those that escaped, that there were 7 or 800 Indians at least that encountered that company of 80 English, yet if they had kept together in a body, and fought marching, they might have escaped the numbers of the enemy, with little loss in comparison of what they sustained. For the valiant and successful Capt. Mosely, and his Lieut, coming (though too late) to their rescue, march ed through and through that great body of Indians, and yet came off with little or no loss in comparison of the other. And having fought all those Indians for five or six hours upon a march, lost not above two men all that while, nor received other damage except that 8 or 9 were wounded, who were carried to their quarters at night at Hadley, whereas if these had proceeded in the same way of fighting as Capt. Lothrop did in the morn ing, they might have been surrounded, and so have been served as the former were : But God hal otherwise determined in his secret counsel, and therefore that was hid from the one, which was a means to preserve the other company. Other relief was also seasonably sent in, viz. a compa ny of English and Mohejrin or Peqtiod Indians under the command of Major Treat, who was in the morning THE INDIAN WARS. Ill marching another way, viz. up toward Squakeag to seek after the enemy that way, with about 100 soldiers, In dians and English, upon whose approach, the enemy, pretty well acquainted by this last encounter with the valor of the English, immediately went clear away, giv ing Major Treat and Capt. Mosely, who returner *o Deerfield that night, an opportunity to bury the slain ,ie next day. As Capt. Mosely came upon the Indians in the morning, he found them stripping the slain, amongst whom was one Robert Dutch, of Ipswich, having been sorely wounded by a bullet that raised to his skull, and then mauled by the Indian hatchets, was left for dead by the savages, and stript by them of all but his skin ; yet when Capt. Mosely came near, he almost miracu lously, as one raised from the dead, came towards the English, to their no small amazement ; by whom being received and clothed, he was carried off to the next garrison, and ia living and in perfect health at this day. May he be to the friends and relations of the rest of the slain an emblem of their more perfect resurrection at the last day, to receive their crowns among the rest of the martyrs that have laid down and ventured their lives, as a testimony to the truth of their religion, as well as love to their country. This sore defeat of Capt. Lothrop and his men, was the more to be lamented, in that (falling out so soon af ter two other of the like nature) it so emboldened the enemy, that they durst soon after adventure upon con siderable towns, though well garrisoned with soldiers, and gave them occasion of most insolently braving the garrison at Deerfield the next day, hanging up the gar- 112 A NARRATIVE OF ments of the English in sight of the soldiers, yet on the other side of the river. However, it pleased God, who is always wont to remember his people in their low es tate, to put such a restraint upon them, that when they passed very near the garrison house at Deeifield, wherein were not left above 27 soldiers) their Captain using this stratagem, to cause his trumpet to sound, as if he had another troop near by to be called together, they turned another way and made no attempt upon the house where that small number was, which if they had done with any ordinary resolution, so small a handful of men could hardly have withstood the force of so many hun dreds as were then gathered together. What loss the enemy sustained by the resistance of Capt. Lothrop and his men, (who no doubt being all resolute young men, and seeing they should be forced by the hard law of the sword to forego their lives, held them at as high a rate as they could) is not certainly known. It hath since been confessed by some of the Indians themselves, that they lost 96 of their men that clay. Capt. Mosely s men coming suddenly upon them when they were pillaging of the dead, fell upon them with such a smart assault, that they drove them present ly into a swamp, following them so close, that for seven miles together, they fought them upon a march, charg ing them through and through. Perez Savage, and Mr. Pickering, his Lieutenants, deserve no little part of the honor of that day s service, being sometimes called to lead the company in the front, while Capt. Mosely took a little breath, who was almost melted with laboring, THE INDIAN WARS. 113 commanding, and leading his men through the midst of the enemy. The Indians gathered together in those parts, appear ing so numerous, and, as might justly be supposed, grow ing more confident by some of their late successes, and the number of our men being after this sad rate dimin ished, recruits also not being suddenly to be expected, at so great a distance as an hundred miles from all sup plies, the commander in chief with the officers, saw a ne cessity of fighting that garrison at Deerfield, employing the forces they bad to secure and strengthen the three next towns below upon Connecticut river. And it was well that counsel was thought upon ; for now those wretched caitiffs begin to talk of great matters, hoping that by degrees they might destroy all the towns there abouts, as they had already begun : Their hopes, no doubt, were not a little heightened by the accession of the Springfield Indians to their party, who had in ap pearance all this time stood the firmest to the interest of the English of all the rest in those parts : But they all hanging together, like serpent s eggs, were easily per suaded to join with those of Hadley (there being so near alliance between them, for the Sachem of the Spring field Indians was father of Hadley Sachem) not only by the success of their treacherous and blood thirsty com panions, but by the same inbred malice and antipathy against the English manners and religion. The inhabitants of Springfield were not insensible of their danger, and therefore had upon the first breaking forth of those troubles been treating with their Indians, V 9 114 A NARRATIVE OV and had received from them the firmest assurance and pledges of their faithfulness and friendship that could be imagined or desired, both by covenant, promises, and hostages given for security, so as no doubt was left in any of their minds : Yet did these faithless and un grateful monsters plot with Philip s Indians to burn and destroy all Springfield, as they had done Brookfield be fore. To that end they sent cunningly and enticed a- way the hostages from Hartford, where they were per haps, too securely watched over, a day or two before : Then receiving about 300 of Philip s Indians into their fort, privately in the night time, so as they were neither discerned or suspected. Yea so confident were such of the inhabitants as were most conversant with the Indians at their fort, that they would not believe there was any guch plot in hand, when it was strangely revealed by one Toto, an Indian at Windsor, (about 18 or 20 miles be low Springfield, upon the same river) better affected to the English, and so by post tidings brought to Spring field the night before, insomuch that the Lieutenant of the town, Cooper by name, was so far from believing the stratagem, that in the morning himself with another wuld venture to ride up to the fort, to see whether things were so or not. The fort was about a mile from the town ; when he came within a little thereof, he met ttiese bloody and deceitful monsters, newly issued out of their Euquus Trojanus to act their intended mischief ; they presently fired upon him, divers of them, and shot him in several places through the body, yet being a man of stout courage, he kept hi* horse till he recovered the next garrison house, bis companion they shot dead up- THE INDIAN WARS. 115 on the place ; by this means giving a sad alarm to the town of their intended mischief, which was instantly fired in all places where there were no garrisons. The poor people having not an officer to lead them being like sheep ready for the slaughter, and no doubt the whole town had been totally destroyed, but that a report of the plot being carried about over night, Major Treat came from Westfield time enough for their rescue, but wanting boats to transport his men, could not do so much as he desired. Major Pynchon coming from Hadley with Capt. Appleton and what forces they could bring along with them, 32 houses being first consumed, pre served the rest of the town from being turned to ashes, in which the over credulous inhabitants might now see (what before they would not now believe at the burning Maj. Pynchon s barns and stables a few days before, to a very great damage of the owner) the faithless and de ceitful friendship among these perfidious, cruel and hell ish monsters. Among the ruins of the said dwellings, the saddest to behold was the house of Mr. Pelatiah Clover, minister of the town, furnished with a brave library, which he had but newly brought back from a garrison wherein it had been for some time before secured, but as if the dan ger had been over with them, the said minister, a great student, and an hilluo librorum, being impatient for want of his books, brought them back to his great sor row, fit for a bonfire for the proud insulting enemy. Of all the mischiefs done by the said enemy before that day the burning of this town of Springfield did more than 116 A NARRATIVE OP any other discover the said actors to be the chil dren of the devil, full of all subtility and malice, there having been for about 40 years so good correspondence betwixt the Engligh of that town and the neighboring Indians. But in them is made good what is said in the Psalm, That though their words were smoother than oil, yet were they drawn swords. After some little time spent in garrisoning the place, and helping the inhabitants to secure what they had left, the English soldiers most of them returned back to Had- ley, their head quarters, and Major Pynchon being so full of incumbrances, by reason of the late spoils done to himself, and his neighbors at Springfield, could not any longer attend the service of commanding in chief as he had done before, wherefore being according to his earnest request of the council eased of that burden ; Capt. Samuel Appleton was ordered to succeed in tak ing tlie charge of the soldiers left in those upper towns, by whose industry, skill and courage, those towns were preserved from running the same fate with the rest, wholly or in part so lately turned into ashes. For the enemy growing very confident by the late successes, came with all their fury the 19th of October following upon Hatfield, hoping no less than to do the like mischief to them, they had done to Springfield. Bat according to the good Providence of Almighty God, Major Treat was newly returned to Northampton, Capt. Mosely and Capt. Poole were then garrisoning the said Hatfield, and Caff. Appleton for the like end quartering at Hadley, when on a sudden 7 or #00 of the enemy came upon THE INDIAN WARS. 117 the town in all quarters, having first killed or taken two or three of the scouts belonging to Capt. Moseley s com pany : But they were so well entertained on all hands where they attempted to break in upon the town, that they found it too hot for them. Major Appleton with great courage defending one end of the town, and Capt. Poole the other end ; that they were by the resolution of the English instantly beaten off, without doing much harm. Capt. Appleton s serjeant was mortally wounded just by his side, another bullet passing through his own hair, by that whisper telling him that death was very near, but did him no other harm. Night coming on, it could not be discerned what loss the enemy sustained, divers were seen to fall, some run through a small river, others cast their guns into the water, it being their man ner to venture as much to recover the dead bodies of their friends, as to defend them when alive. At last after burning of some few barns with some other buildings, the enemy hasted away as fast as they came on, leaving the English to bless God who had so mercifully delivered them from the fury of their merci less foes, who had in conceit without doubt, devoured them all : But this resolute and valiant repulse, put such a check upon the pride of the enemy, that they made no further attempt upon any of those towns for the pres ent, but winter drawing on, they retired all of them to their general rendezvous at Narraganset, plotting their general design of accomplishing their intended mischief against the English the next Spring. Our western plantations upon Connecticut river, the 118 A NARRATIVE OF stage whereon were acted the most remarkable pas sages of this barbarous war hitherto, was soon after re moved into many other places tf the country in the winter and spring following, wini er our discourse must in the next place pursue it. There was not any great matter acted by the enemy amongst the plantations upon the great river during the winter, after the assault made upon Hatfield, October 19th. It is evident that the body of them returned to Narraganset upon the approach of the winter, which set in more early than it used in other years. Where Philip bestowed himself in the winter season is not so certain ; some say that he repaired fur ther westward, to try his fortune with those Indians that lie towards Albany near the Dutch river : Others more probably conceive that he lay hid in some part of the Narraganset country ; for though he was not certainly known to be about the fcrt at Narraganset, when it was taken by our forces in the winter, yet as soon as ever they were driven out of the country in February, he was found amongst them that did the mischief at Lancaster in that month. Some straggling parties of them remained aboul Northampton, Weslfield and Springfield sometime after their defeat at Hatfield : Seven or eight of the inhabit- ance of Northampton in the end of October, venturing to fetch in some of their harvest, that was left somewhere out of town, were in danger of being surprised, having laid their arms under their cart, so that being destitute of means to make their defence, they were glad to fly away with the horses out of their carts, leaving what THE INDIAN WARS. 3]9 they were about to the pleasure of the Indians that assaulted them. Major Treat upon hearing the alarm, presently repaired thither, but could not come time enough to destroy any of the enemy, nor yet to prevent their burning of four or five houses, with two or three barns that stood somewhat out of the town. Within a little time after they killed three of the same town, as they were at work in a meadow not far from the town : They intended also to have burned the mill, but it was too well guarded by two files of musketeers lodged there for the purpose, who put them beside their intent. Six or seven persons from Springfield soon after going to the mill at Westfield (that which belonged to their own being burned October 5th) and venturing without arms;, three of them were killed by some of the enemy ; who took the advantage also to burn four or five houses that belonged to the said Westfield : But by the end of November the coast was pretty clear of them, except some few of them that lay lurking in the swamps there abouts all the winter, doing some small mischief upon some out dwellings of Springfield. The expedition into the Narraganset country follow ing in order in the next place to be related ; but before we come thither, a little notice must be taken by the way, of an unsuccessful attempt upon the Indians about Hassanemesit* and Popachuog, whither Capt. Hench man was sent in the beginning of November; where also Capt. Still was ordered to meet him with another com pany from Cambridge, with intent to have beat up the ^Sometimes called Hassanamisco, now Grafton. 120 A NARRATIVE OF Indian quarters in those parts : They being known to have had an hand in the outrages committed upon those that belonged to Marlborough and Mendham, cutting off the scalp of a miller s boy, who is yet alive. November 1st, 1675. Capt. Henchman marched out of Boston, intending to visit the Indians about Has- sanemesif : The third day they saw some fires of the Indians, yet could not meet with those that made them : The 4th day they marched to some part of the Indian plantations called Hassanemesit : Th<" Captain would have taken up his quarters a mile on lis side but some of his officers overruled him, to whose importunity he gave way, and marched a mile further towards the ene my, and by that means saved the miller s youth, taken the week before from Marlborough ; for in the morning, very early, as the scouts were looking out they spied a wigwam, where some Indians that had carried away the youth, had lodged all nigh^ or in some wigwam near by. When the Indians saw our soldiers, they hasted away and left the Marlborough youth behind them, who by that means escaped their hands. Our men under Capt. Henchman marched on to Poppachaog, and finding the Indians all fled, (although they perceived by a messen ger, accidentally sent back, that the Indians followed them all the way they marched) they came back to Mendham to settle things in that town. Some of the in habitants informed them of some wigwams about ten miles off : The Captain with Philip Curtice, his Lieut resolved to give them a camisado in their wigwams that night : To that end they mounted 22 upon horses, rid- TltE INDIAN WARS. ?ng up ten miles into the woods, and when they came Bear the wigwams, they dismounted, and intended pres ently to march up, and give an assault upon them, after they had first gave a shout to fright the enemy : They ordered one half to follow the Lieutenant, the other to fellow the Captain, when they came within a quarter of a mile of the place, their dogs began to bark, at which they stopped, and by marching again, intended presently to fire in upon them, but the captain s foot slipping, he could hardly recover himself, when suddenly looking be hind him, he saw no man following him : The Lieuten ant had five behind him, who with those five resolutely fired on that side he was appointed to make the assault upon ; but they were repulsed by the Indians, who fir ing out of their dens, shot down the Lieutenant and an other, the rest presently ran away to a fence : The Captain with all vehemency urged them to stay ; they replied, they went back only to charge, yet went clear away, by which means, together with the cowardice of the former, so sad a loss befel the company, as could not easily be repaired-: However the enemy presently deserted the wigmaim and gave our men the next day an opportunity to fetch off their ttfo dead men, and bury them, and so with grief and shame they were constrain ed to return to their quarters at Mendham, to whose inhabitants they gave notice of 200 bushelsof corn belong ing to the Indians, that might have been preserved, which ibr want of bands was lost by the fire, that the enemy might not be benefited thereby. It appears by the foregoing passage that the time of our deliverance was I 22 A NARRATIVE OF not yet come, and that God bad further trials to acquaint us with before he would turn his hand upon our enemies. But it pleased the Lord so to order things that they themselves fell into that pit they were digging for others, as shall appear more fully in what follows. The English plantations about Hadley being for the present set a littfe at liberty by the Indians drawing off, like seamen after a storm, cotmfrd it their best course to repair their tackling against another that may be next coming, wherefore the inhabitants concluded it the safer way to make a kind of barricade about their towns, by setting up pallisadoes or cleft wood, about eight feet long, as it were to break the force of any sudden assault which the Indians misht make upon them ; which coun sel proved very successful ; for although it be an incon siderable defence against a warlike enemy, that hath strength enough and confidence to besiege a place, yet it is sufficient to prevent any sudden assault of such a timorous and barbarous enemy as these were, for al though they did afterwards in the spring break through these pallisadoes at Northampton, yet as soon as ever they began to be repulsed, they saw themselves like wolves in a pound, that they could not fly away at their, pleasure, so they never ventured to break through after wards upon any of the towns so secured. As for those of Springfield they were now and then alarmed with a few skulking Indians lurking about in the adjacent woods ; as once at the Long Meadow, where half a score of them were seen about an house remote the town, wlio were pursued by a party of the jEng- THE INDIAN WARS. 123 Esh towards Windsor, and so escaped, after the English had made one shot upon them, not knowing certainly how many they killed. So at another time, a few of those barbarous wretches killed a poor man belonging to Springfield, as he was going to his house to look after his corn, on the other side of the river, and after they had kilted the man they burnt down his house ; yet at tempted no further mischief on that part of the town that had escaped the fury of the flames, October 5. By which it is evident, that all the number of Indians that had assaulted them before, had withdrawn themselves now to their winter quarters, some to the Dutch River, but the greate&t number of them to be sure were found in the winter #t the Narraganset fort, where we shall leave them for the present till the forces of the united colonies shall fire them out of their nests. The soldiers continuing some time at Hatfield after this victory, as we may well call it, (for it seems to have given the first check to the rage of the heathen within tiie jurisdiction of the united colonies, they have been observed ever since to have been on the losing hand, seldom or ever daring to meet our soldiers in the open field, unless when they had very great advantage as to their numbers or covert of the woods and bushes : Al though like some ranging beasts they have done much mischief several times since, when they were ready to expire, or when the pangs of death were coming upon them) our forces were all called home, save some left for garrisoning the towns thereabouts. The Commissioners of the united colonies taking into 124 A NARRATITE OF" serious consideration the present state of things, viz.:, that there were before this time so many hundreds gath ered together into one body, and that there was great reason to fear, if they were let alone till the next spring they might all rise together as one man round abo it us and that one after another might easily be destroyed, be fore any help could be despatched to them. On the one hand, the sharpness of the winter in these parts was well weighed, so extreme that it>might hazard the loss* of a thousand men in one night* if they were forced to lodge abroad in the open field ; as also the difficulty, if not impossibility of sending any relief to them at any distance, the depth of snow usually making the waya impassable for divers months together. , On the other hand it ivas considered, that if the ene my were let alone till the next summer, it would be im possible to deal with them or find them any where, but they might waste one company of soldiers after another, as was seen by the experience of the former year. Con sidering also that the Narragansets, the most numerous of all the rest, and the best provided -for provision of aft She other Indians, had now declared themselves our en emies, who if (hey were let alone till the winter was over, we should be unable to deal with so many enemies at once, that could on any occasion spread themselves like grasshoppers all over the country. It was therefore finally agreed upon by the general consent of all, to fall upon the winter quarters of our en emies, by a more considerable army (if I may so call it} gathered out of all the three colonies, and that with al!i THE INDIAN WARS. 125 expedition, at farthest not to exceed the 10th of De cember, before they should have a thousand men in arms, ready for the design- As for the late league made or rather renewed with the Narragansets, it was sufficiently evident and known, that they had all alon from the first day when it was confirmed, broken every article of it, especially in not delivering up the enemies, which had sheltered them selves with them all this while, which though they did Jiot positively deny, yet did nothing but find excuses, to defer it one week after another, till at the last they would be excused till the next spring upon pretence that they could not before that time get them together. And besides the favoring of those that fled to them, and supplying the whole body of the enemy with victuals, upon all occasions It was likewise strongly suspected that in all the late proceedings of the enemy, many of their young men were known to be actsally in arms against ue, many of whom were found either wounded amongst them in their wigwams, or elsewhere occasional ly seen returning back, after exploits abroad, to be heal ed of their wounds at home. Also some of our men s guns that were lost at Beerfield, were found in the fort when it was fired. Therefore all scruples as to the justness and necessity of the war being removed, the only question was, whether it were feasible and expe dient in the winter. The exigence was very great, and the choice very hard : But as David when he was straightened with many difficulties at once, chose rather to fall into the hands of God whose mercies -were great* Av NARRATIVE OF* tough he might be provoked to cause his jealousy t smoke against those of his own heritage for a time ; s in this exigence it was generally conceived to be most expedient for the country to cast themselves upon the providence ol a merciful and gracious God, rather thaa by delays to expose themselves to the treachery and. cruelty of a perfidious enemy. A War, therefore, speedily to be carried on in the very depth of winteiybejng agreed upon, care was taken-, for supplies, as the diiHcalty of such an affair so circum* ttanced did require, tho* possibly not with so much ne cessary care and so suitable provisions, as had been de sired, if what came afterwards to pass could have bees foreseen (which peradventure might be the reason things went on so heavily for want of well oiling the wheels) in the mean funs a small army of .SL thousand fighting men, well appointed^were ordered by the Commissioners to be gathered by proportion out of all the colonies, of which number the share of Massachusetts was to be 527, the rest were to be supplied out of Plymouth and Con necticut colonies : All other supplies were taken care for, as well as the suddenness of the expedition, and dif ficulty of the season would allow. The said thousand men besides some volunteers of Indian friends, were by the time and place appointed as near as could be had, called together, and a commission granted to the honor able Josiah \Vinslow, Esq. the present Governor of; Plymouth colony, a man of known ability and integrity,, eye/y way. so well qualified with courage and resolution^ t aa, prudence and discretion, as might have prefs** THE INDIAff WA3S. 157> *ed him to the conduct of a far greater army than ever 23 like to be gathered together in this part of the world, in this or the following generations. And indeed, as he was the first Governor over any of the united colonies in New-England, of them that were born in the place, 9 may be, he will pass for a pattern to the succeeding . race, that may come after. Under him as commander in chief, were ordered Six companies from Massachusetts, under the command of Major Appltton, Captains Mosely, Gardiner, Davenport, Oliver, and Johnson ; five companies from Connecticut under Major Treat, Captains Siely, Gallop, Mason, Watts, and Marshall ; two companies from Plymouth under Major Bradford, and Captain Gorum. Under the Governor of Plymouth, as commander in chief in this expedition, wers sent as Major of the forces - belonging to each colony ; Major Robert Treat for the forces belonging to Connecticut, and Major Bradford for those of the colony of Plymouth, and Major Samuel Ap- pleton, for those of Massachusetts, to whom by the hon orable Major-General of the colony, were six companies of foot ; delivered at Dedhao, December the 9th, 1675j containing in number 465 fighting men, besides a troop f horse, under the command of Capt. Thomas Prentice, attending upon them. That night they marched to Woodcock s, about 27 miles from Dedham. The next night they arrived at Seaconk ; Capt. Mosely and his company went from thence with Mr. Smith by water; ; Hie rest ferried over the water to Providence. next day, December 12tb, they passed ovasv A NARRATIVE OF Fatuxet river, and then marching through Pomhain*s country, at night the/ met with Capt, Mosely and his company, at Mr. Smith s in Wickford, the place intended for their head quarters. Capt. Mosely in his way thither had happily surprised 36 Indians, one of whom he took along with him as a guide, Peter by name, that was at that time under some disgust with hia coun trymen, or his Sachem, which made him prove the more real friend to our forces in that service, wherein he faith fully performed what he promised, and without his as sistance our men would have been much at a loss to hav found the enemy, until it had been too late to have fought Two days after, December 14th, five files of men sent out under serjeant Rennet, and another upon the scout killed one man and one woman, and brought in four more by one of the clock : The whole company marched after into some of the sachem s country, where they burnt 150 wigwams,, killed 7 of the enemy, and brought in 8 prisoners when they returned at night. The next day an Indian called Stone-wall John, p,8- tended to come from the Sachems, intimating their wil lingness to have peace with the English, yet could the messenger hardly forbear threatening, boasting of their numbers and their strength, adding with all that the Ei^.;. lish dorst not fight them ; Whatever were pretended b; thls treacherous fellow, some of his crew as he went home met with some of Capt. Gardiner s men, that were straggling about their own business, contrary to on er, and slew his serjeant with one or t ,vo mare. Two also THE INDIAN tFARS- ef Capt. Oliver s men were killed in like manner ; a sol emn warning for soldiers not to be too venturous in aa enemy s country. For preventing the like mischief upon other companies, more care was taken as they passed ta the head quarters, some of the companies be ing lodged three miles therefrom. Capt. Mbsely 0, Capt. Davenport s, and Capt Oliver s Companies being also sent about that time to bring Major Appleton s to the general quarters, a few desperate Indians creeping^ under a stonewall near the place, fired twenty or thirty guns at Mosely in particular, a commander well known amongst them, but the rest of the company running down upon them, killed one and scattered the rest. The next day Capt. Prentice with Lis troop, being ent to Pettyquamscot, returned with the sad news of burning Jerry Bull s garrison-house and killing 10 Eng lishmen and 5 women and children, but two escaped ID all. This is the chance of war which they who under took iriust prepare to undergo* The next day brought from the same place a little bet; r news, though not enough to balance the sorrow of,. (} , former, viz. that Connecticut forces were come thither with three hundred English, and an hundred and fifty Mohegins, ready fixed for war on the behalf of the English against the Narragansets, their mortal enemies ; and by the way meeting a party of the enemy, they slew, five or six of them and took as many prisoners. The whole number of all our forces being now come, the want of provision with the sharpness of the cold, rninck $d them, of expedition, wherefore, the very next day ? A NARRATIVE Ot the whole body of the Massachusetts and Plymouth fefu ees marched away to Peltyquamscot, intending to en gage the enemy upon the first opportunity that next of fered itself : To which resolution those of Connecticut presently consented, as soon as they met together, which was about five o clock in the afternoon. Bull s house, intended for their general rendezvous, being unhappily burnt down two or three days before, there was no shel ter left either for officers or private soldiers, so as they were necessitated to march on toward the enemy thro 5 the snow, in a cold stormy evening, finding no other de fence all that night, save the open air, nor any other covering than a cold and moist fleece of snow. Thro all these difficuUies they marched from the break of the next day, December 19tb, till one of the clock in the afternoon, without even fire to- warm them, or respite to take any food, save what they could chew in their march. Thus having waded fourteen or fifteen miles through the country of the old Queen, or Snake Squaw of Narra- ganset, they came at one o clock upon the edge of the swamp, where their guide assured them they should find Indians enough before night. Our forces chopping thus upon the seat of the ene my, upon a sudden, they had no time either to draw up in any order or form of battle* nor yet opportunity to consult where or how to assault. As they marchec;, Capt. Mosely and Capt. Davenport led the plan, Ma jor Appleton and Capt. Oliver brought up the rear ot, Massachusetts forces : Gen. Winslow with the Plym outh forces marched in the centre ; those of Connecti cut came up ia the rear of the whole body : But the- TE INDIAN WARS. 131 frontiers discerning Indians in the swamp, fired immedi ately upon them, who answering our men in the same language, retired presently into the-swamp, our men fol lowed them in amain, without staying for the word of command, as if every one were ambitious who should go first, never making any stand till they carne to the sides of the fort, into which the Indians that first fired upon them betook themselves. It seems that there was but one entrance into the fort, though the enemy found many ways to come out, but neither the English or their guide well knew on which side the entrance lay : nor was it easy to have made an other ; wherefore the good providence of Almighty God is the more to be acknowledged, who as he led Is rael sometimes by the pillar of fire, and the cloud of his presence, a right way through the wilderness, so did he now direct our forces upon that side of the fort, where they might only enter through, not without the utmost danger and hazard. The fort was raised upon a kind of island of five or six acres of rising land in the midst of a swamp ; the sides of it were made of pallisadoes, set upright, which was compassed about with an hedge of al most a rod thickness, through which there was no pass ing, unless they could have fired a way through, which then they had no time to do. The place where the In dians used ordinarily to enter themselves, was upon a long tree over a place of water, where but one rnaa could enter at a time, and which was so way laid that they would have been cut off that had ventured there : Bat at one corner there was a gap made up only with a iej)g tree, about four or five feet from the ground, over 132 & NARRATIVE 0F which men might easily pass : But they had placed g kind of Block-house right over against the said tree, from whence they sorely galled our men that first entered, Home being shot dead upon the tree, as was Capt. John son ; and some as soon as they entered, as was Capt. Davenport; so s they that first entered were forced presently to retire, and fall upon their bellies, the fury of the enemy s shot was pretty well spent, which some companies that did not discern the danger, not observ ing, lost sundry of their men, but at the last two compa nies being brought up, besides the four that first march ed up, they animated one another, to make another as sault, one of the commanders crying out, they run, they run, which did so encourage the soldiers that they pres ently entered amain. After a considerable number were well entered, they -presently beat the enemy out of a flanker on the left hand, which did a little shelter our men from the enemy s shot, till more came up, and so by degrees made up higher, first into the middle, and then into the upper end of the fort, till at last they made the enemy all retire from their sconses, and fortified places, leaving multitudes of their dead bodies upon the place. Connecticut soldiers marching up in the rear, being not aware of the dangerous passage over the tree, in command of the enemy s block-house, were at their first entrance many of them shot down, although they came on with as gallant resolutions any of the rest, un der the conduct of their wise and valiant leader, Major Treat. The brunt of the battle, or danger that day, lay most upon the commanders whose part it was to lead on their THE INDtAtf WARS. 133 several companies in the very face of death, or else all bad been lost ; all of them with great valor and resolu tion of mind, not at all afraid to die in so good a cause, bravely led on their men in that desperate assault ; leav ing their lives in the place as the best testimony of their valor, and of love to the cause of God and their country. No less than six brave Captains fell that day in the as sault, viz, Capt. Davenport, Capt. Gardiner, Capt. John son, of Massachusetts, besides Lieutenant Upham, who died some months after of his wounds received at that time Capt. Gallop also, and Capt. Sieley, and Capt. Marshall were slain, of those belonging to Connecticut colony. It is usually seen that the valor of the soldiers is much wrapped up in the lives of their Commanders, yet it was found here, that the soldiers were rather en gaged than discouraged by the loss of their Command ers, which made them redouble their courage, and not give back after they were entered a second time, till they had driven out their enemies : So after much blood and many wounds dealt on both sides, the English see ing their advantage, began to fire the wig warns where was supposed to be many of the enemy s women and children destroyed, by the firing of at least five or six hundred of their smoaky cells. It is reported by them that first entered the Indians fort, that our soldiers came upon them when they were ready to dress their dinner, but our sudden and unex pected assault put them beside that work, making their cook rooms too hot for them at that time, when they and their mitchin fried together : And probably some of them eat their suppers in a colder place that night : TVf 134 j. ar ARRATn* y Most of their provisions as well as their hut* being thei? consumed with fire, and those that were Jeft alive forced to hide themselves in a cedar swamp, not far off, where they had nothing to defend themselves from the cold but boughs of spruce and pine trees : For after two or three hours fight, the English became masters of the place, but not judging it tenable, after they had burned all they could set fire upon, they were forced to retreat, after the day light was almost quite spent, and were necessitated to retire to their quarters, full fifteen or sixteen miles off, some say more, whither, with their dead and wounded men they were forced to march, a difficulty scarce to be believed and not to be paralleled in any former age. It is hard to say who acquitted themselves best in that day s service, either the soldiers, for their manlike valor in fighting, or the commanders for their wisdom and courage, leading on in the very face of death. There might one have seen the whole body of that little regimental army, as busy as bees in a hive, some brave ly fighting with the enemy, others hauling off and car rying away the dead and wounded men (which J rath er note) that none may want the due testimony of their valor and faithfulness, though all Ought to say, not unto us, but unto thy name, O Lord, &c. For though there might not be above three or four hundred at any time within the fort at once, yet the rest in their turns came up to do what the exigence of the service required in bringing off the dead and wounded men ^The Massachusetts regiment, together with Capt. Mosely, was very serviceable, for by that means the THE INDIAN WARS. fort being clear of the dead bodies, it struck a greater terror into the enemy, to see but eight or ten dejd bod ies of the English left, than to meet with so many him* dreds of their own slain and wounded carcases. The number of the slain was not then known on the enemy s side, because owr men were forced to. leave them on the ground : Bat our victory was found afterwards to be much more considerable than at first was apprehended ; for although our loss was very great not only because of the desperateness of the attempt itself (in such a season of the year, and at such a distance from our quarters, whereby many of our wounded men perished, which might otherwise have been preserved, if they had not been forced to march so many miles in a cold snowy night, before they could be dressed) yet the enemy lost so many of their principal fighting men, their provision also was by the burning of their wigwams, so much of it spoiled at the taking of their fort, and by surprizing so much of their corn about that time also ; that it was the occasion of their total ruin afterwards : They being at that time driven away from their habitations, and put by from planting for the next year, as well as deprived of what they had in store for the present winter. What numbers of the enemy were slain is uncertain, it was confessed by one Potock, a great Counsellor amongst them, afterwards taken at Rhode- Island, and put to death at Boston, that the Indians lost 700 fighting men that day, besides three hundred that died of their wounds. The number of old men, women and children, that per ished either by fire, or that were starved with hiibger 136 A NARRATIVE OF and cold, none of them could tell. There was above 80 of the English slain, and 150 wounded, that recov ered afterwards. There were several circumstances in this victory ve ry remarkable. First, The meeting with one Peter a fugitive Indian, that upon some discontent, flying from the Narragansets, offered himself to the service of the English, and did faithfully perform what he promised, viz. to lead them to the swamp where the Indians had seated themselves within a fort raised upon an island of firm earth, in the midst of a swamp, whither none of the English could have piloted them without his assistance, the place be ing very near eighteen miles from the place where they were quartered. Secondly, Their being by a special providence di rected just to a place where they found so easy an en trance, which if they had missed, they could never have made a way through the hedge, with which they had surrounded the palisadoes of the fort, in half a day s time. And Thirdly, If they had entered the way left by the Indians for a passage, they might have been cut off, before they could have come near their fortification. Lastly, In directing their motion to begin the assault just at the day they did, for if they had deferred but a day longer, there fell such a storm of snow the next day that they could not have passed through it in divers weeks after ; and on a sudden, there fell such a thaw, that melted away both ice and snow, so that if they had deferred til) that time, they could have found no passage into their fortified place. THE INDIAN WARS. 137 All which considerations put together, make it a sig- fia! favor of God to carry them through so uiauy difficul ties to accomplish their desired end. For after they had retired to their quarters, but sixteen miles from that place, there was so great a want of provision, the ves sels being frozen in at the harbor about Cape Cod, that should have brought them relief, and the frost arid snow set in so violently, that it was not possible for them, with all the force they could make (so many of their ablest soldiers being slain and wounded) to have made another onset : But the goodness of Almighty God was most of all to be admired, that notwithstanding all the hardships they endured that winter, in very cold lodgings, hard marches, scarcity of provision, yet not one man was known to die by any disease or bodily distemper, save them that perished of their wounds. Our forces being compelled by the aforesaid occa sions, to lie still some weeks after, hoping also that the enemy so sorely broken, would gladly have sued for peace : But as was said of old, God hardened their hearts to their own ruin and destruction afterwards: For as soon as our soldiers were able to march, finding that all the enemy s overtures of peace, and prolonging of treaties, was only to gain time, that they might get away into the woods ; they pursued after them, and some times came upon their rear, but then they would imme diately fly an hundred ways at once into stamps, so as our men could not follow them, or if they did, could not see two of them together; so that now there was little good like to be done, unless they could take them at some advantage, At length having spent all theiir provision M2 138 A NARRATIVE OF and tired themselves in pursuing of them sixty or sev enty miles, up through the woods towards Marlborough and Lancaster, towns that lie on the road to Connecti cut, having killed and taken near 70 of them, our sol diers were ordered to return towards Boston, to recruit themselves, supposing that the Narragansets, and those with them, were so enfeebled that they would have no mind suddenly to assault any of the English towns. If any desire a more particular account of the loss which we sustained at the taking of the Narraganset fort, December 19th, 1675, they may take it as here follows : Besides the six captains mentioned before, that either were slain in the assault, or died afterwards of their wounds, to whom may be reckoned Lieut. Upham, that died lately at Boston, of the wounds he then received, There were out of the company belonging to killed. wounded. Major Appleton, 3 22 Capt. Mosely, D 10 Capt. Oliver, 5 10 Capt. Gardiner, 7 11 Capt. Johnson, 3 11 Capt. Davenport, 4 15 in all, 31 in all, 79 There were slain and wounded of New-Haven company, 20 Capt. Sieley s company, 20 Capt. Watts e company, 17 Capt. Marshall s company, 14 THE INDIAN WARS. 139 Plymouth company under Major Bradford and Capt. Gorham, 20 in all, 91 If there had not been so great a distance between the place of the fight and their quarters, and so much cold attending them in their retirement thereunto, some better account might have been given of that expedition, than now they were able to do. For a march of sixteen or eighteen miles is too much to breathe a fresh soldier, unless he were well mounted ; but enough to kill the heart of them that have been wearied with a long and tedious fight. As for the coldness of the weather al though it be a good besom to sweep the chamber of the air (which might be the reason there was no more diseas es amongst them) yet it is an unwelcome companion to wearied, and especially to wounded men, in so long a retreat. But the want of provision failing, in conjunction with the unseasonableness of the weather, and length of the way, our forces were hindered from any new attempt upon the enemy, which if they would have attended, it was thought it might have put at end to our troubles : but he that holdeth the scales of the victory in his hand turneth them to which side, and by what degrees pleas- eth him best. The rest of the winter was spent in fruitless treaties about a peace : both sides being well wearied with the late desperate fight, were willing to refresh themselves the remaining part of the winter, with tha short slumber 140 A NARRATIVE OF of a pretended peace, at least with a talk or dream there of: Our Commanders aim therein was Christian and good, if it had proceeded, i. e. to have prevented the shedding of more blood : And possibly some of the elder and wiser of the enemy, did really desire what was pretended by them all (for they had now full proof of the valour and resolution of the English, which some of them upon former successes might be ready to question) and they could not but see their destruction already begun, in the loss of our dwellings, and all their provis ions, as well as the slaughter of the best part of their fighting men ; but through consciousness of their barba rous treachery and falsehood, they could not trust oth ers, and so were willing to run the utmost hazard, as peo ple hardened to their own destruction. The particular passages of the treaty being carried on by the enemy only in pretence, (and by our men that soon discerned their fraud) rather out of necessity, to conceal their in capacity of engaging them anew, than any real expecta tion of a good effect, are not worthy the relating. How ever, though the foot were unable to do any service in the depth of the snow, and sharpness of the cold, (he troop was sent out upon all occasions to scout about the country, who brought in daily much of the enemy s corn and beans, which they had hid in the ground under barns, or at least kept them from making use of their own provision, or spoiling the English cattle ; now and then bringing in prisoners from their quarters, as they were straggling about to get victuals. On the 27th of December, Capt Prentice was seut THE INDIAN WARB. 141 into Bomham s country, where he burnt near an hundred wigwams, but found not an Indian in any of them. On the 28th December, a squaw was sent to them, who had been taken in the fight, with a proffer of peace, if they would submit to such terms as were propounded ; the principal of which was, to deliver up all Philip s In dians, that were with them ; the squaw returned, pre tending that she was lame and unable to come again ; but the 30 of December, an Indian came from the Sachems, with seeming thanks for the peace proffered, yet com plained we made war upon them, and gave them no no tice ; but his mouth was soon stopped, by the answer they made him : He owned, as the squaw had said be fore, that they lost 300 of their best fighting men, and so did two prisoners of theirs, taken January 14th, where of one being of Philip s Company, was put to death. The messenger that was sent was fairly dismissed, with the express mention of what terms they must expect, if they desired a peace. January 4th, there came two messengers from them, as they said, to make way for a treaty of peace ; who laid the blame upon Canonchet, who came to Boston in October last, to confirm the peace with the Commission ers of the united colonies, as if he had misinformed them, viz. that they were not by the former treaty to have de livered up the Wampanoogs, or Philip s Indians, until the said Canonchet s brother, one of the hostages at Hartford, was released. This was but a mere pretence, for he and they too, better understood the particulars of the agreement ; for by chance the articles which they 142 A NARRATIVE OP had of the peace concluded with them, were found o (whether purposely or accidentally was not k"< * wigwam in the fort, when it was taken, sc t not be ignorant of the articles of the agreem; January 5th, an Engli b ^hild of about three or : ,<ur years old, taken from Warwick, was sent in to put the better pretence upon the treaty mentioned. January 8fh, the messengers were sent back, and told what they must trust to. In the afteH floo.n a messenger came from Ninigret, the old Sachem of Narraganset, who brought a letter from Mr. Stanton, the interpreter, signifying the reality of the said Ninigret, in his friendship to the English, and the straits of the enemy, that corn was two shillings a pint with them. Yet notwithstanding all their difficulties, they rather delayed the time till they could get away, than really endeavor to make a peace, as was soon manifest : For that young and insolent Sachem, Canonchet, and Panoquin, said they would fight it out to the last man, rather than become servants to the Eng lish. January 10th, a fresh supply of soldiers came up from Boston, wading through a sharp storm of snow, that bit some of them by the heels with the frost. The next clay one that came with them, going out with the scouts, fell amongst the Indian s barns, in one of which, as he was grooping to find corn for the relief of his horse, he catched hold of an Indian s hair, under the leaves, who presently held up his hands, (when the soldier waa drawing his sword,) to spare his life, which was granted, but after he was brought to the head-quarters, he would THE INDIAN WARS. ewn nothing but what was forced out of his mouth, by the woolding of his head with a cord, wherefore he was presently judged to die as a Wampanoog. January 12th, another messenger came from Cononi- cus, desiring the space of a month longer, wherein to is- gue the treaty, which so provoked the commander of ur forces, that they resolved to have no more treaties with the enemy, but prepare to assault them, with God s assistance, as soon as ever the season would permit, and it was high time to take up that resolution, for within a few days after they understood by some that were taken prisoners, that the enemy were gone, or going into the Nipmuch country. Within a few days after, about the 16th of January, the scouts brought in one Joshua Tift, a renegado Eng lishman, of Providence, that upon some discontent among his neighbors, had turned Indian, married one of the In dian squaws, renounced his religion, nation, and natural parents, all at once fighting against them. He was taken by Oapt. Fenner, of Providence, who with some of his neighbors were pursuing some Indiaas that had driven laway their cattle. This Tift being one of the company, was wounded in the knee, and so was seized by the Eng lish ; he had in his habit conformed himself to them amongst whom he lived. After examination he was condemned to die the death of a traitor. As to his re- lligion he was found as ignorant as an heathen, which no doubt caused the fewer tears to be shed at his funeral, by being; unwilling to lavish pity upon him that had di vested himself of nature itself, as well as religion, in a J44 A NARRATIVE OF time when so much pity was needed elsewhere, and nothing left besides wherewith to relieve the sufferers. January 21st, Capt. Prentice s troops being abroad, met with a party of the enemy, of whom they took two prisoners, and killed nine ; in which exploit, something happened very remarkable, for one W. Dodge, of Salem, riding in company with another friend, they happened to meet with two Indians, the said Dodge being better horsed than his friend, made after the foremost, leaving .his friend to deal with the hindmost, but his pistol mis sed firing, whereupon the Indian taking him by the leg, turned him off his horse, and getting upon him, was about killing him with his knife, which Mr. Dodge by chance espied, and came time enough to rescue his friend, and dispatch the Indian lying upon him, and yet overtook the first Indian he was pursuing, time enough to do his business also : By that means he did three good offices at once, saved the life of one friend, and slew two of his enemies. But within two or three days after, the weather much altering from what it was, indu- our forces to take the first opportunity to pursue the en emy, who, as they understood by messengers from Pro vidence, were now upon their flight into the Nipniuc country : But so many difficulties were cast in their way, that they could not be ready time enough to pre vent the mischief they did at Warwick, as they took their farewell of their country : For, January 2?tb, they despoiled Mr. Carpenter of iwo hundred sheep, ai d fifty head of neat cattle, and fifteen horses ; all which they drove along with them, and THE INDIAN WARS. 145 were gone tco far to be rescued before our forces set out. Two that belonged to the said Carpenter were wounded and one of the enemy slain. As they marched after the enemy, they found a good house burned, with a barn belonging to it. They perceived also that the nemy dealt much in horse flesh, meeting with no less than sixty horses heads in one place, which they had left behind them. Our soldiers in their pursuit, came upon the rear, killed and took about seventy of them, yet never could come to charge them, for they would pres ently betake themselves into swamps, and not two of them running together, they saw it was an endless work to proceed further in the chace of such an enemy ; but our forces having pursued them into the woods, be tween Marlborough and Brookfield, in the road toward Connecticut, were constrained to turn down to Boston, in the beginning of February, for want of provision, both for themselves and their horses, which gave an occasion to the loss of those lesser towns that wej*e destroyed by the Nipnet Indians, who presently joined with the Nar- ragansets, upon their first approach, as shall be related afterwards, About the 1 Oth of February after, some hundreds of the Indians, whether Nipnets or Nashaway men is un certain, belonging to him they call Sagamore Sam, and possibly some of the stoutest of the N irra^ansets that had escaped the winter brunt, fell upon Lancaster, a amall village of about fifty or sixty families, and did much mischief, burning most of the houses that were not garrisoned : And which is most sad and awful to A NARRATIVE O consider, the house of Mr. Rowlandson, minister of sa fcl ^Lancaster, which was garrisoned with a competent num ber of the inhabitants ; yet the fortification of the house being on the back side, closed up with fire wood, the In dians got so near as to fire a leanter, which burning the house immediately to the ground, all the persons therein were put to the hard choice, either to perish by the flameSj r r to yield themselves into the hands of those cruel savages, which last (considering that a living dog is better than a dead lion) they chose, and so were 42 persons surprised by the Indians, above twenty of the women and children they carried away captive, a rueful spectacle to behold ; the rest being men, they killed in the place, or reserved for further misery : And many that were not slain in fighting, were killed in attempting to escape. The minister himself was occasionally absent, to seek help from the Governor and Council to defend (hat place, who returning, was entertained with the tra gical news of his wife and children surprised, and being carried away by the enemy, and his house turned to ashes, yet it pleased God so to uphold his heart, com forting himself in his God as David at Ziklag, that he would always say, he believed he should see his wife and children again, which did in like manner soon come to pass within five or six months after ; all save the youngest, which being wounded at the first died sooa after, among the Indians. And such was the goodness of God to those poor captive women and children, that they found so much favor in the sight of their enemies, that they offered no THE INDIAN WAR. 1*47 wrong to any of their persons save what they could not help, being in many wants themselves. Neither did they offer any uncivil carriage to any of the females, nor ever attempted the charity of any of them, either being restrained of God as was Ahimeleck of old, or by some other accidental cause which withheld them from doing any wrong in that kind. Upon the report of this disaster, Capt. Wadsworth, then at Marlborough, with about forty resolute men, ad ventured the rescuing of the town that was remaining : And having recovered a bridge, they got over safe, though the planks were pulled off by the enemy, and and being led up in a way, not discovered by them, they forced the Indians for the present to quit the place, after they had burnt and destroyed the better half of it. Yet afterwards it not being judged tenable, it was abandoned to the pleasure of the insulting foe. Ten days after they were so flushed with this success, that two or three hundred of them came wheeling down to Medfield, a town twenty miles from Boston, westward fr.om Dedham, which they surprised very early in the morning (and though there were one hundred and sixiy soldiers in it, or more, besides the inhabitants) they burnt near one half of the town, killing about twen ty persons, but by the resistance of the soldiers, as soon as they could be rallied together (it being at or be fore break of day, none in the least suspecting such an, assaul* so earl * y were quickly forced to forsake the place ni?hout some loss) took their way to 148 A NARRATIVE OF The western towns above Connecticut were the chief ieat of iLe war, aid felt mo^t of the mischief thereof, in the erul of the year 1675 ; but the scene is now to be changed ; and the other towns and villages that lie easf- waic?, nearer Boston, must hear their part in the like tragedies : For as was said before, the Narragansets having been driven onf of the country, fled through the Nipnet plantations, towards Watchuset hills, meeting with ali the Indians that had harboured all winter in those woods about Nashaway, they all combined against the English, yet divided their numbers, and one half of them were observed to bend their course towards Plymouth, taking Medfield in their way, which they endeavored to burn and spoil, February 21, 1675, as their fellows had done Lancaster ten days before. The surprisal of this Medfield, in regard of some remarkable circumstances it was attended with, is not Unworthy a more particular relating as to the manner thereof : The loss of Lancaster had sufficiently awak ened and alarmed the neighboring villages, all to stand upon guard ; and some had obtained garrisoned soldiers for their greater security, as was the case with them in the town of MedSeld, within twenty-two miles of Boston, j^nd at that time were lodged therein several garrison soldiers, besides the inhabitants ; yet being billeted up and down in all quarters of the town, could not be gath ered together till a great part of the town was set on fire and many of the inhabitants slain, which, how it could be effected is strange to believe : But most of those inland plantations being ove d THE INDIAN WARS. 140 (the inhabitants being very apt to engross more lands into their hands than they were able to subdue) as if the} T were seated in the midst of a heap of bushes : Their enemies took the advantage thereof, and secretly over night, conveyed themselves round about the town, some getting under the sides of their barns, and fen ces of their orchards, as is supposed, where they lay hid under that covert, til! break of day, when they sudden ly set upon sundry houses, shooting them that came first out of their doors, and then fired their houses : Some were killed as they attempted to fly to their neighbors for shelter. Some were only wounded, and some taken alive and carried off captives :. In some houses the husband running away with one child, the vvife with another, of whom the one was killed, the other e^c-ped. They began at the east end of the town, where they fired the house of one Samuel Morse, that seems to imve been a signal to the rest to fall in on other parts : Most of the houses in the west, or southwest end of the to vn were soon burnt down : And generally when they burnt, any out houses, the cattle in them were burnt aiso^ Two mills belonging to the town, were burnt also: V poor old man of near an hundred years old, wa burn! In one of the houses that were consumed by fire. The L:?, it- tenant of the town, Adams by name, was- ?h<-t dow-- -jy his door and his wife mortally wounded by a giir, tired 1 afterwards accidentally into the house. After the burn-- ing of forty or fifty houses and barns, the Cannibal 3 ^ere- flighted away out of the <o\w-, o 1 e a v -r.djse th. t !is upon Ghailes River, by the shooting oi a piece of old-- N.2. A NARRATIVE OF nance two or three times : When they passed over the bridge they fired one end thereof, to hinder our men from pursuing them ; there were thought to be above five hundred ; there were slain and mortally wounded seventeen or eighteen persons, besides others danger ously hurt. The loss sustained by the inhabitants amounted to above two thousand pounds. This mercy was observed in this sad providence, that never a gar rison house was lost in this surprisal ; nor any of the principal dwellings, so as the chiefest and best of their buildings escaped the fury of the enemy, who as they passed the bridge, left a writing behind them, expressing something to this purpose, that we had provoked them to wrath, and that they would font with us these twenty years, (but they fell short of their expectation by nine teen) adding also, that they had nothing to lose, whereas we had houses, barns, and corn : These were some of the bo*d threats used by the barbarous crew, but their rage shall prccetd no further than the counsel of God hath determined. The week before was heard a very hideous cry of a kennel of wolves round the town, which raised some of the inhabitants, and was looked upon by divers persons, as an ominous presaging of the following calamity. Another assault was feared, but as soon as the soldiers could be gathered together, they turned their backs, as if they never intended to visit them more : whither these Indians went when they left Medfield, is not certainly known ; the soldiers in the {own not hav ing opportunity to pursue them over the river, by refr son that the bridge was part of it burned : But it is most THE INDIAN WARS. probable that they took their way toward Plymouth, and continued about that side of the country for the future, waiting opportunities to do what mischief they could to the English in those parts ; for within a month after the assault at Medfield, there were six hundred of them seea about Patuxetand Providence, where Capt. Pierce, with about fifty of his men were lost, though with no great advantage to the enemy, who at that time lost above double that number : Our worthy Captains in this and other exploits, being called to imitate Sampson, who was content to die with his enemies, that he migM overthrow them thereby : It having so fallen out with many of our choice Commanders and soldiers at Deerfield, Narragan- set, Patuxet, and likewise not long after at Sudbury. The Governor and Council of Plymouth perceiving by the report of these outrages committed upon the towns in Massachusetts, that they were like to be visit ed this spring by their old neighbors, sent out Capt, Pierce, of Situate, about the latter end of March with about fifty English and twenty Christian Indians, about Cape Cod, who proved none of his worst soldiers, as the gequel o= this his last expedition will declare. Capt. Pierce, as is said before, being sent out (o pur sue the enemy, marched towards Patuxef, where he un derstood the Indians were many of them gathered to gether : He being a man of resolute courage, was wil ling to engage them, though upon never so groat a disad vantage. Some say the Indians by counterfeiting, drill ed him into a kind of ambush ; possibly more of them discovered themselves after he began to engage them than he was aware of \ and being got over the river ta 152 A NARRATIVE OF pursuit of them, where he discovered so great a numher- of them, he drew down towards the side of the river/ hoping the better by that means to prevent their sur rounding him ; but that proved his overthrow which he intended as his greatest advantage : For the Indians getting over the river so galled him from thence, that he was not able to defend himself ; thus assaifted on all sides, and himself not being able to travel much on foot, was thereby hindered from retiring to any better place in time, so that he saw himself constrained to fight it out to the last, which he did with most undaunted courage ; and, as is said, to the slaughter of an hundred and forty of his enemies, before himself and his company wer6 cut off. It is said also, that being apprehensive of the danger he was in from the great numbers of the enemy, he sent a messenger timely enough to Providence, for re lief, but as Solomon saith, a faithful messenger is as snow in harvest, another is as smoak to the eyes, and vine gar to the teeth. (Whether through sloth or cowardice, is not material), this message was not delivered to them to whom it was immediately sent ; by accident ouiy gome of Rchoboth understanding the danger, after tr/e evening exercise (it being on the Lord s day, March 2?th, 1676) repaired to the place, but then it was too late to brins help, unless it were to be spectators of thfe dead carcasses of their friends, and to perform the last office of love to them. It is worth the notinjr, what faithfulness and courage some of the Christian fndians, with the said Captahi Pierce, shewed in the fight. One of them, whose name Amos, after the Captain was shot ia his leg or thigh?. THE INDIAN WARS. g so as he was not able to stand any longer, would not leave him, but charging his g;un several times, fired stout ly upon the enemy, till he saw that there was no possi bility for him to do any further good to Capt. Pierce, nor yet to save himself, if he stayed any longer ; there fore he used this policy, perceiving that the enemy had all blackened their faces, he also stooping down pulled out some blacking out of a pouch he carried with him, discolored his face therewith, and so making himself look as much like Hobamacfcco, as any of his enemies, he ran amongst them a little while, and was taken for one of them, as if he had been searching for the English, un til he had an opportunity to escape away among the bushes ; therein imitating the cuttle fish, which, when it is pursued, or in danger, cas*e.h out of its body a thick humor, as black as ink, through which it passes away un seen by the pursuer. It is reported of another of these Cape Indians, (friends to the English of Plymouth) that being pursued by one of the enemy, he betook himself to a great rock where he sheltered himself for a while ; at last perceiv ing that his enemy lay ready with his gun on the other side to discharge upon him, as soon as he stirred away from the place where he stood : In the issue he thought of this politic stratagem to save himself, and destroy his enemy, (for as Solomon said of old, wisdom is better than weapons of war) he took a stick, and hung his hat upon it, and then by degrees gently lifted it up, till he thought it would be seen, and so become a fit mark for the other that watched to take aim at. The other tak- 1,54 A NARRATIVE OF it to be his head, fired a gun and shot through hat ; which our Christian Indian perceiving, boldly held up his head and discharged his own gun upon the real head, not the hat of his adversary, whereby he shot him dead upon the place, and so had liberty to march away with the spoils of his enemy., The like subtle device was used by another t#\h<* Cape Indians at the said time, being one of them that went, out with Capt. Fierce ; for being in like manner pursued by one of Philip s Indians as the former was, he nimbly got behind the butt end of a tree newly turn ed up by the roots, which carried a considerable breadth. of the surface of the earth along with it (as is very usu al in those parts where the roots of the trees lie deep in the ground) which stood above the Indian s height, in< form of a large shield, only it was somewhat too heavy to be easily removed ; the enemy Indian lay with his, gun ready to shoot him down upon his first deserting his station ; but the subtle wit taught our Christian Netop a< better device, for boreing a little hole through this his broad shield, he discerned hb enemy who gould not ea sily discern him ; a good musketeer need never desire a fairer mark to shoot at, whereupon discharging his gun,, he shot him down. What can be more just than that he should be killed, who lay in wait to kill another man ? ncque enim lex justior alia est, quam necis artifices ar< seperire sua. Instances of this nature shew the subtlety and dex- terousness of these natives, if they were improved in, feats of ar-ns ; and possibly if some of the English ha$ lot been too shy in making use of such of them as wers, THE INDIAN WARS. f affected to their interest, they need never have -suffered so much from their enemies ; it having been found upon late experience, that many of them have proved not only faithful, but very serviceable and help ful to the English; they usually proving good seconds, though they have not ordinarily confidence enough to make the first onset. But to return to the proceedings of the Indians towards Plymouth. February 25th, they assaulted Weymouth, and burnt seven or eight houses and barns there, which Wey mouth is a town lying towards Plymouth colony. March 12th following, they assaulted the house of one IVlr. Clarke, in Plymouth, cruelly murdering eleven per sons that belonged to two families that lodged therein, and then Fired the house. The cruelty towards these persons was the more remarkable, in that they had often received niuch kindness from the said Clarke. v It is the custom of such debtors, to use them worst, of whom they have taken up much kindness upon trust before- liand. March l?fh, another party ^of them fell upon War- wick, a place beyond Philip s land, toward the Narra- ganset country, where they burnt down to the ground all but a few houses, which they left standing as a mon ument of their barbarous fury. The like mischief wa acted by them upon the houses of the English remain ing in the Narraganset country. This 26th day of March, teing the first day of th Vreek, as the first of the year after our Julian account, seemed ominous at the first, on sundry accounts, threat 156 A NARRATIVE OP ening a gloomy time, yet proved in the issue, but as a lowering morning before a lightsome day. For besides the burning of Marlborough, at least a great part of it, on the same day, a very sad accident fell out the same time at Springfield, as shall be speci fied hereafter; besides that which befel Capt. Pierce, which is already related, with whom fell so many of his soldiers on the same day also ; yet had the enemy ne cause to boast, being forced by the valour of the Eng lish, to give so many of their own lives in exchange : 8ome few made their escape, as is said, by subtle devi ces : Besides the three forementioned, another by a like shift, not only saved himself, but helped an English man to escape also, whom he ran after with his hatchet in his hand, as if he were about to kill him ; whereby both of tht-m made a shift to get away ; Ihe rest were all lost (the unfaithfulness of the messenger being as was in timated before, the cause of their slaughter) save a fetr that hardly escaped by (he advantage of the bushes giv ing them opportunity to pass unseen, yet was it confes sed by a prisoner of the enemy, taken afterwards by the English, that they lost an hundred and forty in that encounter : And had not the said English by wading af ter the enemy over a river, made their ammunition use less, there had not half so many of them been cut off. From thence they turned back towards Rehoboth, near Svvanzy, when on March 28th, they burnt thirty barns and near forty dwelling houses, thereby as it were thrtatenin !; the utter dessolation of that poor town ; and So proceeding on that side the country, they burnt the THE INDIAN WARS. 157 very next day about thirty houses in Providence, in their way toward Narraganset. But it was now full sea with Philip s affairs, for soon after the tide of his successes began to turn about the ea coast, which made way for the falling of the water up higher in the country. For about this time news came to Boston that our neighbors and friends of Connecticut colony, hearing of the attempts of the enemy on that side of the country, sent a party of their soldiers, under the command of Capt. George Denison, with some friendly Indians, part Mohegins and Pequods, part Niantics, belonging to Nin- igret, a Narraganset Sachem, who never engaged in this quarrel against the English ; who in pursuit of the ene my, meeting with a considerable part of them about the Narraganset country, killed and took forty-five of them, without the loss of their own men. This victory was the more considerable, in that several of the chief cap tains of the enemy were at this time killed or taken ; a- mongst whom was Canonchet (who came down to get seed corn to plant at Squakheag ;) he was the chief Sachem of all the Narragansets, the son of Miantonimo, and the heir of all his father s pride and insolence, as well as of his malice against the English, a most perfidi ous villain, who had the last October been at Boston, pretending to make a firm peace with the English, but never intending to keep one article thereof: Therefore, as a just reward of his wickedness he was adjudged by those that took him to die, which waa accordingly put 158 A NARRATIVE OF in execution at Stonington, whither he was carried ; there his head being cut off, was carried to Hartford ; The Mohegins and Pequods that had the honor to take him prisoner having the honor likewise of doing justice upon him, and that by the prudent advice of the English commanders, thereby the more firmly to engage the said Indians against the treacherous Narragansets. There are differing reports about the manner of his be ing taken, and by whom, whether the Indians or the English first took him ; however, it was sufficient matter of rejoicing to all the colonies, of the English, that the ringleader of almost all this mischief, and great incendi ary betwixt the Narragansets and us, died himself by that sword of war which he had drawn against others. Concerning the Narragansets, this is further to be ad ded here, that Mr. Thomas Stanton and his son Rob ert, who have a long t?me lived amongst them, and best acquainted with their language and manners of any in New England do affirm, that to their knowledge, the Narraganset Sachems, before the late troubles, had two thousand fighting men under them, and nine hun dred arms, yet they are at this day so broken and scat tered, that there is none of them left on that side of the country, unless some few, not exceeding seventy in num ber, that have sheltered themselves under the inhabit ants of Rhode-Island, as a merchant of that place, worthy of credit, lately affirmed to the writer hereof. It is considered by what degrees they have been consumed and destroyed. The first week in April, 1676, Canonchet, their TflE INDIAN WARS. 159 chief Sachem, having with this people been driven out of his own country, by the sword of the English, the winter before, breathed still nothing but rage and cruelty against them : yet as appeared in the issue, himself and they that escaped with him were not much preserved from the present calamity that befel those in the fort, being reserved to another and more ignominous death. For the whole body of the Indians to the westward, trusting under the shadow of that aspiring bramble, he took a kind of care of them upon himself: Wherefore foresee ing so many hundreds could not well snbsbt without planting, he propounded it in his council, that all the west plantations upon Connecticut river, Haken from the English, should this last summer be planted with Indian corn ; which was indeed in itself a very prudent consid eration : To that end he resolved to venture himself with but thirty men (the rest declining it) to fetch seed corn from Seaconk, the next town to Mount Hope, leav ing a body of men, not less than fifteen hundred to fol low him or meet him about Seaconk the week after. The adventure brought him into a snare, from whence he could not escape : For Capt. George Denison, of Stonington, and Capt. Avery, of New-London, having raised forty seven English, the most part volunteers, with eighty Indians, twenty of which were Narraganseta belonging to Ninigret, commanded by one called Catapa- zet,the rest Pequods, under Cassasinamon and Mohegins, under Oneco, son of LFncas, being now abroad on their third expedition, which they began March 27th, 1676, and ended ou the 10th of April following : They met 160 A NARRATIVE OP with a stout Indian of the enemy s whom they presently slew, and two old squaws, who confessed NanuHttenoo, alias Canonchet (these chief Sachems usually changing their names at every great dance, and by the name of Nanunttenoo was he then known) was not far off, which welcome news put new life into the wearied soldiers, that had travelled hard many days, and met with no booty till now ; especially when it was confirmed by intelligence the same instant, brought in by their scouts, that they met with new tracks, which brought them in view of what is called Blackstone s river, the said Sachem was at that moment diverting himself with the recital of Capt. Pierce s slaughter, surprised by his men a few days before, but the alarm of the English at that time heard by himself, put by that discourse, appalled by the suddenness thereof, as if he had been informed by se cret item from Heaven, that now his own turn was come ; for having but 7 men about him, he sent up two of them to the top of the hill, to see what the matter was, but they affrighted with the near approach of the Eng lish, at that time with great speed mounting over a fair champagna on the other side of the hill, ran by, as if they wanted time to tell what they saw ; presently he gent a third, who did the like ; then sending two more on the same errand, one of these last endowed with more courage, or a better sense of his duty, informed him in great haste that all the English army was upon him ; whereupon having no time to consult, and but little to attempt an escape, and no means to defend himself; he began to dodge with his pursuers ; running round THE INDIAN WARS. 161 the hill on the contrary side ; but as he wa* running so hastily by, Catapazet, with twenty of his to! low *$, and a few of the English, lightest of foot, guessed by i^e swiftness of his motion, that he fled as if an enemy, which made them immediately take the chace after him, as for their lives ; he that was the swifter pursuer put him so hard to it that he cast off first his blanket then his silver laced coat (given him at Boston, as a pledge of their friendship, upon the renewal of his league in October before) and belt of peag, which made them pursue as eagerly as the other fled ; so that they forced him" to take to the water, through which as he over hastily plun ged, his foot slipping upon a stone, it made him fall into the water so deep that it wet his gun, upon which acci dent he confessed soon after, that his heart turned with in him, so as he became as a rotten stick ; void of strength, insomuch as one Monopbide, a Pequod, swift est of foot, laid hold of him within thirty rods of the river side, without his making any resistance ; though he was a very proper man, of goodly stature, and great courage of mind, as well as strength of body ; one of the first English that came up with him, was Robert Stanton, a young man that scarce had reached the 22d year of his age, yet adventuring to ask him a question or two, to whom this manly Sachem, looking with a little neglect upon his youthful face, replied in broken English, you much child, no understand matters of war : let your brother or your chief corne, him I will answer ; and was as good as his word ; acting herein, as if by a Pathego- rean metempsychosis, some old Roman ghost had pos- O 2 162 A NARRATIVE OF sessed the body of this western Pagan ; and like Attllius Regulas, he would not accept of his own life, when it was tendered him, upon that (in his account) low condi tion of compliance with the English, refusing to send an old Counsellor of his to make any motion that way, say ing he knew the Indiana would not yield ; but more probably he was not willing they should, choosing rath er to sacri6ce his own, and his people s lives, to his pri vate humour of revenge, than timely to provide for his own, and their safety, by entertaining the counsels of a peace, so necessary for the general good of all : He continuing in the same obstinate resolution, was soon af ter carried to Stonington, where he was shot to death by some of his quality, sc. the young Sachem of the Mohe- gins, and two of the Pequods of like quality. This was the confusion of a damned wretch, that had often opened his mouth to blaspheme the name of the living God, and those that make profession thereof. He was told at large of his breach of feith, and how he boasted he would not deliver up a Wampanoog, or the paring of a Wam- panoog s nail, that he would burn the English in their houses ; to which he replied, others were as forward for the war as himself: and that he desired to hear no more thereof. And when he was told his sentence was to die, he said, he liked it well, that he should die before Ibis heart was soft, or had spoken any thing unworthy of himself. He told the English before they put him to death, that the killing him would not end the war ; but It was a considerable step thereunto, nor did it live much longer after his death, at least not in those parts ; for af- THE INDIAN WARS. 163 tcr Sudbury fight, when the sun of their hopes was at its highest ; April the 18th following, it visibly declined, till it set in a night of obscure and utter darkness upon them all, as is to be feared. The inhabitants of New-London^ Norwich and Ston- ington, apprehensive of their danger, by reason of the near bordering of the enemy, and upon other prudent considerations, voluntarily listed themselves under some able gentlemen, and resolute soldiers, amongst them selves, Major Palmes, Capt. George Denison, Capt. A very, with whom, or under whom, within the compass of the year 1676, they made ten or more several expe ditions, in all which, at those several times, they killed and took two hundred and thirty-nine of the enemy, by the help and assistance of the Pequods, Mohegins, and a few friendly Narragansets ; besides thirty taken in their long march homeward, after the fort fight, Decem ber 19th, 1675 ; and besides 16 captivated in the se cond expedition, not reckoned within the campass of the said number ; together with fifty guns, and spoiling the enemy of an hundred bushels of corn. In January they went again in pursuit, and took five men and a boy. Certain Nipnets intended to have shel tered themselves under Uncas ; but he perceiving it would be distasteful -to the English, soon shabbed them off, so as they were in the beginning of the winter bro t into Boston, many of them by Peter Ephraim, and An drew Pity me, with their fellows. In all which exploits, neither they nor any of their followers sustained any loss by the sword of the enemy, 164 A NARRATIVE OP or sickness ; as is expressly declared by the Reverend Minister of Stonington, Mr. James Noyce, which is a matter very admirable to consider, engaging all that were any way concerned in such signal testimonies of divine favor, to be ready to pay her vows to the Most High, who alone teacheth the hands of his people to war, and their fingers to fight. Not long after Capt. George Denison, of Stonington, with sixty-six volunteers, and a hundred and twelve Pe- quods, killed and took seventy-six ot the enemy, amongst whom were two Narraganset Sachems, one of whom was the grand child of Pomham (who is accounted the most warlike, and the best soldier of all the Narraganset Sachems) taking at the same time 160 bushels of the enemy s corn, no small damage to our enemies at that time, and all this without the loss of one man of the said Captain s followers. The greater mischief which after this time was done by the enemy in Plymouth colony, was by burning of houses and barns, which they might easily do, the inhab itants in most of those towns being repaired to garrison houses for their greater security : For about the 20th of April, fifty of the enemy burnt about nineteen houses and barns in Situate, but were so resolutely encountered by a few of the inhabitants, that they were driven away, and thereby prevented from doing further mischief. Not long after, May 8th, they burnt about seventeen houses and barns in Bridgewater, a small town in Plym outh colony, twelve miles on this side Taunton ; but it pleased God just at the time to send a thunder-shower, THE INDIAN WARS. 166 which put out the fire, or else it might have prevailed much further. It is very remarkable, that the inhabitants of the said Bridgewater, never yet lost one person by the sword of the enemy, though the town is situate within Plymouth colony, yet they have helped to destroy many of the en emy. None knows either love or hatred by all that is before them in things of this nature ; nor ought stan- ders by that may escape, think themselves less sinners than those that perish by the sword of the enemy : Yet about this time four of the inhabitants of Taunkm were killed as they were at their work in the field, whereby it is said thirty children were made fatherless : So un searchable are the judgments of the Almighty and his ways paist finding out. During these calamities, God s dispensations have been various, as well in references unto towns and villa ges, as unto persons : As if some places have been by special providence marked out to preservation, as others unto destruction ; of which no other reason can be ren dered, than the good pleasure of God so to order and dispose of events, which some times, as Solomon says, are all one to the good, and to the clean and to the un clean. And because special notice is taken of the town of Bridgewater, which although it is feared, as it were in the midst of danger, and hafh been often assaulted by considerable numbers of the enemy, yet never lost any one of their inhabitants, young or old ; a particular ac count shall here be given of the most remarkable passa- 166 A NARRATIVE OF ges of divine providence relating to that plantation since the war began. June 26th, 1675, when Philip s malice against the English, mixed with a particular prejudice against Governor Winslow, began to boil p to the height of an open rebellion ; the people of Swanzy being likely to be distressed by the Indians, a post was instantly sent to the Governor of Plymouth, the way lying through Bridgewater ; the said post returned the next day, and about nine or ten of the clock, as he passed through the town, left an order from the Governor for the raising of twenty men, well armed, and furnished with horses, to be forthwith dispatched away for the relief of Swanzy ; seventeen were ail that could be raised on the sudden, who were sent thither that ni.ght, and were the first that were upon their march in all the country ; and possibly they fared not the worse for their forwardness : As De borah, the prophetess, blessed God for them that offered themselves willingly among the people : These seven teen of Bridgewater, were, June 21st, ordered by Capt. Bradford of Metapoiset, a place at twelve miles distance from Swanzy, to strengthen the garrison at one Bourn s house, wherein were seventy persons, amongst whom were only found sixteen men. After they had marched five miles of their way, having Mr. Brown s son for their pilot, they met with some Swanzy people, newly turned out of their houses (by which they were to pass) who having not as yet resisted unto blood, yet made doleful lamentations, wringing of their hands, and bewailing their losses, very much also persuading Bridgewater men to turn back, because of the danger, but they having so THE INDIAN WARS. 167 clear a call, had also more courage than cowardice to desert the cause of God and his people, lest they should thereby betray the lives of so many of their friends into the enemy s hands ; and so by the good hand of God towards them, came safe to Metapoiset that night. The next day in the morning, a part of them went to guard Mr. Brown, their pilot, back to his quarters ; in their return they came suddenly upon a party of In dians, about thirty in all ; they were within shot of one another, but the English having no commission to fight till they were assaulted, and not being impeded in their passage they returned safe to their garrison at Metapoi set : The Indians presently drawing off aad firing three guns (tho 5 not with intent to do them any hurt, as was conceived) gave a shout, and so left them. When this party of the English drew near to their garrison, they met with a company of carts going to fetch corn from an house deserted near by, about a quarter of a mile from Mr. Bourn s house, the soldiers gave them notice of the Indians which they discovered, and withal advised them by no means to venture any more, because of the dan ger ; they were resolved notwithstanding these earnest persuasions of the soldiers to have another turn, which they soon found to be at the peril of their own lives, six of them being presently after killed right out, or mortally wounded, as soon as they came to the barn where was the corn ; these six are said to be the first that were slain in this quarrel. The soldiers at the garrison hear ing the guns, made what haste they could to the place, but being most of them in that interim gone to look their 168 A NARRATIVE OF horses, they could not come time enough for the relief of their friends, yet upon their approach, they who had done the mischief presently fled away : One Jones, hard pursued by two Indians, was by their coming de livered from the extent of the enemy s cruelty, but hav ing his mortal wound, had only the favor thereby, to die in the arms of his friends, though by wounds received from his enemies. The next week fifteen of those soldiers looking after their horses, fell into an ambush of twenty of the Indians, but being prepared for the encounter, they discharged their guns upon each other ; but our men received no hurt, some of them felt the wind of the bullets passing by their faces ; what damage the enemy received is un certain, yet some of the English report they found some of their enemy s dead bodies in the place afterward. Thus were they not only preserved in many perils themselves, but became instrumental also for the preser vation of most of that garrison, who with their goods, by their means, with the help of a small party of Plymouth forces, sent thither after the six were killed (as is men tioned before) were soon after transported safely to Read Island. Many outrages were that summer committed upon their neighbors at Taunton and Namasket,yet it pleased God to protect this poor town of Bridge water from any I other hurt, till the beginning of Anril following:, ^hen j themselves, with their neighbors of Taunton and Reho both were strongly solid >d to desert their d^elli^s, and repair down to the towns by the sea side, but God THE INDIAN WARS. 169 encouraged them to keep their stations, notwithstanding the extreme danger then presented. It is reported that Philip gave orders that Taunton and Bridgewater should Btot be destroyed till the last, which is ail the favor to be expected from an enemy, but these things are only in the hands of God, and not to be determined by man. April 9th, being Lord s day, a small party of the en emy came down upon the said Bridgewater, burnt an out house and barn, broke up and rifled several other houses in the same quarter of the town, which are not- witstanding yet remaining ; they sent out a party of their men to pursue them that night and many day s after, but could not hear of them. May 7th, the Lord s day also (no doubt but the bet- terness of the day will increase the badness of their deed attempted thereon) they had intelligence of a great body of Indians dispersed that way, with intent to have fallen upon the town that very day, but were casually prevented by a great deal of rain that fell the night be fore ; however, they were resolved not to miss the op portunity, wherefore on the next day (May 8th) about three hundred of them, one Tisguogen being their chief leader, at 8 or 9 in the morning made an assault upon the east end of the town, on the south side of the river : Many of the inhabitants stayed at home that morning, because of the intelligence the day before, and so were the more ready to entertain them ; some not taking that warning, ventured into the field about their occasions, were in danger of surprisal, but by the special favor of Clod escaped, and came time enough te help defend 170 A NARRATIVE OF their otfn and their neighbors dwellings, being shot at; and hard pursued a considerable way. The Indians presently began to fire the town, but it pleased God so to spirit and encourage several of the inhabitants, issuing out of their garrison houses, that they fell upon them with great resolution, and beat them off; at the same instant of time, the Lord of Hosts also fight ing for them from Heaven, by sending a storm of thunder and rain very seasonably which prevented the burning of the houses which were fired : The soldiers also fight ing under the banners of God s special protection, were so successful in repelling the enemy, that none of the in habitants were killed or taken, and but one wounded. The Indians by this stout resistance, being beaten off to the skirts of the town, made a fresh onset upon another quarter thereof, on the north side of the river, where they had done much more mischief, but that God stirred up sundry of the people to venture out of their fortified houses, who fired upon the enemy, and beat them from their dwellings, so as in the evening they drew off* to an outhouse, three miles distant from the town : The next day the inhabitants expected another assault, but the en emy having burnt the house and barn where they kept their rendezvous over night, and one house more not far distant, they marched all clear away for that time. Thus it pleased God so to order his dispensations toward this small town, as a brand plucked out of the fire, that they did but just taste of this bitter cup, which others drank deeper of; yet had they not such merry, as these had, mixed therewith : Under God, the courage THE INDIAN WARS. l7l of the inhabitants was a great means of their preserva tion, for. they fired so stoutly upon the enemy, that they durst not come very near some of the garrisoned houses, saluting them only at a distance. God was eminently seen upholding the spirit of all sorts, men and women, so as no consternation of mind was seen upon any of them, during the whole time of the dispute. In this assault they lost but thirteen dwelling houses, whereof five only were in the town (the rest being out houses, and deserted for the present) with some few barns, and some of their cattle ; all which was a very inconsiderable loss, in comparison of what befel others, and themselves might endured, if God had not by his special favor, prevented. July 14th and 15th, another party of Indians came down upon the north west side of the town, but with no better success ; for they had no commission from the Lord of Hosts to touch any of the persons of the inhab itants, their power reaching only to the slaying of their cattle at this time. July 18th, 19th, and 20tb, they sent our parties af ter the enemy to pursue them by their track, who fell upon some of them. On the 20th they took sixteen, whereof two were men : On this day they had to assist them, it seems, some of the bay Indians, sent them from Capt. Brattle ; some of the captives informed that there were but seventy or eighty in the company, and but ten or twelve men amongst them : But within a few days these Bridge water men shall find better success in 172 A NARRATIVE OP pursuit of their enemies, when Philip himself shall hard- iy escape their hands, as shall be seen afterwards. While one party of the enemy thus acted their part about Plymouth colony and towards the sea coasts, oth er parties of them were not idle in the Massachusetts colony, where they assaulted many places, doing what mischief they could by firing of houses, and killing sev eral persons in the inland plantations. March 2d, they assaulted Groton ; the next day over night, Major Willard, with seventy horse came into the town ; 40 foot also come up to their relief from Water- town, but the Indians were all fled, having first burnt all the houses in the town, save four that were garrisoned, the meeting house being the second they fired ; soon after Capt. Still was sent with a small party of dragoons, of eight files, to fetch off the inhabitants of Groton, and Tvhat was left from the spoil of the enemy, having under liis care about sixty carts, being in depth from front to rear about two miles, when a party of Indians lying in ambush, at a place of eminent advantage, fired upon the front and mortally wounded two of the first carriers, who both died the next night. Had God permitted, they would have done eminent damage to the whole body, it being full an hour before they could be drawn up, which was done with care and courage ; but the Indians after a few more shot made, without doing harm, retired, and made no further assault upon them, being the same par ty of Indians which the day before had burnt some part of Chelmsford. Soon after this village was deserted and destroyed by the enemy ; yet it was a special provk THE INDIAN WARS. 1?3 dcnce, that though the carts were guarded with so slen der a convoy, yet there was not any considerable loss sustained. The surprizal of Groton was after this manner : On March 2d, the Indians came in the night and rifled eight or nine bouses, carried away some catf le, and alarmed the town. On March 9th, about ten in the morning, a parcel of Indians having two days lurked in the town, and taken possession of three out houses, and feasted themselves /with corn, and divers swine and poultry, which they there seized, lay in ambush for two carts, which went from their garrison to fetch in some hay, attended with four men, two of which espying the enemy, made a dif ficult escape, the ether two were set upon, and one of them slain, stript naked, his body mangled, and dragged into the highway, and laid on his back in a most shame ful manner : the other taken captive and afterwards sentenced to death ; but the enemy not concurring in the manner of it, execution was deferred, and he by the providence of God escaped by a bold attempt the night before he was designed to have been slaughtered, and fled to the garrison at Lancaster, the cattle in both towns wounded, and five of them slain. March 13th was the day when the enemy came in a full body, by their own account four hundred, and tho t by the inhabitants to be not many less. The town was at this time, (having been put into a fright by the sad catastrophe of Lancaster, the next bordering town) gath ered into five garrisons, four of which were so near to- 174 A NARRATIVE OF gether, as to be able to command from one to the other, between which were the cattle belonging to those fami lies, driven into pastures, which afterwards proved their preservation ; the other was near a mile distant from the rest. This morniiJg the Indians (having in the night placed themselves in several parts of the town) made their on set ; which began near the four garrisons, for a body of them having placed themselves in ambuscade, behind a hill, near one of the garrisons two of them made discov ery of themselves, as if they had stood upon discov ery. At this time diverse of the people, not suspecting any such matter (for the day before, many had been upon discovery many miles, and found no signs of an enemy being so near) were attending their occasions, some foddering their cattle, some milking their cows, of whom the enemy might easily have made a seizure, but God prevented ; they having another design in hand, as soon after appeared : These two Indians were at length espied, and the alarm given ; whereupon the most of the men in the next garrison, and some also in the second (which was about eight or nine poles distant) drew out and went to surprize those two Indians, who kept their station till our men reached the brow of the hill then arose in the ambush and discharged a volley upon them, which caused a disorderly retreat or rather a rout, in which one was slain, and three others wounded: Meanwhile another ambush had risen, and come upon the back side of the garrison so deserted of men, and pulled down the pallisadoes ; The soldiers in this rout, THE INDIAN WARS, 175 retreated not to their own, but passed by to the next garrison, the women and children mean while exposed to hazard, but by the goodness of God made a safe escape to the other fortified house, without any ,harm, leaving their substance to the enemy, who made a prey of it, ^nd spent the residue of the day in removing the corn and household stuff, (in which loss five families were im poverished) and firing upon the other garrison : Here also they took some cattle. No sooner was the signal given by the first volley of shot, but immediately in ser- eral parts of the town at once, did the smoke arise, they firing the houses. In the afternoon they used a stratagem not unlike the other, to have surprised the single garrison, but God pre vented. An old Indian passed along the street with a black sheep on his back with a slow pace, aa one de- crepid ; they made several shot at him, at which sever al issued out to have taken him alive, but the watchman seasonably espying an ambush, behind the house, gave the signal, whereby they were preveated. The night following the enemy lodged in the town, some of them in the garrison they had surprised, but the body of them in an adjacent valley where they made themselves merry after their savage manner. The next morning they gave two or three vollies at Capt. Parker s garrison, and so marched off, fearing as was thought, that supply might be near at hand. This assault of theirs was managed with their wanted subtlety and barbarous cruelty ; for they stript the body of him whom they had slain in the first onset, and then 176 A NARRATIVE OF cutting off bis head, fixed it upon a pole, looking towards his own land. The corps of the man slain the week be fore, they dug out of his grave, and cut off his head and one leg, and set them upon poles, and stript off his winding sheet. An infant which they found dead, in the house they first surprised, they cut in pieces, which af terward they cast to the swine. There were about for ty dwelling houses burnt at that time, besides other build ings. This dessolation was followed with the breaking up of the town, and scattering of the inhabitants, and re moval of the candlestick after it had been there seated above twelve years. Concerning the surprising of Groton, March 13, there was not any thing much more material than what is al ready mentioned, save only the insolence of John Mo- DOCO, or one eyed John, the chief Capt. of the Indians in that design ; who having but a sudden surprisal early in the morning, seized upon a garrison house in one end of the town, continued to it, plundering what was there ready at hand, all that day ; and at night did very fa miliarly in appearance, call out to Capt. Parker* that was lodged in another garrison house, and entertained a great deal of discourse with him, whom he called his old neighbor; dilating upon the cause of the war, and putting an end to it by a friendly peace ; yet oft mixing bitter sarcasms, with several blasphemous scoffs and taunts, at their praying and worshipping God in the meeting house, which he deridingly said he had burnt. Among other thills wbi h he boastingly uttered that night, he said he burnt Medfield, (though it be not known whether THE INDIAN WAR8. 177 he was there personally present or not) Lancaster, and that now he would burn the town of Groton, and the next time he would burn Chelmsford, Concord, Water- town, Cambridge, Charlestown, Roxbury, Boston, adding at last in their dialect, what me will, me do : Not much unlike the proud Assyrian (if his power had been equal to his pride) sometimes threatened against Jerusalem, but was by the remarkable providence of God, so con founded within a few months after, that he was bereft of his four hundred and four score (of which he now boast ed) and only with a few more braggadocios like himself, Sagamore Sam, old Jethro, and the Sagamore of Qua- baog, were taken by the English, and was seen (not long before the writing of this) marching towards the gallows (through Boston streets, which he threatened to bura at his pleasure) with a halter about his neck, with which he was hanged at the town s end, Sept. 26th, in this pre sent year, 1676. So let thine enemies perish, O Lord, and such contempt be poured on all them that open their mouths to blaspheme thy holy name. Things looked with a disagreeable face about those parts at this time, yet though the righteous fall seven times, let not their enemies rejoice, for the righteous shall rise again, but their wicked enemies shall fall into mischief, and rise no more. It was ebbing water with New-England at this time, and a while after ; but God shall turn the stream before it be long, and bring down their enemies to lick the dust before them. After this, April iTlh, Capt. Sill being appointed to keep garrison at Groton, some Indians coming to hunt 178 A NARRATIVE OF for swine, three Indians drew near the garrison houae supposing it to have been deserted, two of them were slain by one single shot, made by the Captain s own Lands, and the third, by another &hot made from the garrison. The danger which these inland towns were like to be exposed to from the enemy, after they were driven out of the Narraganset country, was foreseen by the Council of Massachusetts, yea, they had some intimation thereof from the ei emy themselves ; but they were not well able to prevent it in that unseasonable time of the year ; no way fit for marching of soldiers, and trans port) rig of pro vision (the winter then beginning to break up in this country) for while our forces were up in the Narraganset country in the winter, a couple of Christian Indians were sent as spies into the Nipnet and Narra- ganset country through the woods, in the depth of winter, when the ways were impassable for any other sort of people : These two, James and Job, ordered their bu siness so prudently, as that they were admitted into those Indian habitations as friends, and had free liberty of discourse with them ; they were at firstte little jeal ous of them ; but by the means of one eyed J&hn (a great captain of the Indians, that^Sfter wards led them that spoiled Groton, who having been a companion of one of the said spies, both in hunting, and in fighting against the Mohawks formerly ; so esteemed of hire, that he would not suffer a py of the rest to touch him) they passed through all the Indian towns lying thirty miles distant from Q^uabaog, and twenty miles northward of the road to Comiecticut. Oue of the said spies re- THE INDIAN WARS. 179 turned about the 24th of January, informing them that sent him what he had observed, both the number of the Indians (about three hundred in all) also their several towns, and what provisions they had ; plenty of venison, much pork from the Englishmen s hogs which they had taken ; they confessed also that he and some of his par* ty had killed the people at Nashaway, the last year, sus pected to have been done by the Indians of Marlborough : He told them also they intended to burn Lancaster within three weeks after that time, which accordingly they did ; adding moreover, that some Frenchmen were with them at Pocomptuck, encouraging of them to go on with their designs, promising them assist ance, which made some ready to think the In dians were stirred up by the French to do all this mischief but more of this afterwards. What might be gathered from the foresaid premises is easy to con ceive : whereupon new forces, with as much speed as the season would allow, were raised and sent into those parts, under the command of Major Savage in chief: They were flipatched away the beginning of March, and appointed to meet with such as should be sent from Connecticut colony, wiiich they did about Quabaog, and so intended to march directly up to those Indian towns about Watchuset Hill, to the northwest; but the In dians were gone, and our forces in pursuit of them tak ing the wrong path, missed of them, yet ranging through those woods, they were at one time suddenly assaulted by a small party of Indians firing upon them, wounded IMr. Gershom Bulkly, by a shot in his thigh, and killing 180 A NARRATIVE OF one of their soldiers : after which as they marched along they accidentally fell upon another small party of the enemy, of whom they slew some and took others to the number of sixteen, yet cou d not meet with the main bo dy of the enemy, who it seems bad passed over a great river by rafts, so that our men could follow them no fur ther, wherefore turning down towards Hadley and Northampton, whither it was supposed the Indians in tended to pass, they came very seasonably to the relief of the said towns, which else had been in danger of being lost. For, March 14th, the enemy fell upon Northampton, and in three places broke through the fortification of pallisa- does, set up round about the town a little before, for their better security ; but the town being at that time full of soldiers, they were quickly repulsed, after they had kill" ed feur men and two women, and fired four or five dwell ing houses, and as many barns, with the loss of many of their lives, as was supposed. While our forces under Major Savage continued OB that side of the country, a sad accident fell out at Spring field, the certainty of which it is judged meet here to re late to prevent mistakes ; the matter having through a great oversight been otherwise represented than indeed it was, not only to the prejudice of truth, but to the dis advantage of some persons concerned therein. While the soldiers were quartered at a place belonging to Springfield, called the long Meadow, three miles from the town below, toward Windsor, several of the inhabi tants having most of the winter kept from the public THE INDIAN WARS. 181 meeting on the Lord s day for fear of the enemy, were encouraged to adventure to the assembly, on the 26th of March, riding in the company of the troopers ; but hav ing heard of no Indians thereabouts a good whi" \ were more secure than they had cause ; for riding some of them with women behind them, and some with children in their arms, yet not so careful as to keep in the mid dle, but rather in the rear, and at some distance strag gling from the rest of the company, a party of Indians lying in the bushes, as they rode along, fired upon the hindmost, and killed two, and wounded others : Those in the front having also women and maids behind some of them, were at a stand to know what to do, fearing they might expose those women they had in their company, if they should ride back (in that winding road through a woody place for near a mile or two together) to look after them that were behind ; at the last, one that came riding up, told the foremost company there was no hurt, and that they were all coming : They that were before rode away with all speed to the end of the town, where setting down the women, the troopers returned back, but too late to recover two poor women, and two chil dren, who upon the first assault were thrown off their horses, and immediately hauled into the bushes, and through a swamp on the other side of a steep bank, so as they could not be heard of all that afternoon, nor the next day till toward night, although they were diligently searched after by all the troopers in and about the town ; at last when they were descried just by a swamp side, the cruel wretches endeavored to kiii them all, but in 182 A NARRATIVE OF haste only wounded them with their hatchets, yet so as one of the poor creatures recovered ; the other, with the children, died of their wounds before they were brought home, or within a little time after. They did not com- plain of any incivility toward them while they were in their power ; but by the farewell given them at their parting, they found it true by their own experience, that the tender mercies of the wicked are cruelty. There happened no other matter of moment worthy the reporting while our forces tarried in those parts, and the commanders observing that the enemy was turned back again through the woods, towards Massachusetts Bay, after a month s time retired back, yet could never meet with the enemy in their return through the woods, although while they were at the towns aforesaid, they understood of several attempts made upon Sudbury and Marlborough, the most part of the latter they destroyed March 26th, which made the inhabitants forsake their dwellings, leaving only a few houses garrisoned with sol diers, the better to secure a passage to the towns west ward upon Connecticut river. The inhabitants of Sudbury, with the soldiers under Lieutenant Jacobs, of Marlborough, sufficiently alarmed by the late mischief done about those towns, resolved to try what work they could make with the enemy in the night : whereupon going forth, March 27th, toward i morning, they discerned where the enemy lay by their fire, (near three hundred of them) and- within half a mile of a garrison house, near the place where they had done o much mischief the day before. Such was the cour- THE INDIAN WARS. 183 age and resolution of the English, though but forty in number, townsmen and soldiers, that they adventured to discharge upon them as they lay by their fires, when it was so dark that an Indian could hardly be discerned from a better man ; yet God so directing, they dischar ged several times upon them ; wounded thirty, fourteen of whom either died of their wounds the same day, or soon after, which had been chief agents in this pre sent mischief against the English. Such was the success of this skirmish that the assailants came off without the loss of a man. After this time the enemy began to scatter about in small parties, doing what mischief they could, about Mas sachusetts, killing a man at Weymouth, another at Hing- ham, as they lay skulking up and down in swamps and holes, to assault any that occasionally looked never so little into the woods : sometimes alarming the towns about Boston, by discharging the guns upon particular persons at Billerica, Braintree, and at Wreiitham, near to which place, in the road to Rehoboth, they assaulted one Woodcock s house, killed one man and one of his sons, wounded another, and burnt his son s house. Notwithstanding the little success of former attempts, Philip and his men have one piece more to play in Mas sachusetts colony, before they go off the stage, and then we shall soon see their power visibly declining every where, until their final overthrow come upon them. There were several small parties of them scattered up and down all over the country, yet the main body of them ^\s still lurking up and down in those woods tha 184 A NARRATIVE OF lie between Brookfield, Marl borough, and Connecticut river. Possibly they had some hopes of driving all the country before them to the towns upon the sea coast ; for having burnt the deserted houses at Marlborougb, April 17th, the next day they set upon Sudbury with all their might (hoping, tis probable,) to do there as they had done at the towns next beyond it. They did at the first prevail so far as to consume several houses and barns, and kill several persons, ten or twelve of the English, that came from Concord to assist their neigh bors at Sudbury, a town five miles distant from them, at the first hearing of the alarm, who unawares were sur prised near a garrison, in hopes of getting some advan tage upon a small party of the enemy that presented ihemselves in a meadow ; a great number of the Indiana that lay unseen in the bushes, suddenly rose up, and in tercepting the passage to the garrison house, killed and took them all. But our sorrows and losses that day are not yet come to their height ; for on the same day, that resolute stout hearted soldier, Capt. Wadsworth (who not long before, with not above forty men, rescued Lancaster, when it was in danger to have been all lost at once) be ing sent from Boston with fifty soldiers to relieve Marl- borough, having marched twenty-five miles and then un derstanding the enemy was gone thro the woods toward Sudbury : This wearied company, before ever they had taken any considerable rest, marched immediately back toward Sudbury (that lies ten miles nearer Boston) and-- being come within a mile of the town, they espied a par ty of Indians not far from them, about an bund- d, not THE INDIAN WARS. 185 more as they conceived, these they might easily deal with ; who retiring a while, drew Capt. Wadsworth and his company above a mile into the woods, when on a sudden a great body of the enemy appeared, about five hundred as was thought, who compassing them around, forced them to the top of an hill, where they made very stout resistance a considerable while ; but the night drawing on, and some of the company beginning to scat ter from the rest, their fellows were forced to follow them, so as the enemy taking the chase, pursued them on every side, as they made too hasty a retreat, by which accident, being so much overpowered by the enemy s numbers, they were most of them lost : The Captain himself, with one Capt. Brocldebank (a choice spirited man, much lamented by the town of Rowley to which he belonged) and some others that fell into his company aa he marched along, scarce twenty efcaping in all ; so that another Captain and his fifty men perished at that time, as brave soldiers as any ever employed in the present service. Thus as in former attempts of the like nature, too much courage and eagerness in pursuit of the enemy, hath added another fatal blow to this poor country. The same day another party of the English coming from Brookfield, whither they were sent as a convoy with provisions for the garrison, were in danger likewise of failing into the hands of the s?me Indians ; yet riding upon a good speed, and keeping iheir guns always rea dy presented against them they met, they never dursfc fire at them ; only three or four Laving unadvisedly first their guns against the enemy, and falling too a 2 186 A NARRAT1TE OP much in the rear of their company, were cut off and lost* It is reported by some that afterwards escaped, how they cruelly tortured five or six of the English that night : Yet whatever their success was this day, it was observed by some (at that time their prisoneis, and since released) that they seemed very pensive after they came to their quarters, shewing no such signs of rejoicing as they were wont to do in like cases ; wheth er for the loss of some of their own company in that day s enterprize (said to be an hundred and twenty) or trhether it was the Devil in whom they trusted that deceived them, and to whom they made their address the day before, by sundry conjurations of their powaws ? Or whether it were by any dread that the Almighty sent upon their execrable blasphemies, which it is said they used in torturing some of their poor captives (bid ding Jesus come and deliver them out of their hands from death, if he could) we leave as uncertain, though some have so reported, yet sure it is that after this day they never prospered in any attempt they made against the English, but were continually scattered and broken, till they were in a manner all consumed. After this time, however they had braved it before, they seemed to apprehend that it was scarce feasible with them to withstand the power of the English, and therefore seem ed more inclinable to a peace by several overtures made by them, if they knew how to have brought it about. For during these encounters they were willing to ad mit of some kind of treaty with the English, about the releasing of sundry of their captives, which they took at Lancaster and elsewhere : To. this end sundry at- THE INDIAN WARS. 187 tempts were made by help of several of the praying In dians (as they were called) about the redemption of some of the women and children, which were at that time in their possession, and by degrees something was effected that way ; possibly their own present sufferings and wants that were upon them, might induce them thereun to : For by this time the spring of the year came on, their provision was all spent, and they were forced to live wholly upon ground nuts, and upon flesh of the Eng lish creatures, both horse and neat cattle, which they daily plundered. The ground nuts running up to seed in the summer, begin to grow so sticky, as they were scarce eatable ; the flesh also of the English cattle prov ing unwholesome for their bodies, rilling them with sundry diseases : One of them having eaten much horse flesh, complained that he had before eaten much horse and now horse began to eat him, meaning some deadly dis ease growing upon his eating such rank flesh, unwhole some for their bodies, especially without salt, as their usual manner is. The fishing season also began to come in, wherein they used to take abundance of all sorts, with which those great rivers up the country are abun dantly stored ; they used to take thereof, and drying it in the smoak, make provision thereof for the greatest part of the year ; and if the war continued, they could not but see they should utterly be cut off therefrom ; and that if the planting season also were lost, they should be in great want of summer fruits, sc. beans and squash (besides their corn) with which they were wont to live all the latter part of the summer. Upon all coa* 188 A NARRATIVE OP siderations they seemed pretty inclinable to hearken to a peace, though some were apt to think they would never have kept it further than would stand with their own advantage, and their present desire thereof were only to gain time. A person formerly acquainted with the Indians about Lancaster, did adventure upon the forementioned over tures, to go amongst them to try if he could not prevail with them for the redemption of the minister s wife, taken captive in February last, from Lancaster, and through the favor of him who has the hearts of all in his hand, inclines them as he pleases, obtained the desired end upon- an inconsiderable sum, which gave encourage ment to *he council to send two messengers on the like errand the same week to procure the redemption of oth ers, not without success : The former, viz. Mrs. Row- landson being brought to Boston upon the election day, May 3d, it was generally looked at as a smile of pro* vidence, and doubtless was a return of prayer, and an swer of faith with which her husband had been upheld, and supported from the day of her captivity ; his two children also were returned back not long after, more by the overruling hand of God (that turns the captivity of his people as the streams of the south ; and some times inclining them to pity his servants, that are of themselves more cruel than the sea monsters) than by any contrivance of man s policy. And yet notwithstanding motions of this nature about the redemption of some of our prisoners still in their hands, there was no cessation of arms between us. THE INDIAN WARS. 189 About this time letters were sent down from Connect icut colony, informing the general Court then assembled at Boston, that some of the Mohawks (a sort of fierce and savage Indians, jet mortal enemies to those we were at war with) had fallen upon some of Philip s party, and destroyed many of them : Likewise that many of them were destroyed by fevers and fluxes, and other distem pers falling amongst them, which was some reviving to our hopes, that the foot of our enemy should slide in due time, and that destruction was hastening upon them though still they were permitted to do mischief in sun dry particular places of the country, which must be minded as we pass along. Those Indians that were our professed enemies, after they had been beaten out of the Narraganset country, February 1st, tarried a while at Winimazeag, a place two days journey north of Quabaog, where they divided themselves into two companies, one of them tarried on that side of the country, the other made toward Plym- < outh colony, taking Medfield in their way, from whence as thev marched along they met with a notable repulse 1 at Boggiston, a small hamlet, or company of farms not far from the said Medfield, where they attempted a gar- I risen, but meeting with stout resistance, they left the en- ; terpise, and kept on their way towards Plymouth Colo- 1 ny, where they scattered themselves up and down, waiting for opportunities to spoil and destroy the Eug- glish plantations on that side of the country. Besides what is already mentioned, on May IJth, a party of them assaulted the town of Plymouth, burnt 196 A NARRATIVE OF eleven bouses, and five barns belonging; thereunto : Oa the other side, a small party of the English scouting about in pursuit of the Indians, fell upon a party of them that lay waiting in ambush, but being discerned by an Indian in the company of our men that gave timely no tice, our soldiers had an opportunity thereby to make the first shot, and thereby not only prevented a mis chief to themselves, but killed also some of the enemy (one of whom was observed to be of more note than his fellows, by his attire) the rest fled away from them that pursued, though but a small company ; so that there was daily reciprocal acts of hostility in those parts. Withiu a few days after this, seven houses and two barns more were burnt by the enemy in and about Plymouth ; who did the fike mischief about the same time to the remaining houses of Namasket or Middlebo- rough. About this time another sort of Indians that belong ed to Wamesit, a place near Chelmsford, bordering up on Merrimack, (who had been provoked by the rash, unadvised, cruel acts of some of the English, about Oct. t2?!h, and Nov. 4th, had fired upon them several guns, both at Chelmsford and Woburn, killing some, and wounding others, upon suspicion that the said Indians were guilty of burning a barn and hay stack not far off) suddenly turned our enemies, after the winter was over ; having first withdrawn themselves from the place as signed them, and where they had been relieved all the winter (some of them after a former revolt) and took their opportunity to fire Mr. Falconer s house in Aa- THE INDIAN WARS. .clover town, early that spring, and wounded one Roger Narks, and killed his horse. Two more houses about Shawskin, bsyond the said AndoTer, were burnt about March 10th : Also they killed a young man of the said town, April 8th, the son of George Abbot ; and another son of his also was carried away the same day, who, notwithstanding, was returned some few months after, almost pined to death with hunger. At the same time they killed some of their cattle, cutting out only the tongues of some of them for haste, being shot at by several of the inhabitants from their garrison. March 10th, at Concord, two men going for hay, one of them was killed. At Chelmsford, the said Wamesit Indians, about March 18th before, fell upon some houses on the north side of the river ; burnt down three or four that belonged to the family of Edward Colburn : the said Colburn, with Samuel Varnham, his neighbor, being pursued, as they passed over the river to look after their cattle on that side of the river ; and making several shots against them, who returned the like again upon the said Indians, judged to be about forty ; what success they had upon the enemy, was best known to themselves ; but two of Varnham s sons were slain by the enemy, shot before they could recover the other side of the riv er. April 15th, also, were fourteen or fifteen houses burnt there. Not long before this, February 1st, 1676, Thomas Eames, that kept a farm at Sudbury, whose dwelling was three or four miles out of town, had his house as- 192 A NARRATIVE OF aaulted and fired, his wife killed, and his children car* ried captive among the Indians. Also two men were killed at a farm about Concord, Isaac and Jacob, about the middle of February, and a youcg maid that was set to watch upon a hill, of about fifteen years of age, was carried captive, who strangely escaped away upon an horse that the Indians had taken from Lancaster a little before. In the like strange man ner did one of Eames children escape away about May 3d last, travelling thirty miles alone in the woods, with out any relief till he came to an English town. Eames* house was assaulted when he was from home, by an In* dian called Netus, not long after slain at Marlborough, which had been very familiar with the English, with nine or ten more of his company, as perfidious and bar barous as himself. They burned all the dwellings that belonged to the farm, corn, hay and cattle, besides the dwelling houses with what was therein ; it is possible those at Concord were killed by the same hands about a fortnight after. Many such like remarkable instances of special pro vidences might be mentioned, if it were convenient to insert such particular passages into the general narrative of the late troubles with our barbarous enemies. On May 3d a party of them killed a man at Haverhill, upon the edge of Merrimack River, and passing over the said River Jo Bradford, spoiled another family, kill ing one Thomas Kimball, and carrying his wife and five children captive, forty miles up into the woods ; although it was questioned whether this last mischief was done by THE INDIAN WARS. 193 any of Philip s party, but rather by some that belonged to the eastward Indians, of which there may be occa sion, God willing, to speak more of afterward. v For the suppressing these insolences, several compa nies of fresh soldiers, both horse and foot, were raised in Massachusetts by the Governor and Council of that colony, and sent out to suppress the common enemy ; the foot under the command of Captains Still, Cutler and Holbrook ; the horse under the command of Captains Brattle, Prentice and Henchman, the last of which was commander in chief. These several companies model led as aforesaid, were sent out, April 27th, 1676, to range the woods towards Hassanamesit. The 6th of May they met with a considerable party of the enemy ; they were first discovered by the Natick scouts pursuing a bear, and at the first not discerning that the Natick Indian scouts belonged to our men, it gave some advantage to our forces ; our horsemen fall ing upon them before they were aware, killed and took of the enemy about 16, which they took no notice of at the present, although it was confessed by themselves that they lost twenty in that encounter. It was report ed that the sounding of a trumpet without order did much hurt, but the commander in chief affirmeth that it was no disadvantage to the service in hand, it neither being heard by our own foot, nor yet by the eaeiuy, If any error was committed by the Engliih companies, it was that the horse did not timely enough draw doirn from the top of the hill, whereby they cam* to be dis covered by the enemy, who thereupon made the more ft 194 A NARRATIVE OF haste to escape ; however, it was no small loss to the enemy, some of the slain being known to be considera ble persons ; and it struck such a terror into them that they never durst face our men afterwards ; for although after our men returned to their quarters at Medfield, they saw two hundred fires in the night, yet they could never come near them again to fight any company of them ; but the season proving rainy hindered any fur ther pursuit of them at that time. And soon after this the soldiers being visited with sickly distempers by rea son of an epidemical cold at that time prevailing through the country, they were for the present released for the recovery of their health, with intent to be called togeth er a^ain at a more convenient time ; this was done the 10th of May. During this interval of time, upon a report that a par ty of the enemy were discovered about Rebob >th, busy in fishing in a river thereabouts, Capt. Brattle was sent up about the 23d of May, who with the help of same of the inhabitants, killed 11 or 12 of them, without the loss of but one of our men. Had they not discov ered some of ours on the opposite shore, it was conceiv ed a greater spoil might have been made amongst them. But in the next place we must take notice of the pro ceedings of the enemy about Connecticut. The great est body of them made towards Plymouth colony early in the spring, as was said before, where we shall leave them for the present, and observe what the remaining part of them did westward. Some scattering parties were skulking a^out Spring- THE INDIAN WARS. 195 field and those lower towns, upon a small number of whom Capt. Holyoke (newly chesen Captain of Spring field, in the room of his father lately deceased) handsel led his office early in the spring ; for having notice of some of them in those woods, he marched after them with ten or twelve resolute young men, and waiting his opportunity, surprised them near the great river so that two or three of them were left dead upon the place ; another mortally wounded got on an Island in the river, where it is concluded he took his last night s lodging. The other being sorely wounded was taken alive and brought home to Springfield, where he confessed many things to one of the inhabitants that understood their lan guage, owning the truth in many things against his own company, and soon after died of his wounds. This was but a preparative to an higher piece of ser vice which Capt. Holyoke was soon after engaged in, and wherein he acquitted himself beyond expectation, and taking more pains than ordinary in making his re treat, he got a surfeit, which ended his days the Septem ber following, near Boston. About the beginning of April likewise, some of the inhabitants about Hadley,attending their tillage at Hock- anum, within three miles of the town, and having a guard of soldiers with them, yet three of the company were casually slain by a party of the enemy that lay in wait for such an opportunity. One of them was Mr. Good man, a deacon of the church, that went a little beyond the command of the soldiers that came to guard them, to view the fence of his own laud, and two others, that 196 A NARRATIVE OP contrary to express orders would venture upon the top of an high hill near by, to take a needless and unseason able view of the country, were shot down by the enemy before they could recover their corps du guard. But the great company of the enemy that stayed on that side of the country, and about Watchuset hills, when the rest went towards Plymouth, though they had been disappointed in their planting by the death of Ca- iionchet, were loth to lose the advantage of the fishing season then coming in ; wherefore, having seated them selves near the upper falls of Connecticut river, not far from Deerfield, and perceiving that the English forces were now drawn off from the lower towns of Hadley and Northampton, now and then took advantage to plunder 3bem of their cattle, and not fearing any assault from our soldiers, grew a little secure, while they were upon their fishing design, insomuch that a couple of English lads lately taken captive by the enemy, and making their es cape, acquainted their friends at home how secure they lay in those places, which so animated the inhabitants of Hadley, Hatfield and Northampton, that they being wil ling to be revenged for the loss of their cattle, besides other preceding mischiefs, took up a resolution with what strength they could raise among themselves (partly out of garrison soldiers, and partly of the inhabitants) to make an assault upon them, which if it had been done with a little more deliberation, waiting for the coming of supplies, expected from Hartford, might have proved a fata! business to all the said Indians : yet was the victo ry obtained more considerably than at first was appre- THE INDIAN WARS. 19? r f^r rot h-avma: ranch above an hundred and fitly fu r IB tiiHr company, they marched above twenty miles silently in the dead of the ni.Jit, May 18tb, and came upon the said Indians a little before break of day, whom they found almost in a dead sleep, without any scouts abroad, or watching about their wigwams at home ; for in the evening they had made themselves merry with new milk and roast beef, having lately driv en away many of their milk cows, as an English woman confessed that was made to milk them. When they came near the Indians rendezvous, they alighted off their horses, and tied them to some youug trees at a quarter of a mile distance, so marching ap, they fired briskly into their wigwams, killing many upon the place, and frighting others with the sudden alarm of their guns, and made them run into the river where the swiftness of the stream carrying them down a steep fall, they perished in the waters, some getting into canoes (small boats made of the bark of birch trees) which proved to them a Charon s boat, being sunk, or overset by the shooting of our men, delivered them in to the like danger, the waters giving them thereby a passport into the other world : Others of them creeping for shelter under the banks of the great river, were es pied by our men and killed with their swords : Capt. Holyoke killing five young and old, with his own hands, from under a bank. When the Indians were first awak ed with the thunder of their guns, they cried out Mo hawks, Mohawks, as if their own native enemies had been upon them ; but the dawning of the light soon no- R 2 198 A NARRATIVE OF ti fieri tMem of their error, though it could not prevent their danger. 8uch as came back spake sparingly of the number slain ; some say they could not in reason be less than two or three hundred of them that must necessarily per ish in the midst of so many instruments of destruction managed against them with such disadvantages to them- sdves. Some of their prisoners afterwards owned that they lost above 300 in that camisado, some whereof w*re principal men, Sachems, and some of their best fighting men that were left, which made the victory more considerable than otherwise it would have been ; nor did they seem ever to recover themselves after this de feat, but their ruin immediately followed upon it.* Yet such was the awful hand of Providence in the close of this victory, mixing much bitter with the sweet that it might well be called a costly victory to the conquerors, that so no flesh should glory in itself. The Indians that lay scattered on both sides of the jiver, after they recovered themselves and discovered the small number of them that assailed them, turned 3iead upon the English, who in their retreat were much disordered for want of the help of the eldest Captain ihat was so enfeebled by sickness before he set out, that 3ie was no way able for want of bodily strength (not any * TH^e was but one of our men killed in the engagement : their loss follpwing was owing to the report of a captain taken, who said "Philip fras near with 1000 men : word was then given for every man to shift for him&etf ; a panic seized theoien, who instantly fled in THE INDIAN WARS. 199 way defective for want of skill or courage) to assist or direct in making the retreat : For some of the enemy fell upon the guards that kept the horses, others pursued them iu the rear, so that our men sustained very much damage as they retired, missing after their returns thirty eight of their men ; and if Capt. Holyoke had not play ed the man at a more than ordinary rate, sometimes in the front, sometimes in the flank and rear, at a fatal bu siness to the assailants, our loss would have been still greater. The said Captain Holyoke s horse was shot down under him, and himself ready to be assaulted by many of the Indians, just coming upon him, but discharg ing his pistols upon one or two of them, whom he pre sently dispatched, and a friend coming to his rescue, he was saved, and so carried off the soldiers without any further loss. It is confidently reported by some that were there present at this engagement, that one told above an hundred Indians left dead upon the place ; and another affirmed that he told near an hundred and forty swimming down the falls, none of which were observed to get alive to the shore save one. The loss that befel our men in the retreat was occasioned principally by the bodily weakness of Capt. Turner, unable to manage his charge any longer, yet some say they wanted powder which forced them to retire as fast as they could by Capt Turner s order. It is also said by one present at the fight, that seven or eight in the rear of the English through haste, missed their way, it being a cloudy dark morning, and were never heard of again ; and without doubt fell into the Indian s bauds, and it is feared som 200 A NARRATIVE OP of them were torturer]. About seven days after this they had a mind to try the chance of war again, and see if tl*ey could not recover their loss by returning the like upon the English : For, May 30th, a great number of them (supposed to be six or seven hundred) appeared before Hatfield, fired about 12 houses and barns without the fortification of the town ; a number of houses in the centre of the town were surrounded with palisadoes ; these were attacked in the day time, when the men were all out in the fields, except one aged man ; they drove away multitudes of their cattle and sheep, spreading themselves in the mead ow near the town ; which bravado so raised the courage of their neighbors at Hadley that twenty-five resolute young men ventured over the river to relieve Hatfield in this distress, who charged the enemy with such un daunted courage and resolution CAudacesfortuvajuvat) that they beat down five or six at the first shot they made ; so making way through the thickest of their ene mies, that lay ready to take aim at them behind every tree as they passed by f yet they escaped all their shot till they came within a little of the town, where they lost five of their number. The enemy being amazed at the resolution of our men, being but so small a handful, that they fled imme diately from the town ; having lost twenty five of their men in the enterpiize. The Council of Massachusetts gathering by these proceedings of the Indians, that their desire of peace was only to gain time, ordered that the forces raised before April 27th, and for a time released, THE INDIAN WARS. 201 should be hastened out again to range the woods towards Hadley, and those parts, made an agreement with Hart ford colony to send forces from thence to meet them about Brookfield, and so to scout along on both sides Connecticut, to disresl the enemy what they could, and keep them from fishing in those waters, their hope of planting being now almost over. To this end, about May 30th, 1676, the forces under Capt. Henchman were called together again, and sent to Brookfield, to meet with those expected from Hartford colony ; in the way, ours by direction of Tom Doublet (a Natic Indian, who was a little before employed in the redemption of captives) following tracks of Indians, came upon a party of the enemy fishing in Weshacom ponds, towards Lan caster, of whom they killed seven, and took twenty-nine, mostly women and children ; yet belonging to consider able persons, it made the success the more to be valued. Our forces being by this means retarded, could not meet with those ef Connecticut at Brookfield, but followed them the week after ; having first returned from Wesha- eom, to Marlborou^h to supply themselves with ammu nition, and so marched directly towards Hadley, where they met with Connecticut forces ; and from thence ac cording to mutual agreement, ours marched on the east side of the river, and Connecticut forces to the west up towards Squakeag (now Nortbfleld,) corning to Deer- field, and the great falls thereabouts, they sent up their scouts, but not hearing of the enemy, they marched up no higher, being in no good capacity to have gone fur ther if there had been occasion, by reason of a tedious 202 A NARRATIVE OF storm of rain which occasioned much damage in their ammunition and provision. While our forces lay about Deerfield, some of our soldiers ranging, lighted upon the body of Capt. Turner, about Green s river, in passing of which stream he was supposed to have received his mortal wounds. While our forces continued thereabouts, they did the enemy some little spoil, in seizing much of their fish and goods stolen from the English, and hid in their barns under ground ; conjecturing aho that they found four or five places where some of the English had been tortured to death by cruel burning, after they had been fastened between stakes set in the ground ; but not meeting with any of the enemy, they all returned home, conceiving that having been forced from their quarters in those parts, they were drawn down lower towards the English plan tations eastward, viz. Plymouth and Massachusetts. What success Capt. Henchman s forces had in their re tiring homeward, and what they observed of the motion of the Indians, may be seen in a letter of his dated Juna 30th : " Our scouts brought intelligence that all the Irdians were in a continual motion, some toward Nar- raganset, others toward Watchuset, shifting gradually, and taking up each others quarters, and lay not above a night in a place. The twenty-seven scouts brought in two squaws, a boy, and a girl, giving account of five slain. Yesterday they brought in an old fellow, broth er to a Sachenvsix squaws and children, having killed five men, and wounded others, if not killed them, as they supposed, by the blood found in the way, and an hat THE INDIAN WARS. 203 shot through. These and the others inform that Philip & the Narragansets were gone several days before to their own places, Philip s purpose being to do what mischief he could to the English. By advice I drew out a com manded party under the conduct of Capt Sill, viz. six teen files of English, all my troops, and the Indians, ex cepting one file, being all we could make provision for, for what with the falling short of the bread prom ised us, and a great deal of that we had proving mouldy, the rest of the forces had but one biscuit a man to bring them to this place : This party was ordered towards Watchuset, and so to Nashaway and the Washakem ponds, where we have notice Indians were, and so to return unto this place : whereby your honors letters that came to me yesterday morning, I understood that pro vision was ordered for us and which we found to our great relief, which we met with last night coming hither, weary and hungry. The commanded party we left at Q,uonsiqomon where they intended to stay a while for the last scouts we sent out : Eleven prisoners we had in all, two of the eldest by council we put to death, the other nine the Commissary is ordered to convey to Bos ton, with the baggage, horses, and some of their attend ants not fit for the service. DANIEL HENCHMAN." It plainly appears by the contents of the said letter, as well as by many other testimoaies, that about this time the Indians, our enemies, who hitherto had been linked together as brethren in iniquity and cruelty were now strangely divided and separated the one from the A NARRATIVE OF other ; some impute it to an assault made upon them by the Mohawks, who falling upon Philip with the inland Indians, slew about fifty of them ; whereupon those of Philip s company resolved to return to their own coun try, and do what mischief they could to the English thereabouts : this was reported by an Indian brought to Seaconk, June 29, 1676, taken at Providence. Others are ready to think that it was upon some quar rel amongst themselves, occasioned by an evil spirit sent from God upon them, that Iherrby they might, being scattered, the more easily be taken and ruined by the English, now that the time of vengeance was come when they shall be called to an account for all their for mer outrages and cruelties ; for now is the snare hast ening upon them wherein they shall be hampered in their own devices so to be taken and destroyed. It cannot but be acknowledged as a very remarkable pro vidence, that Capt. Henchman in his late expedition to HadSey, killed and took about 84 of the enemy, with out the loss of any one of his own men ; the like favor able success happened to Major Talcot in his passage from Norwich to Quabaog, as was said before, and soon after his return. But by the time our forces were returned home as far as Sudbury, they were ordered, upon the solicitation of the Governor of Plymouth, two companies of them at least, to march away immediately to Dedham, and so to Seaconk or Rehoboth, to join Major Bradford in the pursuit of Philip, who was it seems with m.-iry -hun dreds of his barbarous followers fallen upon tiie J THE INDIAN WARS. 205 plantations there abouts, and whither also a little before, Capt. Brattle with a troop of horse, and Capt. Mosely with a company of foot, were sent up from Boston to pursue after them, now flocking in great numbers to those woods. There was at this time no small hopes of surprising Philip ; several reports being brought that he was seen in this and that place, not having above twenty or thirty men attending on him ; but his time was not yet fully come, nor had he as yet fully accom plished all that mischief he was like to be suffered to do : For on the 1st of July, 1676, a party of his IniHans committed a horrid and barbarous murder upon Mr. Hezekiah Willet, of Swanzy, an hopeful young gentle man as any in those parts. They used frequently to keep a sentinel on the top of their house from a watch house built thereon, whence they could discover any Indians before they came near the house, but not hearing of the enemy in those parts for a considerable time, that ne cessary piece of circumspection was omitted that day, whereby that deserving person was betrayed into their cruel hands ; for within a quarter of an hour after he went out of his own door, within sight of his house, he was shot at by three of them at once, from every one of whom he received a mortal wound ; they after their barbarous manner took off his head, and carried it away with them (which however was soon after recovered) leaving the trunk of his body behind, as a sad monu ment of their inhuman cruelty. The same Indians, not being above thirty in number, took away a negro belong- ii/g to the same family, who being faithful to his master s A NARRATIVE OF and the country s interest, ventured his life to make his escape, which was the preservation of many others ; for the said aegro being; a little acquainted with their Ian- guage, discovered to the English after his escape, Phil- ip s purpose to seize such and such places : In the first place to assault Taunton, which in all probability had been in great danger, if their treacherous plots and pur poses had not so wonderfully been made known before hand. The said negro affirmed, that there was near a thousand of them ; for he observed that although they killed twenty head of neat cattle over night, yet there was not any part of them left the next day at eight o clock in the morning. By this special providence the enemy was defeated of their purpose, and never after had any opportunity of doing any considerable damage to the English in that part of the country. So, after this day, we may truly date the time of our deliverance, and beginning of revenges upon the enemy ; now is their own turn come, when it shall be done unto them \ as they have done unto us : they that before led others into captivity, must henceforth go into caplivity them selves : and they that killed with the sword must themselves be killed with the sword,, as in the se- sequel oi r tbis narrative will abundantly be manifest: the history of which before we shall any further pursue, we must a little while wait upon our friends (those forces sent from Connecticut) in their return back into their own colony ; before it be done, some things should be premised concerning the occasion of their coming, and the success that did ttend them in their march thither. THE INDIAN WAKS. 207 Our friends and brethren of that they colony, altho had never actually felt half of those miseries that befel the people of the other two, yet never denied their as sistance to the suppressing of the common enemy, yea, sometimes they did offer it, before it was expressly de sired, according to the tenor of the articles of confeder ation and rules of common prudence ; considering that if the fire of this war was not timely extinguished it would endanger their own fabrick ; therefore according to agreement, the council of that colony ordered their suc- cesiful commander, Mtjor Talcot, to meet our fcrcei at Q,uabaog, or BrookCeld, in order to the pursuing of the enemy iu those parts. In the way as they were march ing from Norwich thither, divine Providence so far smil ed upon the enterprise, as t give them an opportunity to iurprize 51 of the enemy, of whom 19 were slain, without the loss of any one of their own company, which could not but much enhance the price of the vic tory to the conquerors. The like success had their friends which they left behind (the volunteers gathered out of three towns by the &ea side, New-London, Sfon- ington and Norwich) and who were some of them releas ed by Major Talcot, when he first began his march, that they might better in the absence of the army guard their own towns ; for before the return of their forces under Major Talcot to that side of the country, they had made two expeditions against their enemies, the Narragarisets, that were skulking up and down on that sir!e of the coun try, in one of which they killed and took abore 30, the of whom being men, are said to have been slain by 208 A NARRATIVE OF them. In the other 45, the most of whom probably were women and children, but being all young serpents of the same brood, the subduing or taking so many, ought to be acknowledged as another signal victory and pledge of divine favor to the English. But to return, it was not without the special direction of Providence that those Hartford forces were sent to those western towns a week before those of Massachusetts could get thither ; for otherwise one or more of those towns might have been lost ; seeing that on the ]2th of June, soon after, if not the next day after they arrived there, the enemy, as if resolved to try the utmost of their power, violently assaulted the town of Hadley, with a body of about 700 men, at five or six o clock in the morning laying in ambush at one end of the town, while the greater part of them were alarming the other ; but the Connecticut forces being at that time quartered ia the towns thereabouts, (who were English, and friendly In dians, Pequcds and Mohegins, about 500 in all) that were ready at hand, besides those that Lad been quar tered there ever since March, who had been left by Major Savage when he left those parts under the com mand and charge of Capt. Turner, slain at the great falls, as is noted before, but since commanded by Captain Swain. These by their joint and ready assistance, wherein the fence of palisadoes surrounding the town was no little advantage, gave the Indians such a smart repulse, that they found the place too hot for them to abide It ; for the soldiers or townsmen within firing a piece of ordnance, so affrighted the savages, or a party of them THE INDIAN WARS. 209 against whom it was discharged, that although thej had just before surprised and possessed an house at the north part of the town, yet they instantly fled leaving some of their dead upon the place ; nor did they any considera ble mischief with all their numbers, save firing a barn about that end of the town and killing two or three of the soldiers, or two daring inhabitants, who would against express order, venture to go without the fortification. It was accounted by some that were present near the time of that assault, a great oversight that having so fair an opportunity to chace the enemy upon so coniiderable advantage, it was let slip, and not improved, for Connect icut soldiers being all, or most of them furnished with horses, they might have been soon overtaken, and many of them destroyed, but God hid it from their eyes. The commander in chief, it is said, quartered at one end of the town, (Hatfield was then within the limits of Hadley) on the west side of the river, and did not apprehend the advantage till the season was over ; nor was any such thing as an assault expected from the enemy so early in the morning ; it being a general observation heretofore, that they seldom or ever used to make any attempts in the night ; part of which could not but be improved in. way of preparation for such a design. But the Lord of Hosts wbo is wise in council, and wonderful in working, will find some other way to destroy our enemies, where in the hand of his providence should more remarkably be seen, that so no flesh should glory in its own wisdom or strength, but that talvatiou might appear to be from the Lord alone. The rest of this month was spent S 2 210 A NARRATIVE OF without any other matter of moment happening therein. The Governor and Council of Massachusetts, taking into serious consideration the many merciful occurren ces that had returned upon us, notwithstanding the mix ing of many dispensations of a contrary nature, thought themselves bound to make some public acknowledg ment thereof, to him whose name alone is worthy to be praised. The 29th of June was set apart as a day of public Thanksgiving to God, who had remembered his people thus in their low estate. And that matter of Thanksgiving might not be wanting at the day appoint ed, the very day before were most of our English cap tives brought back from the Indians, and many more soon after to the number of 16, whose mouths might then well be filled with laughter, and their tongues with singing, both of themselves and all that were any way concerned in their welfare. And as this day appointed for solemn and public Thanksgiving was ushered in by several special mercies, so also was it followed with many remarkable benefits. For besides the preserving the town of Northampton, March the 14th, and Hadley June the 12th, by the timely sending our forces the very night before they were assaulted ; the saving of the people of Marlboro* from being cut off, was very observable, when Mr. Graves by occasionally going from the sermon with the extremity of the toothache, March 26th, discovered the Indians ready to assault the town, and the people might fcave been cut off, kad not tua accident happened. It is certain that after the end of this month, the power of THE INDIAN WARS, the enemy began every where to fail ; for the body of the enemy that had lurked about Connecticut river all this spring, being visited with sundry diseases, disap pointed of the fishing, and put by their planting, began to be at variance among themselves ; the HadSey and Pocumtuck (now Deerfield) Indians quarrelling with Philip for bringing all this mischief about, and occasion ing the English and them to fall out, with whom they had always good correspondence, and lived lovingly to gether, but now they were like to be ruined by the war. This quarrel proceeded to that height, that from that time forward, those several Indians that had for so long a time been combined together, resolved now to part, and every one to shift for themselves, and return to their own homes ; Philip to Mount- Hope, and the Narragansets to their own country again r the Nipnets and the river Indians bending their course westward, others north ward, towards Pennicook, upon Merimack, intending to shift for themselves as well as they could for the future ; all which is like to be the real and true state of the case with the Indians which were our enemies ; for the next news we heard of Philip, was that he had returned back to Mount Hope, now like to become Mount Misery unto him and his vagabond crew, and that his friends and al lies that had hitherto stood as neuters, waiting only which way the scale of success and victory would turn, began now to sue for mercy at the hands of the English : The Massachusetts government having understood some thing of this nature, put forfb a declaration, that whatso ever Indians should within fourteen days next ensuing, 212 A NARRATIVE OP come in to the English, might hope for mercy. Amongst sundry that came in, there was one named James, the printer, the superadded title distinguishing him from oth ers of that name ; who being a notorious apostate, that had learned so much of the English as not only to read , and write, but bad attained likewise some skill in print ing, (and might have attained more had he not like a false villain ran away from his master before his time was out) he having seen and read the said declaration of the English, did venture himself upon the faith thereof, and came to sue for his life ; he affirmed with others that came along with him, that more Indians had died since this war began, of diseases (such as at other times they used not to be acquainted with) than by the sword of the English. Not long after many of them came and offered them selves, to the number of near two hundred, men, women and children ; and many more would have done the like ; but their consciousness of guilt made them conclude that their cruelties and barbarous murders could never be forgotten by the English. But what occurrences happened next shall appear in their order. About the end of June news was brought to Boston that Philip with a small party of his men lurked about Swanzy or Rehoboth, and that he might easily be taken ; an In dian offering to bring them to the phce where they might find him ; whereupon soldiers were instantly sent away from Boston, who spent some time in searching all the woods on that side of the country, but at last were forced to return, having missed our soldiers upon the THE INDIAN WARS. 213 same account, under Major Bradford, who by the help of some Indians of Cape Cod, always true to the interest of the English, not only escaped an ambush laid for them, whereby most of them might have been cut off, but slew many of those that laid in wait for them, without any loss to themselves ; yea further, a squaw Sachem of Seaconet, one of Philip s allies, having first sent three messengers (o the Governor of Plymouth, to sue for life and liberty, promising submission to their government on that condition ; but understanding that Plymouth forces were abroad, before her messengers returned, she with her people, about ninety in number, rendered themselves unto Major Bradford, so that above one hundred and ten, on a moderate computation, were kill ed that day. The Connecticut forces had the like success when Bent into the Narraganset country under the command of the wonderfully successful Major Talcot, Capt. George Benison, and Capt. Newbury, with other worthy com manders of the said forces : For, on the 2d of July, 1676, as the said commanders with the forces under them were pursuing the enemy in and about the Nar raganset country towards Mount llop^, hearing that Philip with his regiment ci Wampanoogs was there abouts, their Indian scouts from the top of an hill dis covered a great number of the enemy that had newly pitched their station within the semicircle of a swamp. The English soldiers were all mounted on horseback, to the number of three hundred ; wherefore the com manders ordered the Indians to be ready at the top of 214 A NARRATIVE OF a bill, upon a signal given to run down rapidly upon the enemy, who were securely lodged in the hollow of a swamp juit opposite them, while the horsemen being di vided into two squadrons to ride round the hill, so that at tbe same instant both the horsemen upon the two wings, and the Indians a foot rushing down SLcldcniy upon the enemy, pot them into a terrible flight, making a lamentable outcry, soroe getting into the swamp, the rest that were prevented by the horse-, men and friendly Indians coming so suddenly upon them, were all taken prisoners ; C&pt. Newbury with his troop alighted from their horses ran into the swamp after them, where they killed at leant an hundred, as was judged by some then preient, taking also many prisoners out of those habitations of darkness, the enemy tcarce daring to make any resistance ; for none of the English, and but one or two of the Mohegins and Pequods were hurt in the assault ; yet it was affirmed by a captain present on the place that with those they killed and took at Warwick neck on their return home, (which were not above sixty) that they killed and took of the enemy at that time above $000 young and old. At the same time was taken the old Squaw of Narraganset colony, called the old Queen. They were nrcessited with this booty to return homewards to gratify the Mohegin and Pequod Indians that accompanied them, who had done them very good service in the pursuit, having lost one or two of their men in tbe chase ; but their return home was as it prov ed in the issue, more beneficial than their longer stay THE INDIAN WARS. 215 might have been, to have made a fruitless pursuit after Philip, (whose time was not yet come, although hasten ing a pace) for in their return they met 60 of the ene my, all of whom they slew acd took, so as their sword returned not empty. Among the prisoners then taken was a sprightly young fellow, seized by the Mohegins, who desired of the English commanders that he might be delivered into their hands, that they might put him to death in their ! own way, and sacrifice him to their cruel genius of re- I venge, in which brutish and devilish passion they most of all delighted in. Tbe English, though not delighted !in blood, yet at this time were not unwilling to gratify their humor, lest by a denial they might disoblige their Indian friends, of whom they lately made so much use partly also that they might have occular demonstration of the savage, barbarous cruelty of the heathen. And indeed, of all the enemies that have been the subject of the preceding narrative, this villain does most deserve to become an object of justice and severity ; for he bold ly told them that he had with his gun dispatched 19 of the English, and that he had charged it for the 20th, hut not meeting with- another, and un willing to lose a fair shot, he let fly at a Mohegin, and killed him ; with which having completed his number he was fully satisfied. But, as is usually said, justice vindictive hath iron hands, though leaden feet this mo$ister is fallen into the handi of those that will repay him seven fold. In the first place therefore, making a great circle, they placed hioi in the middle that all their eyes might at the same time 216 A NARRATIVE OF be pleased with the utmost revenge upon him ; they first cut one of his fingers round in the joint, at the trunk of his hand with a sharp knife, and then broke it off, as was formerly the custom to do with a slawghtered beast before he is uncased ; then they cut off another, and another after that till they had finally dismembered one hand of all its digits, the blood sometimes spirting out in streams a yard from his hand ; which barbarous and unheard of cruelty the English were not able to bear, it forcing tears from their eyes, yet did not the unhappy victim ever relent or shew any signs of anguish ; for, being asked by his tormentors how he liked the war ? he replied he liked it very well, and found it as sweet as Englishmen do their sugar. In this frame he continued till his executioners had dealt with the toes of his feet as they had done with the fingers of his hands before ; all the time making him dance round the circle, and sing till he had weaned both himself and them. At last they broke the bones of his legs, after which he was forced to sit down, which it is said he silently did, till they knocked out his brains, Within a few days after, 200 of the enemy within Plymouth jurisdiction being distressed with famine and fear of danger, came and submitted themselves to the government there; but three of the company were pre sently detected of a cruel murder, and villainous assault upon one Mr. Clark s house of Plymouth, by a well minded squaw that was among them (hoping that possi bly such a discovery would b* pleasing to the English) and accordingly adjudged forthwith to undergo condign THK INDIAN WARS. punishment, which the rest that surrendered themselves, did not in the least resent ; such kind of villains being always exempted from acts of favor and mercy. Those 200 that had newly surrendered themselves, that they might give full proof of their fidelity, offered to lead a party of the English to a place not far off, where twenty more of the enemy might be surprised, amongst whom also was one known to be a bloody murderer of an Eng lishman the year before ; accordingly 8 Englishmen, took 14 of the said Indians, and the next day brought in all the aforesaid 20 of the enemy, together with the said murderer, who was presently after executed, and the rest taken into favor. It is affirmed also that five or six Sachems of Cape Cod, towards the eastern part of it, came with 300 In dians to make peace with the English, on the 6th July, one of the said Sachems earnestly desiring the English that none of them might be suffered to sell any strong liquors to the Indiana, the trading of which, possibly both in a measure contributed to the present mischief. The next day, July 7th, a small party of ours, with a i few friendly or Christian Indians with them, killed and , took seven of the enemy in the woods not far from Ded- : ham, one of which was a Narraganset Sachem, who ei- I ther himself informed, or by some other at that time i certain intelligence was brought to Boston, that some ! of ourenev.iy Indians had got to Albany, informing peo ple there, that they might the more easily get powder and ammunition, that the English and they were now at peace. T 218 A NARRATIVE OF One of the said Indians was the Sachem of Spring field, a bloody and deceitful villain ; it is hoped that he is now taken in the snare from whence he shall not be suffered to escape. Philip by this time could not but think his ruin was near at hand ; yet that he might, in imitation of him that stirred up all this mischief, express the more wrath because he knew his time was but short, intended if pos sible to destroy one more town before his overthrow came ; wherefore on the llth of July, with all the force he could get, or that he had left, he intended to set upon Taunton, having as was conceived, many hundreds in his company ; but his design being strangely discov ered by a negro whom they had taken captive a little before, that having lived near the Indians before, under stood much of their language, who making; his escape from them, acquainted the inhabitants with the plot ; who having timely notice, furnished themselves with soldiers, whereby they were able to repulse the enemy upon his first approach ; so that he only fired two hou ses, and then fled away : Except the Lord keepeth the city the watchman watcheth in vain. The 22d of this month of July, as is hinted before, the companies seat, from Concord May 30th, up toward Hadley, having spent much time and pains in pursuit of Philip all the country over (whom they could not over take) having tired themselves with many long and tedi ous marches through the desert woods before they return ed home, some of them were sent towards Mount Hope, yet their labour was well improved, and followed with THE INDIAN WARS. 219 good success at the last : For in ranging those woods in Plymouth colony, they killed and took (by the help of Capt. Moseley s company of Plymouth colony) an hun dred and fifty Indians, without the loss of a man. It was feared that Philip and his company would have returned into the Nipnet country, to prevent which sev eral horsemen were sent to guard the passage ; but he lurked about his own country in swamps and other se cret places, where he was as yet hid from the sight of the enemy, although many times they happened to lodge very near him, insomuch as an Indian captive promised in two hours time to bring our soldiers to the very place where he was : but they not being able to pass the near est way, came a little too late ; for they being so close ly pursued, hasted away, leaving much of their treasure behind them ; their kettles boiling over the fire, their dead unburied, and 20 of their party were overtaken, that fell into the English hands : Philip himself, and some few of his straying followers making their escape by a raft over an arm of the sea, into another neck of land, on Pocasset side, not daring to trust himself any longer in Metapoiset woods, so full of our English sol diers, as well those of Plymouth, as of Massachusetts colony, who almost every day meeting with some of hb party, much lessened his number. Capt. Church, that active and unwearied commander of Plymouth colony, was at this as well as long before, out upon the chase with but 18 English, and 22 Indians that were friends, had four several engagements with Philip s party, where in he spoiled 76 of the enemy, without the loss of one of his own men. In several of these skirmishes those In- 220 A NARRATIVE OP dians tbat upon submission had their lives given them, have done notable service in hunting out the enemy in all their lurking places. At another time they took Philip s equaw, and one of his chief counsellors ; and about the same time another Sachem about Pocasset with forty Indians submitted himself to the government of Plymouth, on promise of life and liberty. It seemed that now the time of our deliverance was come, and the time also for the des truction of our enemies : For the last week in July, Massachusetts understanding that some Indians were seen roving up and down the woods about Dedham, al most starved for want of victuals, sent a small company of 26, with about 9 or 10 Christian Indians, who pur sued and took 50 of the enemy, without any loss to the English ; at which time also a great quantity of warn- pampeag and powder were taken from the enemy. That which increased this victory was the slaughter of Pom- ham, who was one of the stoutest and most valiant Sa chems that belonged to the Narragansets, whose courage an-l strength was so great, that after he had been mor tally wounded in the fieht so as he could not stand^ yet catching hold of an Englishman that by accident came near him, had done him an injury if he had not been presently rescued by one of his neighbours. Amongst ihe rest of the captives at that time was one of the said Pomham s sons, a very likely youth, and one whose countenance would have bespoke favor for him, had he not belonged to so bloody and barbarous an Indian as tiis father was. These successes being daily spread abroad among THE INDIAN WARS. 221 the Indians, put many of them in a trembling condition, not knowing well how to dispose of themselves. Some that had been less active in these tragedies, and were rather led by others than any wise inclined to mischief themselves, of which number was one of the Nipnet Sa chems, called Sagamore John, who, July 27, came to surrender himself to the Governor and Council of Mas sachusetts at Boston, bribing along with him 180 of the enemy Indians. This John, that he might the more ingratiate himself with the English, whose friendship he was now willing to seek after, did by a while g^t into his hands one Matoonas, an old malicious villain who was the first that did any mischief within Massachusetts co lony, July 14th, 1675 ; bearing an old grudge against them as is thought, for justice that was done upon one of his sons 1671, whose head ever since hangs upon a pole near the gibbet where he was hanged up : The bringing in of this malicious caitiff was an hopeful pre- ! sage that it would not be long before Philip himself, the > grand villain, would in like manner receive a just reward ! of his wickedness and murders. Sagamore John, who came in the 27th of July, af- 1 firmed that he had never intended any mischief to the i English at Brookfield the last year (near which village < it seems his place was) but that Philip coming over night I amongst them was forced, for fear of his own life, to ! join with them against the English. Matoonas also when he was brought before the Council, and asked what he had to say for himself, confessed that he had rightly deserved death, and could expect no other, ad- T 2 222 A NARRATIVE OF ding withal, that if he had followed their counsel, he Lac! not come to this ; for he had seemed to favor the pray ing Indians and the Christian religion, afterwards discov ered quickly that he had no part nor portion in that mat ter. About this time several parties of English within Plymouth jurisdiction, were willing to have a hand in so good a matter as catching of Philip would be, who per ceiving that he was now going down the wind, were wil ling to hasten his fall. Amongst others, a smalt party went out of Bridge water, July 31st, upon a discovery, and by prividence were directed to fall upon a company of Indians where Philip was ; they came up with them and killed some of his particular friends : Philip himself was next to his uncle that was shot down, and had the soldier that had his choice which to shoot at, known which had been the right bird, he might as well have taken him as his uncle ; but it is said that he had not long before cut off his hair that he might not be known ; The party that did this exploit were few in number, and therefore not being able to keep close in the rear, that cunning fox escaped away through bushes undiscerned in the rear of the English : That which was most re markable in this design, was that trembling fear appear ed to be upon the Indians at this time, insomuch that one of them having a gun in his hand, well loaded, yet was not able to fire it off, but suffered an English soldier to come close up to his breast, and so shot him down, the other Dot beiug able to make any resistance ; nor were any of the English hurt at that time. The like terror was seen iu others at that time ; for THE INDIAN WARS. within two days after, Capt. Church,4he terror of the Indians in Plymouth colony, marching in pursuit of Phil ip with about 30 Englishmen and 20 reconciled Indians, took 23 of the enemy, and the next day following them by their tracks, fell upon their head-quarters, and killed and took about 130 of them ; losing only one man. In this engagement God did appear in a more than ordinary manner to fight for the English, for the Indians by their number, and other advantages of the place were so con veniently provided, that they might have made the first shot at the English and done them much damage, but one of their own countrymen in Capt. Church s compa ny espying them, called aloud unto them in their own language, telling them that if they shot a guu they were all dead men ; with which they were so amazed, that they durst not once offer to fire at the English, which made the victory the more remarkable. Philip made a very narrow escape at that time, being forced to leave bis treasures, his beloved wife, and only son to the mer cy of the English. Skin for skin, all that a man hath will be give for his life. His ruin being thus gradually carried on, his misery was not prevented but augmented thereby ; being himself acquainted with the sense and experimental feeling of the captivity of his children^ loss of friends, slaughter of his subjects, bereavement of all family relations, and being stripped of all outward comforts, before his own life should be taken away. Such a sentence passed upon Cain, made him cry out, that his punishment was greater than he could bear. This bloody wretch hath one week more to live an object 224 A NARRATIVE OF of pity, but a spectacle of divine vengeance, his own fol lowers beginning now to plot against his life, that they might make the better terms for their own ; as they did also seek to betray squaw Sachem of Pocasset, Philip s near kinswoman and confederate. For, August 6tb, an Indian willing to shift for himself, fled to Taunton, offering to lead any of the English that would follow him, to a party of Indians, which they might ea sily apprehend, which 20 persons attempted and accor dingly seized the whole company, 26 in number, all but the squaw Sachem herself, who intending to make an escape from the danger, attempted to get over the river, or arm of the sea near by, upon a raft or some pieces of broken wood ; but whether tired and spent with swimming or starved with cold and hunger, she was stark naked in Metapoiset, not far from the water side, which made some think she was first half drowned, and so ended her wretched life just in that place where the year before she had helped Philip to make his es cape ; her head being cut off and set upon a pole in Taunton, was known by some Indians then prisoners, which set them into a horrible lamentation ; but such was the righteous hand of God in bringing at last that mischief upon themselves, which they had without cause long acted against others. Philip, like a savage wild beast, having been hunted by the English forces through the woods above an hun dred miles backward and forward, at last was driven to his own den upon Mount Hope, where he retired with a few of his best friends into a swamp, which proved THE INDIAN WARS. 225 but a prison to keep him fast till the messengers of death came by divine permission to execute vengeance upon him, which was thus accomplished. Such had been his inveterate malice and wickedness against the English, that despairing of mercy from them, he could not bear that any thing should be suggested to him about a peace, insomuch that he caused one of his confederates to be killed for propounding an expedient of peace ; which sojprovoked some of his company, not altogether so desperate as himself, that one of them fled to Rhode-Island, whither the brave Captain Church was newly retired to recruit his men for a little time, being much tired with hard marches all that week, informing them that Philip was fled to a swamp in Mount Hope, whither he would undertake to lead them that would pef- sue him. This was welcome news, and the best cordial for such martial spirits ; whereupon he immediately, with a small company of men, part English and part Indians, began another march which shall prove fatal to Philip, and end that controversy between the English and him : For coming very early to the side of the swamp, his soldiers began to surround it, and (whether the devil appeared to him in a dream that night as he did unto Saul, foreboding his tragical end, it matters not) as he was endeavoring to make his escape out of a swamp, he was shot through the heart by an Indian of his own na tion, as it is said, that, had all this while preserved a neu trality until this time, but now had the casting vote in his power, by which he determined the quarrel that had been so long in suspense* In him is fulfilled what 226 A NARRATIVE OP was said in the prophet, Wo to thee that spoilest, and thou was not spoiled, and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee ; when thou stall cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled, and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal trea cherously with thee. With Philip at this time fell five of his trustiest fol lowers, of whom one was said to be the son of his chief captain, that had shot the first gun at the English the year before. This was done the 1 2th day of August, 1676, a remarkable testimony of divine favor to the co lony of Plymouth, who had for the former success, ap pointed the 1 7th day of August following, to be kept as a day of solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God. There r/.having been so strange a turn of Providence obser ved in the late successes obtained in and about Plym outh colony, it may not be amiss here to enquire into the progress and continuance thereof, after the slaughter of Philip that grand Rebel. In the preceding narration mention hath been made of one Capt. Church, whom God hath made an instru ment of signal victories over the Indians in that colony, and of great advantage in that respect to that whole ju risdiction. It happened that the said Capt. Church some time in June, of this present year 1676, passing over in a canoe from Pocassetto Rhode-Island, as he us ed frequently to do, (having had much employment upon the said neck of land so called) several Indians whom he had known before at Lackenham, a village near Plymouth, beckoned to him as if they had a mind THE INDIAN WARS. 227 to speak with him ; he having had so ranch experience as well as others of their treachery, was not willing to adventure too hastily to come near them ; but when they seemed to urge very much, and made signs to him, and at last laid down their guns in his sight, be began to think with himself there might be something in the mat ter more than ordinary, therefore he resolved to go a little nearer to the shore, and then he perceived they had a great mind to speak with him, using much impor tunity for that end, insomuch that he ventured to go ashore amongst them, having but one Englishman and two Indians with him ; he directed them to keep off the canoe while he discoursed with the Indians on shore. As soon as he came among them, they told him they were weary of fighting, and that they had fought so long by Philip s instigation ; but they could not tell for what end, and therefore resolved they would fight no longer, and all they desired of him was, that he would make way for them to the Governor, that they might live quietly amongst the English as they had done be fore, and that they would deliver up their arms, or would go out with them if he pleased to accept of thenij and fight for him ; to that end they desired a time to parly with him further about that business at what time ; and place he wouid appoint : He told them he would meet them two days after at Seaconet, a place up high er on the said neck, about 1*2 o clock ; accordingly he came to the said place, and found the same Indians with some others, and their Sniike Squaw, or chief woman of that plantation, there ready to meet hiui. 22 8 A NARRATIVE OF After they had fallen into discourse about the begin ning of the war, as well as the success and mischief of it, they would have put the blame off from themselves, and laid it upon the English : But he presently convin ced them by an undeniable evidence, that they first be- an the war : For, said he, upon this Pocasset July 7th, 1675, you first fought with some of Rhode-Island, where of one was ray own servant, whose leg you broke, and the same day you shot at myself and company, before we meddled with you. They were so fully convinced herewith, that they found nothing to reply, but fell into other discourse about a peace which they were very de sirous to obtain upon any equal terms, as was said before. There were about fifteen of the Indians present, besides their Snuke Squaw (which is with us their Governess or Lady) in conclusion they engaged forever after to leave Philip, and to go out with him ; which they did forthwith, as soon as he had obtained a peace for them with the Governor. It is here to be observed, that these were not proper- }y Philip s Indians, but belonged to the Seaconet Squaw, who uas nearly related to Philip, and her subjects had hitherto fought in Philip s quarrel till they saw nothing but misery and mischief like to be the issue of it to them selves, as well as their neighbors. About 20 or 30 of these Seaconet Indians have constantly gone out with Capt. Church ever since, and not only been faith ful and serviceable to him, but very successful in every enterprize they have gone about, nor hath he lost any of them in any skirmish with the other Indians ; Aud it is THE INDIAN WARS. 229 gaid that this act of these Indians broke Philip s heart fts soon as ever he understood it, so that he never re joiced after, or had any success in any of his designs, but lost his men one time after another, till himself at last fell into the hands of those under Capt. Church s command : For at the swamp when Philip was slain, Capt. Church appointed an Englishman and an Indian to stand at such a place of the swamp, where it happen ed Philip was breaking away ; the morning being wet and rainy, the Englishman s gun would not fire ; the Indian having an old musket with a large touch-hole, it took fire the more readily, with which Philip was dis patched, the bullet passing directly through his heart, where Joab thrust his darts into rebellious Absalom. Thus did divine vengeance retaliate on this notori ous traitor, that had against his league and covenant risen up against the government of Plymouth, to raise up against him one of his own people, or one that was in league with him, as he was with the English : The In dian that did this execution was called Alderman of Sea- conet, that had never done any act of hostility against the English. By these passages it is manifest, that, as the hearts of all are in the hand of God, so he turns them as he pleases, either to favor his people, or to hate and deal subtilly with his servants, as seems good to him. Since this engagement with the Seaconet Indians (to leave Philip, and to go with Capt. Church) it is credibly affirmed, that such bath been their success that since June aforesaid, to the end of October following, there have been 700 Indians subdued, either by killing or ti- TT 230 A NARRATIVE OF king captive by means of Capt. Church and his compa ny, (part Indians and part English) besides 300 that have come in voluntarily to submit themselves to the government of Plymouth. It appears thus by the sequel of things, that after the Lord had accomplished his work wpon his people, that he is beginning to call bis enemies to an account, and punish them for the pride of their hearts, and for all their treachery and cruelty against his servants. Philip s Captains have run the same fate with himself, some before and some since his own fall. In June last one Tiashq, a great Captain of his, hia wife and child, or children being taken though he es caped himself at first, yet came since and surrendered himself. The next noted Captain of Philip s Indians that was brought in after Philip s death, was called Tes- piquin, a notorious villain, next to Philip, he was called the black Suchem s son ; It was this Tespiquin that burnt so many houses in Plymouth lately. Capt. Church with his company were in pursuit of him in September last, two days before they could get near him ; at the last, on the third day, they found the track made by the English orchards : This was something of a blind track, therefore they were forced to take up their quarters that night without discovering any place of their rendez vous. The next morning about 9 o clock they came to their first rendezvous, from which they were just gone : At 1 o clock they cs me to the second, and missing them there, they soon after came to the third track, wherein, after they had marched a while, they perceived they THE INDIAN WARS. 231 grew very near them, by the crying of a child which they heard : The place was near Lakenham upon Po- casset neck, so full of bushes that a man could not see a rod before him : Capt. Church ordered his men to march up together in one rank, because he discovered the Indians were laid in one range by several fires, so that by that time they all came up into an even rank very near together, within a few yards of them as he had appointed ; they all suddenly rushed together upon them, and catched hold of them, not suffering any to es cape, there being abaut 50 of them in all : Tespiquin s wife and children were there, but he was absent, as also one Jacob, and a girl that belonged to that company. The Captain s haste would not admit of his tarrying till they caaie in, (though the Indians said they might come that night) wherefore he thought upon this project, to leave two old Squaws upoa the place with victuals, and bid them tell Tespiquin that he should be his Captain over his Indians if he was found to be so stout a man as they reported him to be ; for the Indians had said that Tespiquin could not be pierced by a bullet, for, said they, be was shot twice but the bullets glanced by him and could not hurt him. Thus the Captain marched away with his booty, leaving this trap behind him to take the rest : The next morning he came to see what his trap had catched, there he found Jacob aforesaid (a notorious wretch) and the girl he missed before, but not Tespiquin : But within a day or two after the said Tes piquin upon the hopes of being made Captain under Capt. Church, came after some of the company, and 232 A NARRATIVE OF submitted himself in the Captain s absence, and was sent to Plymouth, but upon trial (which was the condi tion on which his being promised a Captain s commis sion under Capt. Church did depend) he was found pen etrable by the English guns, for he fell down at the first shot and thereby received the just reward of his former wickedness. About a fortnight after the surprising of Tespiquin, was one Totoson s company taken, wherein were above 50 persons ; but Totoson escaped, and is still out in rebellion, unless vengeance hath overtaken him. The next that was seized was one Annawau, a very snbtile, politic fellow, and one of Philip s chief counsel lors ; he had about twelve men, and as many women and children in his company, who were discovered by their shooting at the English horses, and cattle ; some of whom being taken made known the rest. Church at that time had but five Englishmen and twenty ladians. The place where this Annawan had betaken himself, was a ledge of rocks inaccessible but at one place, which by a few hands might easily have been defended against a great number of assailants : But Capt Church by direc tion got up to their wigwams before they were aware of it ; and presently told Annawan that he came to sup with him ; whereupon Annawan (who had fallen flat upon the earth, expecting to have his head cut oft) looked up and cried iaubut, in their language, thank you, as one being much affected with the gen erosity of our English Captain ; they found some THE INDIAN WARS. 233 of the English beef boiling in the kettles : After supper he had much discourse with the said Anna* wan, and they lay down to sleep together in the wigwam ; Capt. Church laying one of his legs upon Annawan, and the other upon his son, that he might have notice if any of them should offer to stir : After midnight Anna- wan rose up, and Capt. Caurch was presently awake, and intended to watch after his prisoner : He thought at first he might have gone forth upon some necessary occasion ; but not long after he returned again, having fetched out of the swamp hard by, two horns of powder, : and a large belt of peag, supposed to be Philip s belt, i all which he delivered to Capt. Church, in a way of thankful acknowledgment of his courtesy. Amongst other discourses that passed between them concerning the occasion of the war, and carrying it on, the Indian- would fain have excused Philip, and laid the blame upon the praying Indians (as they are distinguished from others by that character) and others of the youngest sort of his followers, who coming with their several tales (which he likened to sticks laid on a heap) till by a mul titude of them a great fire came to be kindled : They make much use of parabolical expressions : for so said Solomon, where no wood is there the fire goeth out ; so where there is no tale-beares, the strife ceasetb, Prov* 26, 20. But Philip had had large and long experience of the gentleness and kindness of the English, both to himself and to his people, so that unless he had borne an evil and malicious mind against the English, he would U 2 234 A NARRATIVE OF never have hearkened to those stories, contrary to his faithful promises and allegiance. The said Annawan confessed also that he did believe by all those late occurrences that there was a great God that overruled all ; and that he had found that whatever he had done to any of those, whether Indians or Eng lish, the same was brought upon himself in after time. He confessed also that he had put to death several of the English which they had taken alive, ten in one day, and could not deny but that some of them had been tor tured, and now he could not but see the justice of the great God upon himself, with many other things of a like nature. But whatever his confessions of this nature were, being forced from him by the power of conscience, after he was delivered up to authority, he was put to death, as he justly had deserved. It is euid that Philip when he first began his rebellion, had about 300 fighting men under him, besides those that belonged to his kinswoman Wetamoe, drowned about Taunton,that had almost as many under her ; and one Queuoquin, a Narraganset Sachem that lived near him, and joined with him in his quarrel with the Eng lish : But it is certain that there are scarce any that are now left, that belonged to either of them : So although the Almighty hath made use of them to be a scourge to his people, he bath now turned his hand against them to utter destruction and extirpation from off the face of the earth, peradventure to make room for others of his peo ple to come in his stead. As for the rest of the Narragansets that joined in THE INDIAN WARS. 235 Philip s quarrel, it is already declared what end they were come unto. As for the rest of the Indians, wheth er Nipnet, Nashaway, Pacomptuck, Hadley, or Spring field Indians, it is not so certain what has become of them ; but after their separation one from the other about July last, it was observed by all the tracks in thoie woods, they went still westward ; and about the middle of August last, a great party of them were observed to pass by Westfield, a small town to the west of Spring field, and were judged to be about 200 ; News thereof being bro t to Major Talcot, he with the soldiers of Con necticut colony under his command, both Indians and English, pursued after them as far as Ausotunnoog river (in the middle way betwixt Westfield and the Dutch river, and Fort Albany) where he overtook them, and fought with them ;# killing and taking 45 prisoners, 25 of whom were fighting men, without the loss of any one of his company save a Mohegin Indian : Many of the rest were badly wounded, as appeared by the bushes being much besmeared with blood, as was observed by those that followed them further. It is written since from Albany, that there were sun dry lost besides the 45 aforementioned, to the number of three score in all ; amd also that an hundred and twen ty of them are since dead of sickness ; so that vengeance seems to be pursuing of them as well as the rest. Sev eral of their friends that belonged to Nashaway, and the places adjoining, repaired to Piscataqua, hoping to [*This battle was probably fought in Stockbridge, near where the meeting house now stands.] 236 A NARRATIVE OP shroud themselves under the wings of some honester Indians about Quechecho, under pretence of a declara tion sent out by the Governor and Council of Massa chusetts in the beginning of July last : But some of our forces under Capt. Hathorne and Capt. Sill, with the help of Major Walden, Capt. Frost, and others residing in those parts being in readiness, separated the vile and wicked from the rest, and sent them down feo the Gov ernor at Boston, where 8 or 9 of the ringleaders, such as one eyed John, Sagamore Sam, of Nashaway, chief actors of the late outrages and bloody mischief, had jm- tice done upon them soon after. As for the massacres and calamities that befel the English further eastward, they shall in the second part of this narrative be de clared. The Indians being thus dispersed several ways, were strangely confounded and destroyed one parcel after an other, until there was Done left in the western or south ern parts that durst make any opposition all the follow ing part of the year. As for those that fled westward toward Albany, we shall there leave them for the pre sent, wishing we may never hear any more of them : A person of quality informs, that at Hartford in Septem ber last, he was present at the examination of one Choos, an Indian, foimerly of Connecticut, but of the Narra- gansetfor the last winter, T ,?ho confessed that he was one of that company of Indians that went westward the month before, toward Hudson s river ; but after the fight at Ausotunnoos, he returned back to Connecticut for fear of the Mohawks ; and that he lay hid about Farmington, THE INDIAN WARS. 23? till he was almost starred, and then he went to the sea side to make use of the oyster bank at Stratford for his relief, where he was espied by the Indians, and so bro t to Hartford. He affirmed that there were about 250 fighting men amongst those Indians that fled westward, besides wo men and children ; and that near 200 of them passed the great river below Albany, and were sheltered by the Indians of that place, called Moheganders ; but about 80 of them tarried on the hither side of that river, near a Dutch village. But he being cenvicted of fighting against the English, was condemned to die, and execu ted about the Narraganset country the last fall, hoping to shelter themselvei under Uncas, but he not willing to i give them countenance against the mind of his friends at Connecticut, hath since abandoned them to shift for them selves, who have been most of them taken and brought j in prisoners to the English this winter. About the month of October last, Mr. Stanton chan- i ced to come from Seaconet ivith 3 Indians in his compa ny, Pequods or Mohegins, they hearing by a captive at one of the next towns, that there was a number of the enemy not &r off, presently left Mr. Stanton and pur sued after them, whom they soon after overtook, and made them all prisoners : Amongst them was an old man, not able to go their pace but promising to come after them, they spared his life : But as soon as the men returned at night from hunting, the old man told what had befel their women and children, whereupon the next morning they presently following after them, 238 A NARRATIVE OF overtook them, and so recovered the prisoners, and slew one of the three that carried them away ; the other two hardly escaped ; one of them is called M<tjor Syrnon, being part a Pequod anil part a Narragansei, hut of ex traordinary strength and courage ; he perceiving the danger they were in, challenged to fight hand to hand i with any fire of them with their hatchets : but they un willing to hang their success upon the hazard of a single combat, came all towards hioi at once, whereupon first t discharging his gun amongst the whole company, he broke through them all by force, and so escaped their hands, with one of his companions. This Symon hath * been very active in killing and taking many of the ene my ; some say that he with his own hands hath taken and killed above threescore, and either out of hatred to the enemy, or love to the English, is this last week gon with the soldiers to the eastward, in pursuit of our quar rel against them in those parts. At another time not long before, when he was out against the enemy, he came suddenly upon a great num ber of them as they were spread under a steep bank, from whence leaping down into the midst of them he killed some and took others. Fighting it seems is a recreation to him, for he is seldom at home above four or five days together. Some say that in one of his for mer expeditions, being much wearied and spent he laid himself down to sleep, but towards morning h fell into a dream, wherein he apprehended the Indians were up on him, when suddenly rising up he espied the Indians coming toward him, but suddenly presenting his guns THE INDIAN WAHg. 239 against them, he so frightened then), that they gave him an opportunity to make an escape from a multitude of them. Since the beginning of December last, news coming down to Bostou that mischief was done about Seaconk and Rehobotb, by some remaining Indians thereabouts, killing their swine and horses, several persons of Med- field went out after them, and pursuing them by their tracks, came upon a small party, of whom they took three, one of which escaped while some of the company were going after the rest. Those that were taken con fessed there was about 60 that were lurking up and down in those woods. The said two Indians were brought into Boston the 8th of January. A commission was formerly granted to Peter Ephraim, an Indian of Natick, to go out in pursuit of them, with 29 of his company ; a few of the English from Medfield went with him, who being soon tired with marching in the snow, returned. The Indians kept on in their de sign, and came across a considerable party of the enemy having traced them till they found where they lodged over night ; they surrounded them early in the morn ing, as their manner is, and then offered them quarter if thejr would yield ; eight resolute fellows refused who were instantly shot, the rest were all seized, the whole number was 42. This was done about the middle of January, since which several such exploits have been done by them. January 23d, the same company of Indians took 22 of the enemy, among whom were five able men, and five arms ; they sent the prisoners home 240 A NARRATIVE OF by five of their company, the rest went further in the chace. January 26th, another parcel of the enemy were brought in, eight in number, of whom fh r e were men, amongst whom was the Indian called Cornelius, who three years since was indicted for killing an Englishman s cow ; upon which he wa said to have uttered several threatening speeches, that he would kill Englishmen and their cows too ; which was now remembered against him when he was in particular called to account for hav ing a hand in killing some of the English and Indiang | also in league with us, for which he was sentenced to die, and was accordingly executed the 16th of* February t following. Concerning the rest of the Indians either in the colo ny of Plymouth, Connecticut, or Massachusetts, there is no occurrence more of moment come to light since the 1 end of August last, save what is last mentioned before ; yet it is very remarkable, that although terms of peace? were offered to all that would come in and surrender them-* selves (as appears by a declaration put out in July last) and that a Nipnet Sachem called John, did thereupon!! with a number of his company come in and offer them-i selves, and were accordingly secured of their lives and other concernments ; yet did that treacherous villaim make an escape this winter from Capt, Prentice s houser (under whose charge he was put, about Cambridge viI- ; lage) and with about 20 mor fled away into the woods to sh ft for himself amongst the rest of his bloody com- 1 panions ; they were soon after pursued, but had gone ; THE INDIAN WARS. 241 teo fast and loo far to be overtaken. Whether it were consciousness of their own guilt, that had a hand in the blood of the English manners so well as to be confined thereunto ; wild creatures ordinarily love the liberty of the woods better than the restratM of a cage. They made none acquainted with their design before they went away, and as yet little account can be given of them, only it is known that one or two of their families are entertained by Tinea*, but what is become of the rest is uncertain ; there were but seven of the company men, so they are not capable of doing any mischief. Some of late have travelled through the woods to Connecticut, but have met with no Indians, nor did they hear of any in their pissing between this place and that. And because in the present narrative there halh heen frequent mention made of Uncas, the Mohegin Sachem, and of his faithfulness to the interest of the English, [ add in this place, that it ia suspected by them that knew him best, that in his heart he is no better affected to the English or their religion, than the rest of his country men, and that it hath been his own advantage that hath led him to be thus true to them who have upheld him as formerly against the Pequods, so of late against the Nar- j ragansels ; yet hath he not long since been convinced ! of the truth of our religion, and vanity of his own, as j himself hath solemnly confessed ; which will evidently ) appear by the passage that follows, which I shall here represent just as it was from under the hand of that , Reverend person it relates unto, namely, Mr. Fitch, pastor of the church at Norwich, near unto Uncas s W 242 A NARRATIVE OF place. There was" a great drought the last summer ; but as it seems, it was more extreme in those parts than with us about Massachusetts ; and although probably the English might have prayed for rain themselves with out any motion from the Indians, yet their address to the said Mr. Fitch on such an account, with the conse quences thereof, is very remarkable, which take in hia own words : " Concerning the drought, c. the true narrative of that providence is this : In August last such was the - want of rain, that the Indian corn was not only dried and parched up, but the appletrees withered, the fruit and leaves fell off as in autumn, and some trees seeming. to be dead with that drought ; the Indians came into towH and lamented their want of rain, and that their i powaws could get none in their way of worship, desiring: me that I would seek to God for rain : I appointed a;, fast day for the purpose ; the day being come it prov- ed clear without any clouds until sunsetting when wer came from the meeting, and then some clouds arose ; the next day remained cloudy ; then Uncas with many; Indians came to my house, Uncas lamented there was such a want of rain : I asked whether if God should < send us rain he would not attribute it to their powaws ; he answered no, for they had done their utmost and all in vain ; I replied, if you will declare it before all these Indians you shall see what God will do for us, for al though this yeav he hath shewn his anger against the English aud not only against the Indians, yet he hath begun to save us, and I have found by experience twice THE INDIAN WARS. 243 in the like case, when we sought by fasting and prayer he hath given us rain, and never denied us. Then Un- cas made a great speech to the Indians (which were ma ny) confessing that if God should then send rain, it could not be ascribed to their powawing, but must be acknowledged to be an answer of our prayers. This day they spread more and more, and the next day there pras such plenty of rain that our river rose more than ;wo feet in height." By all that is recorded in the foregoing narrative, there ^ are none into whose hands it shall come, but will be sen- | ible that the present time hath been a day of great re- Ijmke and trouble to the poor people sojourning in this Ifrilderness, upon whom sundry calamities have broke Ip at once, this last as well as in the former years : In Inany places they have been visited with sickness and |qaortality, more than in many years before, depriving fjhem of many useful persons ; amongst others the loss r )f Mr, John Wirithrop, the late worthy Governor of the EfoJony of Connecticut, is as it ought to be, much lamen- (;ed by all,, who died at Boston, the 5th of April, 1676, in the 73d year of his age, whither he was occasionally called the last winter, to sit with the rest of the Coiiimis- poners of the united colonies, to consult about the great pffairs of them, now newly engaged in these troubles from the heathen. He was the eldest son of the famous . Governor of the Massachusetts, deceased March 26, . 1649, Proles similima parenti. The Memory of the ^father, though he died so long ago, yet still lives in the minds of the surviving generation, and is like to continue 244 A NARRATIVE Of much longer by the remembrance of the many eminent virtues found in this the eldest of his offspring, who be ing not long after, or about that time called to take up his residence in that colony, was by the importunity of the : l people there, prevailed with to accept of the Governor s place, which for a long time after he sustained in that colony, though annually chosen thereunto ; being so- well furnished with many excellent endowments, as well] moral as political and philosophical, which rendered* him most fit to be an healer of that people. Though; we are dealing in another subject, yet shall not we passj by his tomb as we go along, without paying the homage due to the memory of so honorable a gentleman. After all the forementioned calamities and troubles, i) pleased God to alarm the town of Boston, and in that the whole country, by a sad fire accidentally kindled by I the carelessness of an apprentice that set up too over night, as was conceived ; which began an li\ fore day, continuing three or four days, in whicl it burned to the ground forty-six dwelling h( sides other buildings, together with a largi? fneetim house. Some mercy was observed mixt witlrriie raent, for if a great rain had not continued all the fiott (the roofs and walls of the ordinary buildings consisting of such combustible matter) that whole end of the towi had at that time been consumed. Whereby we see tha God in his providence can turn our dwellings into ash es, without (he help of either foreign or domestic ene mies. Which consideration may awaken all from secu rity and confidence in these uncertain and unstable pos THE INDIAN WARS. 245 sessions, that have no firmer foundation that may so soon after their first erection be eaten up by the flames of fire, before the iron teeth of time have had leisure to de vour and feed upon them, God grant that by the fire of all these judgments, we may be purged from our dross and become a more re fined people, as vessels fitted for our master s use. A NARRATIVE OF THE INDIAN WARS IN NEW-ENGLAND, FROM PISCATAQ.UA TO PEMMAQUID. THE occasion, rise and progress of the war with the Indians in the southern and western parts of New-Eng land, together with the issue and success thereof, hath in the former part of this narrative been already declar ed. Before an entrance be made into a relation of those troubles that befel the eastern and northern parts, it will I be requisite to give some general description of the j place, as being less frequented, and so more unknown | than the o her, like Herald s that used to blazon the I field before they meddled with the charge, as an histo- : rian once said, that so the reader may not miss the truth in a story, by being unacquainted with the places con nected with the discourse. Briefly therefore, that more cost and pains be not speBt in tbe surveying a barren W 2 246 A NARRATIVE OP and rocky country, than will quit cost (the list or bor der here being known to be worth more than the whole cloth) that whole tract of land being of little worth, un less it were for the borders thereof upon the sea coast, and some spots and skirts of more desirable land upon the banks of some rivers, how much soever it be valued by them that know nothing thereof, by the uncertain and fallible reports of such as only iailed by the country or viewed some of the rivers and havens, but never pas sed through the heart of the continent. The whole be ing worth scarce those mean* that have been lost these two last years in hopes to save it. This north part of New England, did first, like Zarah put forth his hand, thereby inviting the adventurers to, twist the scarlet thread of their hopes about the same auspicious beginning they were ready to promise them selves prosperity in having that advantage before others to plant and people that part of the country. But that fair opportunity was almost quite lost by some fatal and mischievous accidents happening soon after that noble enterprise was first set on foot, as hath been already ia part and may hereafter be more fully declared. The first place that ever was possessed by the Eng lish, in hopes of making a plantation in those parts was a tract of land on the west side of the river Keonebeck, then called Segatawock, since Sagadahock. Other pla ces adjoining were soon after seized and improved for trading and fishing. The more remote and furtherest northward at this time belonging to the English (Penob- scot forty years since being surprised by the French, THE INDIAN WARS. 247 and by them held to this day) is called Pemmaquid, distant seven or eight leagues from Kennebeck, and is the utmost boundary of New-England, being about for ty leagues distant from the mouth of Piscataqua river ; Pemmaquid is a very commodious haven for ships, and hath been found Very advantageous to iuch as used to come upon these coasts to make fishing voyages ; iouth west or south east from thence about six or seven leagues, lies an island called Monhiggon, of much use on the same account for fishing, it lying three or four leagues into the sea from Damarii s cove, a place of like advantage for the stages of fishermen in former times. There have been for a long time seven or eight considerable dwell ings about Pemmaquid which are well accommodated with pasture land about the haven for feeding cattle, arid some fields also for tillage ; all the land improvable for such uses being already taken up by such a number of inhabitants as is already mentioned. In the mouth of the river Kennebeck lies a consider able island called Arowsick, some years since purchas ed by Major Clarke and Capt. Lake, two merchants of Boston, on which they built several large dwellings, with a ware house and many other edifices near the water side, it being intended by the owners for a place of tra ding as well as planting ; there being many of late seated there fit to carry on each design ; where also was built a fort, which if it had been carefully defended, might ,have proved the defence and security of all that side of the coantry, as it used to be their magazine. Up high er beyond the river Kennebeck, four leagues eastward 248 A NARRATIVE OF towards Pemrnaquid, is another considerable river call- Sheepscot, upou the banks of which were many scatter ed planters, who lately fly ing from their dwellings for fear of the Indians, left as was judged, a thousand head of neat cattle for the use of the Indians that made the late insurrection against the inhabitants of those parts, be sides their fields and barns full of corn. There is an other river that issues into Kennebeck a little higher up in the country, called Pegypscot, that comes down from behind Casco Bay . This Pegypscot is the seat of the Amoscoggin Indians, who have had a great, if not a principal hand in the late mischief. Some few leagues to the south of Kennebeck lies the famous and spacious haven called Casco Bay, the north east cape of which is made by an Island called Saguin ; the southern and opposite point of land is called Cape Elizabeth. Within the bosom of this bay, being about eight or nine leagues over at the mouth of it, are a great number of small islands, many of them being inhabited by fishermen and others ; one of the principal of those is called Jewel s Island. There are many places about the bay fit to make commodious habitations, and on the south side of it is a small village called Falmouth ; all or most of it lately destroyed by the Indians. Not far from Casco, to the southward or south west still is a river called Spurwick, over against which lies Richmond Island, not far from the main land, being di vided therefrom by a small channel, fordable at low water ; it hath for a long time been the seat of Mr. Jor- THE INDIAN WARS. 249 dan, in right of Mr. Winter, the former if not the first proprietor thereof, whose daughter he married. The next plantation southward is called Scarborough, a small village seated ugpn Black point, over against which is another point, for distinction from the former, called Blue point. This Black point was lately the seat of Mr. Josselin, being a parcel of the province of Maine, on falling within the precinct thereof, and foraierly by patent granted to the said Josselin or his predecessors, since purchased by Mr. Scotto, of Boston. Saco river lies next in order to the Piscataqua, a nav igable river, where Major Philips had a commodious sit uation lately ; at the mouth of which river lies Winter Harbour, encompassed on one side by a neck of land, formerly the property of one Mr. Winter, whose name it still retains, but lately purchased by Major Pendleton, where he enjoyed a very comfortable seat and habita tion. There is another harbour lying a little southward of Saco, made by that which is called Cape Porpuise ; a convenient seat for fisiiennen, as are most of the ether places abovenamed. Between Cape Porpuise and Pis- cataquay there are but two small towns more, (though ambitious of great names) the one called Wells and the other York. Wells is seated upon a small river or creek, affording a small harbour fit only for barks and smaller vessels ; on each side of which town lies a small river, the one is called Kennebunk, the other Magun- cuck. The other town, York, formerly known by the came of Agamenticus, from a high hill of that name not 250 A NARRATIVE OF far therefrom. The point of land which lies between the said towns, is called Cape Nadduck, making a small harbour likewise, into which issues another pretty river on the banks of which is situate the town of York. AIL or most of the forementioned towns and plantations are seated upon and near some greater or less river whose streams are principally improved for driving of saw mills, those late inventions so useful for the destruction of wood and timber, especially of fir trees which do so abound in those coasts, that there is scarce a river or creek in those parts that hath not some of those engines erected upon them. The wpper branches of the famous river of Piscata- qua being also employed all of them that way, namely, Sturgeon Creek, Salmon falls, Newechewannick, Que- checo, Oyster River, Svvamscot, Greenland, Lamprey Eel River, together with the towns of Esther and Do ver, seated upon or near some of the main branches thereof, whose principal trade is in deal boards cut by those saw mills, since their rift timber is near all con sumed. On each side of that fine navigable river of Piscataqua, down towards the mouth of it are seated on the north side, the town of Kittery, (a long scattering plantation made up of several hamlets) on the south side the town of Portsmouth, to which belongs the great isl and lying in the mouth of the said river, a place of con siderable trade of late years, which together with Straw berry Bank, the upper part of the said town of Ports mouth, are the Magazine arid chief or only place of trade and commerce for all the plantations betwixt it and the THE INDIAN WARS. 2,51 Casco Bay. All the said plantations have in these two la - , years 1675, and 1676, felt more or less of the bar- b .iivu* and perfidious Indians belonging to that side of the country, as shall more particularly be declared in wl: -J>.i follows, after a short discourse of the first planting of the country, which may serve as a kind of prologue to the following tragedy. This part of New-England began first to be planted about the same time with Virginia, viz. in the year 1606, There the first letter patent granted by the King, for the limitation of Virginia, did extend from 34 to 44 degrees ( of north latitude, and was divided into two parts, name- : ly the first and the second colony ; the former was ap- ( propriated to the city of London, the other to the cities | of Bristol, Exeter and the town of Plymouth, each of ! which had laws, privileges, and authority for the gov ernment, and advancing their several plantations alike as saith Capt. Smith in his history of Virginia and New- England. This second colony of New England, prom ising but little advantage to the undertakers, by reason of its mountanous and rocky situation, found but few adventurers forward to promote the planting thereof after the death of Sir John Popham, who was the first that ever procured men or means to possess it ; for when the main pillars are removed, what can be suspected but that the whole building should fall to the ground. Yet notwithstanding the discouragements the first planters met with in their first winter seasoning, in that cold and rocky desert (which made them all return home in the year 1608) Sir Francis Popham his son, having the 252 A NARRATIVE OF ships and provisions which remained of the company, and supplying what was necessary for his purpose, sent divers times to the coast tor trade and fishing, of whose loss or gain, as saith my author, himself was best able to give an account ; and some of the ships sent by him, and the Earl of Southampton, with other noble adven turers, did bring home some of the natives of the place in one of the following; years, by whose information some of the first undertakers were encouraged once more to" try f he verity of their hopes, and see if possibly they might find something that could induce a fre^h resolu tion to prosecute so pious and honorable a work. But in the mean time before there was yet any speech or endeavor to settle any other plantations in those parts, that about Sagadahock being thus abandoned for the present, by the first undertakers, the Frenchmen imme diately took the opportunity to settle themselves within our limits, being understood by those of Virginia, they discreetly taking into their consideration the inconven iences that might arise by suffering them to harbor there, Sir Samuel Argal was sent with a commission to di- them, which he with great discre. . dexterity, and judgment, performed about the year 16. -vhich made way for the plantation at Nova-Scotia, granted after wards by King James to Sir William Alexander, one of his Majesty s most honorable council of Scoiland. The said Argal seized the forts which the Frenchmen had built at Mount Mar.se), St. Croix and Po/i Real, and carried away their ordnance and provisions to the colony of Virginia, to their great benefit. The said places THE INDIAN WARS. 253 were held by the English many years after, ill about the year 1695 by commission from the Scotch Lord aforesaid ; but how his right came afterwards to be alie nated to any of the French nation, doth not concern us with reference to the business in hand, further to en quire. Things remaining in this posture for the space of near seven years, some of the first adventurers appre hensive of belter hopes of good that might ensue by a fresh attempt, resolved to set the design a foot a se cond time, to which end several ships were sent on that account in the year 1615, but with as bad success as the former; for in the year before, viz. 1614, Capt. Smith, desirous to promote the colony of New- England, as well as that of Virginia, came thither with two vessels, and returned back to England in the least of them, with in tent to be there again the next year to promote the said plantation ; but after be was gone, one Thomas* Hunt, master of the ship he left behind, like a dishonest man, to prevent the carrying on the plantation, that he and a few merchants Anight wholly enjoy the benefit of the trade of the country, after he had made his voyage, seized upon 24 of the poor innocent natives, that in con fidence of his honesty, had put themselves into his hands, then clapping them under hatches, carried them away to Malaga, whither he was bound with the fish he had made upon the coast, for that market ; but hih v At act, altho it deprived him forever after of any more employ ment in those parts, yet that was the least part of th*-: mis chief that attended this wicked practice ; for upon the 254 A NAR|TIV E OF arrival of the adventurers ships the next year, two na tives of the place that had been some years in England,; and coming back unto the said ships, as soon as they un derstood the injury so treacherously done to their coun- trymefiHhey contracted such a hatred against our whole nation, i\Sj*i although one of the said natives died soon after, yetjjthe other called Epenow, studied how to be revenged^ which he so far found nifans to effect that he; frustrated this second attempt of settling a plantation in these parts. Yet did not the adventurers cast off all hopes of car rying on their design. Wherein Providence within a few years so favored them that one or more of the sava ges called Tisquantom and Samoset, carried away by Hunt, was brought back to Newfoundland, from whence he was soon after conveyed by the prudent endeavor of Capt. Mason ((lien Governor of the plantation began upon Newfoundland) into the hands of some of the ad venturers, by whose means they hoped to work a peace betwixt the said natives on that coast where the fire had been kindled before ; for the adventurers employed Capt. Thomas Darmer, a prudent and industrious gen tleman, to settle the affair of the plantation, now a third i time revived again about Kentucky, about the year 1619. By his prudence and care a lasting peace was made be twixt the natives of the place and the English, who were but a little before so abhorred by them, for the wrong formerley received, so that the plantation began at last to prosper, and continue in good liking, and as surance of the friendship of their neighbors that had been lately exasperated against them. This Tisquan- THE INDIAN WARS. 255 turn before mentioned, was not a little instrumental and helpful to the plantation begun at New-Plymouth about the following years, 1620, in their weak beginnings, there being frequent mention of his name, as also of one Samoset, a native of the same place, by the like provi dence brought back to Keunebeck, and from thence with Tisquantum came to the new planters at Patuxet, or Plymouth, and brought them into acquaintance with Massosoit, the Sachem about those parts, without whose friendship that new plantation would hardly have sub sisted long. This story premised, is the more to be observed in this place because the friendship upon the means and occasions aforesaid, confirmed between the Indians in these eastern parts and the English, had continued sted fast and constant to this year, when it was broken by another treacherous and wicked practice of a like na ture, and parallel to that of the aforesaid Hunt, as may more fully be declared afterwards. Possibly the like satisfaction may prove the more probable means to procure a settled peace. But to re turn whence this digression hath been made. Some years were spent to bring things to this issue : The ad venturers were put to much care and pains before they could get their patent confiimed and renewed again : Many obstructions they met with from some interlopers who began to look into the trade of this country, and would irregularly have had a share therein, or grade it common to all traders, to which end they petitioned to a parliament then called to bring about their ends, but 256 A NARRATIVE OP at the last it was settled firmly in the hands of sundry noble and worthy patentees, Lords, Knights, gentlemen, and merchants, commonly known by the name of the council of Plymouth, who had the absolute pow er under the King for making all grants, and dispos ing of all lands from the 40th to the 48th degrees north latitude ; all which was accomplished about the year 1621. Some printed relations that speak ot these trans actions, write much of the flourishing state, and hopeful prosperity of this plantation, published about fifty years since, yet did it never appear by what followed, that any considerable advantage did ever accrue to the first un dertaker?, from this their new plantation of the eastern parts, unless by the trade of fish and firs, which latter continued not long ; that managed it by their own par ticular flocks and personal endeavors ; and if without of fence it may be spoken, the multitude of patents soon after granted to gentlemen of broken fortunes, have pro vided but places of unhonorable exile or confinement, whither many deserving persons of belter education than fortune, were sent to shift for themselves in a foreign land, without being further troublesome to those nearer home, on whom they had their hopes and dependance ; yet it must not be denied but that some of the underta kers were at vast expence, casting their bread upon these waters, where none of their friends and relations have as yet had an opportunity to find it : The reason of which is not hard to give, in reference to all those lands and territories that lie to the eastward of Piscata- qua river. One main cause had been the multiplicity of /auto and patents for the dividing of the said tract of THE INDIAN WARS. 257 land, for besides the strife that hath been occasioned by the intricacy and indistinctness of their liberties and bounds, (enough to have maintained a greater number of lawyers than ever were the inhabitants) if the grantees had been supplied with monies proportionable to their suits and controversies about their bounds and jurisdic tions, which sometimes they have been ready to decide with their swords, witness those fatal names imposed on such accounts upon some places belonging to those parts, as Bloody Point, Black Point, Blue Point, and every considerable parcel of land being by patent granted to several particular persons hindered the erection of town ships and villages, which if it had been otherwise dispos ed of, might have been full of towns, and well peopled, and thereby the inhabitants had been able to have stood upon their guard, and defended themselves against the common enemy, whereas now they were but like scopoe disolutoe, or like his arrows that being bound up in one bundle could not be broken by an ordinary force, but being loose, were easily snapped asunder by any single band. Another reason might be, the employing of such agents and instruments as either wanted skill or fidelity to manage what they were entrusted with, which made many of the adventurers long ago complain, that instead of bills of exchange and other returns which they ex pected, they received nothing but large inventories of the wants of their several plantations, and the servants sent over to improve them, which were all the returns that many of them ever received for the large sums of money many disbursed for the carrying on their affairs* X 21 258 A NARRATIVE OF A third reason may be the several changes of govern ment the inhabitants have passed under, which have oc casioned not only much vexation and expence to such as were upon the place, but much discouragement to several others who by the commodiousness of the place would willingly have chosen stations in those parts, had they seen any hope of a settled government ever like to be obtained ; which is not hard to demonstrate by giving a little touch as we pass along, on the several changes of government the places aforementioned have been moulded into, and the several proprietors that of late have claimed interest in the land. In the year 1624, a patent was granted by the council of Plymouth,! the grand proprietors, to Capt. Mason, for a large tract of land about Piscataqua, but it not being distinctly bounded, himself with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, obtained a joint patent in the year 1539, for the land betwixt the east of Sagadahock, and west of Namukeag, but that also Interfering with the bounds granted before that time to sundry gentlemen merchants that had obtained a patent from the south of Charles river, to the northward of Merrimack, Capt. Mason s bounds were afterwards by consent (as is said) of his agent or agents, reduced to some branches about Piscataqua river (who yet could not agree with those that acted in the name of Shrews bury men) but being wholly neglected by the pretended proprietor or his successor (till of late days) was by the desire of the inhabitants yielded up to the Massachu* setts government near twenty years since. In the year 1630 a patent was granted by said coun cil of Plymouth (signed by the Ear! of Warwick, and THE INDIAN WARS. Sir Ferdinanclo Gorges, and sealed with the common seal of the council aforesaid) to John Dy, Thomas Lupe, Grace Harding, and John Roach, of London, for a ip.rjre tract of land on the south side of Sagadahock, forty nnlc& square by the sea-side, and so up into the country : John Dy, aforesaid, and his partners took in another as partner and associate with them, Mr. Richard Dummer, of Newbury, in England, in the year 1633, to whom they delivered the original patent, with an order from them, and in their name to take up the land described in the patent, but he being denied opportunity to effect it, as also a ship formerly sent by the patentees for that end, not accomplishing their desire, they not long after sold all their interest in the said patent, to one Mr. Rig- by, a Lancashire gentleman, who made Mr. Cleaves his agent to manage the business of his purchased interest in the said patent : to whom. Mr. Dummer was ordered to deliver the original patent, which accordingly he did : What trouble was occasioned soon after between the said Mr. Cleaves and Mr. times, agent for Sir Ferdi- nando Gorges, is well known to the inhabitants of the place and need not here be mentioned ; nor yet how the said Mr. Rigby came forward to lose his interest, at least with the inhabitants in the patent, In the year 1632, Sir Ferdinando Gorges not trusting in the joint patent obtained for himself and Capt. Mason, obtained a distinct patent for himself and got it confirm ed by King Charles the first, of blessed memory, for all that large tract of land from Sagadahock to Piscataqua river, and so about an hundred miles up into the country, 260 A NARRATIVE OP by the name of the Province of Maine. What benefit and improvement was ever made thereof by his agent or successors, is best known to themselves ; but for the inhabitants, who upon one account or another had been induced, either by any precedaneous grant or liberty from himself or his agents, to take up any land within the bounds of the said province ; they finding much in- conveniencies and trouble for want of an orderly and settled government, did at the last, petition the General Court of Massachusetts to be taken under their jurisdic* tion and government (reserving the liberties and privil eges of their former purchases and grants, as to the title, possession, and propriety to themselves) which was granted them, though not only and altogether upon the grounds on which it was desired by the petitioners. Yet notwithstanding all this, things were not settled either to the comfort or content of the inhabitants : For some times some demanded right of jurisdiction over them, by virtue of Sir Feidinand s patent, sometimes Commis sioners employed by his Highness the Duke of York, attempted to settle a government amongst the people ; sometimes they tried what might be done by agreement amongst themselves, but after their return for England, by one mean or other the government relapsed again into the hands of Massachusetts, although a supersedas thereunto seems to have been put by an order from his Majesty this last year. By the several vicissitudes and changes of govern ment, the flourishing of the said province hath been much obstructed, which else might have beea much ad- THE INDIAN WARS. 261 vanced, and the inhabitants been put into a capacity to have secured themselves against the late barbarous incur sions of the Indians, might thereby have been prevent ed, and so the mischief also which hath ensued might thereby have been averted : For a well order*. 3 govern ment would never have suffered those things that now were connived at, which if they had been timely looked into by such as had absolute or positive and unquestion ed power of rule in their hands, would have been other wise ordered, the present mischief that is come upon those places, might thereby have been, if not prevent ed, yet more easily redressed, than now it is like to be. As for the tract of land that lies eastward beyond Kennebeck, betwixt that and Pemmaquid, it is said to have belonged to one Mr. Aid worth and his successors, who was Alderman of Bristol, and on that had a patent thereof, and employed some as his agents, that did some times reside upon the place, and was lately settled in some order or government by his Highness the Duke of York s Commissioners, by whom also was an agree ment made betwixt the Sagamores of the Indians in those parts and the English, at a court kept by their ap pointment in Kennebeck, which if it had been observed, might in all probability have prevented in great measure the quarrel which is now fallen out between the English and Indians : For upon some jealousies of the rising of those Indians about twelve or thirteen years since, it was agreed that if any mischief should happen to be done by the English or Indians one against another, though it were to the killing any person, neither side 262 A NARRATIVE OF should right themselves, but complaint should be mack to the Sagamores if the Indians did the wrong and to the court if it was done by the English : both which did promise that satisfaction should be made for the prevent ing; any quarre! : The names of the Sachems, as like wise of them that were in power at the court, do still remain upon public record. But matters of government in those parts being since collapsed, no authority more than what was merely voluntary, and persuasive being owned, things are now brought to that miserable state which follows next to be declared. Ever since the first settling of any English plantation in those parts about Kennebeck, for the space of about fifty years, the Indians always carried it fair, and held good correspondence with the English, until the news came of Philip s rebelling, and rising against the inhab itants of Plymouth colony in the end of June, 1675 ; after which time it was apprehended by such as had the examination of the Indians about Kennebeck, that there was a general surmise amongst them, that they should be required to assist the said Philip, although they would not own that they were at all engaged in the quarrel. The like jealousies did appear in all the Indians that in habited to the eastward of Piscataqua, which plainly shew that there was a design of general rising of the In dians against the English all over the country (possibly as far as Virginia, the Indians there making insurrections the same year) and that many if not most of them were willing it should succeed, although the oldest and wisest of them, did not like it, fearing the issue as they had THE INDIAN WARS. 263 ;ause : But many of the young men about Casco Bay, ind Amoscoggin, were certainly known to flock thither ;he last year, and did sundry of them come short home : For herein they acted but like savages, as those of Vir ginia did but fifty years before, shewing themselves friendly and courteous to their new neighbors till they had opportunity to do them mischief. So that notwith standing many of the inhabitants in the eastern, as in the western parts of the country, that were wont to trade with the Indians, were not willing to believe any such purpose among them, but were ready to think some of j-uder sort of the English, by their imprudent and irreg- |jlar actions, have driven them into this rebellion ; yet is it too evident that the said Indians (who naturally pelight in bloody and deceitful actions) did lay hold of by opportunity that might serve a pretence for their barbarous practices. Indians about Wammeset and Piscataqua, that had joined with their countrymen in their rising against the English the last winter, when r r hey were pinched with hunger, in the cold winter fol- jowing returned back to the English, and desired to tnake peace, and firmly engaged to continue their wont- bd friendship ; yea, some of them, as if they were really sorry for the murders and cruelties, of their own volun tary motion came with the prisoners thay had taken, and resigned them up to the English, yet when their own snds were answered and another opportunity was offer- 3d of doing further mischief of a like nature, they pres ently returned to their former practice, as is well known >f Simon and Andrew, that had killed some, aud led oth- 264 A NARRATIVE OF ers captive the last spring from Bradford and Haverhill, who came in the end of June to Major Walden s, bring- ing home English prisoners with them, yet did the very same Indians within less than two months after join with the Amoscoggan and Kennebeck Indians, in committing the said tragedies that were last acted in those parts ; yet was he and his partner suffered to escape for want of sufficient guarding the prison where they were put in order for further trial. But sero sapriant phyrgee ; it is hoped that we shall after some few more experien ces of this nature, learn to beware of this subtle brood and generation of vipers. Ever since enmity was put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the ser pent, it hath been the portion of her seed in every gen eration, arid in every nation to meet with the sad effects of that enmity ; nor can they ever expect to find better dealing from any of the other sort, further than either of their power or hope of benefit by their favor may in duce them to another disposition, as we the inhabitants of New-England have found by their late and sad expe rience in reference to these pagans in the west amongst whom our lot is cast, they proving, as one says of the Mahometans in the east, like a nest of hornets, that if any one of them chance to be provoked they will be all about his ears that comes near them. But it is time to begin with the particulars of the tragedy itself, that the reader account not the prologue too Ions;. It was on the 24th of June 1G76, wheri^he first mischief was done by the Trr liaDS about Mount Hope, before 20 days were over, the first fire began to kindle in these more remote THE INDIAN WARS. 265 and northerly bounds of the said country, or two hun dred and fifty miles distance, and upon this occasion, the llth of July, 1675, a letter was brought to Kenne- beck from one Henry Sawyer, an inhabitant of York, signifying the news of the Indians rising about Plymouth, and that a course was taken to disarm them along the shore. This rumour did so far awaken the inhabitants, that the very next day, at a general meeting of the Eng lish, at one Capt. PattishaPs house, several offered them selves as volunteers to go up the said river of Kenne- beck, to make discovery of the Indians fidelity, or eke to fight them if there was occasion. The third day af ter marching up the river, to Quegebeck, they met with the inhabitants of Sheepscot river, which is a river ly ing about twelve or fourteen miles to the northeast of Kennebeck. Divers of the Indians thereabouts, by the persuasion of one Mr. Walker, that used to trade with them, brought down an inconsiderable part of their ammunition, as a few guns, a little powder and shot, with a few knives. About 7 of the Kennebeck Indians, and five of those called Amoscoggan Indians, about Pe- gypscot (a river more southward towards Casco) made this pretence of bringing their arms, Capt. Lake, Capt. Pattishall, with Mr. Wiswal, in whose hands was settled a kind of military power for those parts, were sent for further to examine the said Indians, of whom upon ex amination they saw reason to suspect some, if not all ; whereupon they sent messengers a second time to the Amoscoggan Indians, and also a letter to Mr. Walker, to send down their arms* and ammunition to them for 266 A NARRATIVE OF their greater security. After Mr. Wiswal was returned home, the 5 Amoscogan Indians aforesaid, brought in their guns, but probably with no good intent ; for an Indian called Sowen, having an axe in his hand, struck at one Hosea Mallet, a Frenchman, but was prevented from doing him mischief; however, the said Indian was presently bound and put into a cellar. Some of th<3 English that used to trade with those Indians were ready to excuse the Indian, saying he was drunk, or that he was a distracted fellow. Mr. Wiswal, with the other two examinents, looked upon those as mere excuses, and altogether groundless, for one of thera to this day af firms that he was as rational and sensible as any of the rest. The ancient Indians being asked what they thought was meet to be done in the said case, said he was wor thy to die for such an affront, yet they would be glad if his life might be spared, offering to be jointly bound in his behalf, to pay forty beaver skins at the next fall voy age, giving their hands in token of their fidelity, and al so leaving their arms in the hands of the English as a pledge of their faithful keeping those articles of peace concluded on betwixt them. If they proved themselves honest men they were to have their arms again, which was accordingly performed the last of June, 1676 ; they hiving in the mean time carried themselves peaceably towards the English. The day after, an Indian called Eobbinhood, with great applause of the rest, made a dance, and sang a song to declare their content in what was transacted ; and so they parted, setting the Indians at liberty that had thus engaged for their friend Sowen, THE INDIAN WARS. 267 the Indian ; but yet to this day not one skin of beaver was ever paid to the English, as was promised, the In dians all this while were well provided for victuals by Capt. Lake, with other supplies of rum and tobacco, even to the disgusting of some English then present. But the Indians left as hostages upon Sowen s account, however civilly they were treated, ran all away at the last, trusting more to the celerity of their own feet, than to the civility of their English friends, who after they were escaped, joined with a. parcel of their fellows soon after, about 20 in all, in robbing the house of one Mr. Purchase, an ancient planter about Pegypscot river, and a known trader with the Indians, whatever wrong may be pretended by the said Indians, as done them in their trading, (of which more may be spoken afterwards) that will in no wise excuse their perfidious treachery and falshood, in breaking covenant with the English, dissem bling and seeking all advantages of cruelty against their English neighbors, of which in the following winter and summer, 1676, there will be a more full and undeniable discovery. This was done in the beginning of Septem ber, 1675. Those Indians that first assaulted Mr. Par- chase s house, did no other mischief than plundering it of strong liquor and ammunition, also killing a calf or two, with a few sheep, but no more than what they eat, and spoili jg a feather bed by ripping it open to turn out the feathers, contenting themselves with the case, which they might more easily carry away. They offered no incivility to the mistress of the house (her husband and eons being at that time from home) yet one of her sons 268 A NARRATIVE OF approaching near the house and finding it possessed by those new inhabitants, he rode away with all speed, and yet no faster than there was need, for an Indian follow ed him with a gun under his coat to have got within the reach of his piece. It is said that at the first they used fair words and spoke of trading, but as they went away, told those of the house, that there were others coming after that would deal far worse with them ; which within a short time af ter came to pass, for theg were but the messengers of death which was soon affer inflicted, and that in a most barbarous manner upon sundry inhabitants of the neigh boring plantations. The English in those parts being much inceased Lereat, 25 of them soon after going up Casco Bay in a sloop and two boats to gather Indian corn, and to look to what they had upon the said Bay, near Amoscoggin riv er ; when they came near the houses they heard a knocking, and a noise about the houses, and presently espied two or three Indians, who as yet did not see them. The English being come a good way from their vessel, endeavored to get between the Indians and the woods, which when they perceived they ran towards the water side, but the English in pursuit killed one of them and wounded another, who however escaped away in a canoe across the river, a third running back towards the woods fled to the other Indians and acquainted them with what was done, who presently came down and lay in wait to intercept the English, that thought of no danger, but scattered themselves all about the place, to gather their THE INPIAN WARS. 269 corn and lade their boats therewith, but before they were ready to go away the Indians truing down, fired upon them and forced them all into the sioop ; had not some of them been better prepared than the rest, they might all have been cut off; for some little resistance being mide by them that were ready with their guns, it gave the rest an opportunity to get all into the sloop, yet not without many wounds. So with much ado, they all es caped with their lives, leaving the two boats almost la den with corn, a prey to the Indians, who presently burnt one, and plundered the other of all that was there in ; some are ready to think that the English did im prudently begin the quarrel, and not first enquire into what the Indians were about in the house, and seek re dress according to the aforementioned agreement, made at the court at Keunebeck. But if this happened after what follows next to be related, viz. that which was done to old Mr. Wakely and his family, the English can be blamed for nothing but their negligence and security, in that having alarmed their enemies, they stood not better upon their guard, which is not very certain ; for it is thought that within a few days after, or the next week, a more horrible outrage was committed upon the family of an ancient man, whose name was Wakely, an inhab itant of Casco Bay, who had some discontent, which af terwards he often bewailed, resolving either to have re turned back, or else to have removed to some securer place, but he was arrested by the sons of violence be fore he could effect his purpose. This old man, together with his wife, his SOD, and his Y 2 270 A NARRATIVE OF daughter in law, (then far advanced in pregnancy) with three grand- children were cruelly murdered by those barbarous savages at one time ; another of his grand children was taken alive and led into captivity, a daugh ter of his was said to be carried to Narraganset, which shews that they joined with the southern Indians in the rebellion. When once these Indians had embrued their hands in English blood, they were emboldened to the like bloody attempts in the adjacent places. This Wakely lived so far from his neighbors, or else was encompassed with creeks or rivers, that no relief could presently be sent to him ; however, Lieut. Inger- soll, of Casco, the next day with a file of men, repaired to the place where his house stood, to see what was the reason of the fire they discerned the day before, where they found the house burnt to ashes, the body of the old man half consumed with the fire, the young woman killed and three of the grand- children having their brains beat out and their bodies laid under some oaken planks not far from the house ; one girl of about J 1 years old, was carried captive by them, and having been carried up and down the country some hundreds ofaniles, as far as Narraganset fort, was this last June returned back to Major Walderu a by one Squando, the Sagamore of Sa- co ; a strange mixture of mercy and cruelty. Boon after Capt Bonithon s and Major Phillip s dwel lings were assaulted, one on the east, the other on the west side of Saco river. It is said they had seasonable notice of what was intended against them by their barba rous enemies, those Amoscoggan Indians, by the Indian THE INDIAN WARS. 2?1 of Saco, their neighbor,, better minded than the rest of bis countrymen, who observing a strange Indian coming tohii wigwam in company with some of his acquaintance, one of whom informed him of the rest with the stranger were gone, that the said stranger came from the west ward, and that his business was to persuade the eastern Indians to fall upon the English in their dwellings here, as the rest had done to the westward. Capt. Bonithon, either upon this information, or upon the knowledge of what was done a little before at Casco, had left his house, and was retired over the river with his family to Major Phillips garrison. Thus two are better than one, for otherwise both might have been destroyed ; for upon the eighteenth of September following, being the seventh day of the week, about 11 o clock those at Major Phil lips garrison saw Capt. Bonithon s house on fire, which by the good providence of God was to them as the fir ing a beacon giving them notice to look to themselves, their enemies being now come ; for otherwise they might, to their great disadvantage, have been too sud denly surprised, for within half an hour after they were upon them, when a sentinel placed in a chamber gave notice that he saw an Indian by the fence side near a corn field ; Major Philips, not willing to believe till he might see with his own eyes, ran hastily up, another of his men corning after, cried, Major what do you mean ? do you intend to be killed ? at which words he turned from the window out of which he was looking, when pre sently a bullet struck him on the shoulder, grazing only upon it without breaking the bone. The Indians upon 2?2 A NARRATIVE OF the shot, thinking he had been slain thereby (as (hey had heard afterwards) gave a great shouf, upon which they discerned that they were surrounded by them, whereupon they instantly fired on the enemy from all quarters, and from the flankers of the fortification, so as they wounded the Captain of the Indians, who presently leaving the assault, retired three or four miles from the place, where he soon after died, as they were informed: He counselled them to leave the siege, but they were resolved not so to quit the place ; nor were those with in less resolute to defend it : one of the best men was soon after disabled from any further service, by a wound he received in one of the vollies made by the assailants; but that did not in the least daunt the rest of the defen dants, who continued still to fire upon the enemy : This dispute lasted about an hour, after which the enemy dispairing to take the house by assault, thought upon a device how to burn it. Frst, firing the house of one of his tenants, then his saw-miK, hoping by that means to draw them out of the garrison to put out the fire, but missing of their purpose in that, they called out, you English cowardly dogs, come out and quench the fire. They continued this sport all the afternoon continually firing upon them. The besieged hoped for relief from the towns but none came, the Major still encouraging his men to hold it out which they manfully did all that night, when they were alarm ed almost every half hour ; and between whiles they could hear their axes arid other instruments, knocking about the mills till the next day. Those within the THE INDIAN WARS. 273 house conceived they were preparing some engine wherewith to burn the house, which really was the case, for about four o clock in the morning, at the sitting of the moon when he saw a cart with four wheels, having a barricade built in the fore part to keep off shot, and filled with combustible matter, birch rinds, straw, pow der, and poles 20 feet long ready to fire the house ; he bid them let them drive it within pistol shot, before they made any shot against them ; his men were a little dis couraged at the sight of this engine ; but he bid them be of good courage, and use means, putting their trust in God, who, he was confident would relieve them. The cart when brought a little nearer became unwieldly by reason of a barricade planted in it, and being to pass through a small gutter, one wheel stuck fast in the slough, which brought the cart suddenly to the left, whereby the drivers lay all open to their right flanker, when they fired upon them out of the said flanker, and having so fair a shot upon them, and not being above pistol shot from the place, they killed 6 of the enemy, and wound ed 15, as they found afterwards, which no doubt made them too late to repent of their resolution, not to follow their Captain s counsel and example in leaving the siege ; for now they presently parted : so as at sunrise those within the house espied 40 of them marching away, but how many more were in the company they could not tell. The Indians it seems went towards Blue Point where it is said they killed several persons, but those in the house feared, the Major was called by the men to look 274 A NARRATIVE OP out for more help, as they expected their return ; but it seems their courage failed them as to another attempt upon an house so well garrisoned and manfully defend ed. Major Phillips sent to the town for help acquaint ing them with what had passed, but noie was sent them either that day or the next, so having spent almost all their ammunition, the people that were with him would not be persuaded to tarry longer than Tuesday morn ing, which constrained him and his family to remove to the town. About a fortnight after, the Indians hear ing thereof, came and burnt down the empty house. There were 50 persons in the said house during the time of the siege, and but 10 able hands, they had five more that could do something, but through age or mi nority not able to make any great risistance ; yet it pleased God, in whose hands are all men s lives and limbs, who is never wont to fail them, who in time of danger are ready to confide in his power and goodness, as not to neglect the use of due means for their own preservation, so to order thing?, that not one person of all those 50 was either killed or mortally wounded. Ma jor Phillips himself was wounded but not dangerously, at the beginning of the assault, his mills with other edi fices were the first day burnt by the enemy, and so were all the houses at feaco, or most of them soon after, that were above the fishermen stage?. One Mr. Hitchcock being carried captive by the enemy from the same place, died in the winter following, by eating some poisonous root instead of ground nuts, as was reported by the In dians afterwards. THE INDIAN WARS. 275 Much about the same time, five persons going up the river of Saco, were all killed by the same Indians. These tragedies being thus acted at Casco Bay and Saco, those barbarous enemies dispersed themselves in parties ; intending to do all the mischief they could to the English inhabiting about that side of the country. In the same month of September they came down to wards Piscataqua, doing the like spoil upon the inhabit ants of the several branches of that river which they had been doing elsewhere. In the first place they burnt the two Chestyes houses about Oyster river, and killed two men that were passing along the river in a canoe, and carried away an old Irishman, with a young man taken from about Exeter, who both of them soon after made an escape to a garrison at Salmon Falls in Kittery, by the help of an Indian better disposed than the rest, the first after seven weeks, the other after a month s cap tivity. About the same time one Goodman Robinson, of Ex eter, with his son, were travelling towards Hampton, where, as they passed along, they were waylaid by three Indians, viz. John Sampson, Cromwell, and John Linde, who shot the old man, and left him dead upon the place ; bis son, hearing the guns, escaped their hands by run ning into a swamp, whither the Indians pursued him, but could not overtake him, so he got safe into Hampton about midnight, where he related what had befel him by the way, and how narrowly he avoided the danger, in timating likewise that he feared his father was killed, which was found too true by Lieut. Sweet, who the next 276 A NARRATIVE OF day with 12 soldiers of the town went to search those woods, where they found the poor old man shot through his back, the bullet having passed through his body, and was stopped by the skin on the other side. Another person of Exeter, whese name was Foulsam, was at the same time driving a pair of oxen in the same road, where soon after he heard the report of the guns when Robin son was killed, he espied the three Indians creeping up on their bellies towards him, to do as much for him as they had done for Robinson, but leaving his oxen, he put on his horse with all speed, and so was delivered from the danger that the other fell into ; it is reported that one of the Indians made a shot at him : but he was either got out of their reach, or else they missed their aim at that time. The same Indians had a little before met with another Englishman in those woods, one Charles Randlet, whom they carried captive, although he soon after escaped out of their hands, by the help of another Indian called James. It is said there were four Indians out of that company, and that the fourth was sent away with Randlet, so that there were but three seen together at the killing and pursuing the other aforementioned. One of the said Indians, viz. John Sampson, was killed by some of Capt. Hathborn s soldiers atCasco Bay, in Sep tember following, 1676, ivhen the scouts of our forces came upon the Indians on a sudden, and had a small brush with them, but all the rest made a shift to get away : As for the other two, viz. Cromwell and John Linde, one of them it is said, is since killed, or taken and sold away, the other is at Keonebeck, whom veil- THE INDIAN WARS* 277 geance may also in due time overtake, as it hath done the other. Within a few days after that barbarous act at Oyster river, two Indians, viz. one named Andrew, and the other Hopehood, the son of him called Robbinhood, as saulted the house of one Tozer, at ISewechewanriick, wherein were fifteen persons, all women and children, who without doubt had all of them fallen into the merci less hands of the two cruel and barbarous caitiffs, had not a young maid of about 18 years of age, first espied them, who being endued with more courage than ordin arily the rest of the sex use to be (the blessings of Jael light upon her) first shut too the door, whereby they were denied entrance till the rest within escaped to the next house, that was better fortified ; that young heroess kept the door fast against them so long, till the Indians had chopped it into pieces with their hatchets, when en- . tering the house they knocked the poor maid down with ! their hatchets, and gave her many other wounds, leav- ! ing her for dead upon the place ; after which they pass ed on toward the next dwelling, in their way meeting with two children that had escaped the house first brok en open by them, they killed one of them, of three years ; old, which could not follow fast enough or else they that \ carried it could not convey it over a fence soon enough i to save themselves and it ; and carried away the other I of seven years old, which however was returned safe > within half a year after. The poor maid that had ven tured her life so far to save many others, was by a strange Providence enabled to recover so much strength z 278 A NARRATIVE OP after they were gone, as to repair to the next garrison, where she was soon after healed of her wounds and res tored to perfect health again. The next day toward night more of the barbarous enemies being gathered together, they made an assault upon the neighboring dwellings. The English as many as could be spared out of the garrison (not above 8 in number) pursued after them about half a mile, but night coming on, it was judged best to retreat, lest otherwise they might have been intercepted in their return home, by any of them lying in ambush, which is their usual way of doing mischief. After divers shot made on both 1 sides, but 5 of the enemy appeared ; who yet took the advantage of Capt. Wincol s absence (whose dwelling was not far off) to burn his house and two barns more, wherein was much English corn, supposed to be above an hundred bushels in one of them. After they had done this mischief they fled away. The next day after, the same Indians or others of their fellows, came upon the other side of the river, from whence they shot ove several times to some that mere grinding in the mill but after the exchanging of many shot on both sides, the river betwixt them, six of the enemy shewed themselves in the twilight, uttering several insolent and barbarous speeches, calling our men English dogs, c. yet all thi* while out of reach of their shot, and then they run awa} like dogs after they had done barking. After this those very Indians, as was supposed, burn cd five or six houses about Oyster river, and killed tw< men, viz. one William Roberts and his son-in-law. Th< THE INDIAN WARS. 2/9 inhabitants of Dover, with some other resolute young men, being much provoked by these many insolences and injuries done by the enemy, obtained liberty from the Major of the regiment, to try whether they could not meet with some of the Indians, by secret ambushes and skulking amongst the bashes and trees as the In dians used to do with them ; to which end about twenty divided themselves into small parties : Soon after as they were looking for the enemy, a party of ours espied five of the Indians, some gathering corn in the field, while the rest of them were busied in heating an oven to bake some of the fruit which they also gathered in the same field. The English were at such a distance that they could not make any sign to their comrades, with out being discovered by the Indians in the field ; where fore two of them crept as near as they could to the house, at one end of the field where they suddenly rushed upon two of the wretches, and knocked them down with the butt end of their muskets, which was not done so silently but the other three in the field took the alarm and fled away, who might eke as easily as the other two have been surprised. These outrages thus daily committed filled all the plantations about Piscataqua with fear and confusion ; scarce any place where there was not reason for some lo complain either of the loss of tbeir friends or burning of their houses ; which caused most of them that lived gcatterirjgly, at any distance from neighbors, either to garrison their houses or else to desert their own dwell* ings, and to repair to their next neighbors that were 280 A NARRATIVE OF better fortified than themselves ; but all the inhabitants in general were alarmed to stand upon their guard. On the 7th of October following, being a day of pub lic humiliation, a man was shot down as he was riding between two garrison houses about Newechewannick, and died of his wounds two months after ; the same in stant of time two young men were shot dead about a mile from that place ; these two had their arms or guns with them, which were carried away by those who kill ed them, logelher with their upper garments : It is not said that these three last (though killed upon a day of humiliation) were surprised in their repairing to, or re turning from the place of public worship, which would 5n a great measure have abated the sorrow of their sad funerals, if when they were suddenly arrested by the harbingers of death, they had been so doing. Soon af ter this they assaulted another house at Oyster river, notwithstanding it was garrisoned, and meeting with a good old man, whose name was Beard, without the gar rison, they killed him upon the place, and in a barba rous manner cut off his head, and set it upon a pole in derision. Not far off about the same time they burnt another house and barn. Upon the 1 6th of October, being Saturday, about an hundred of the Indians were gathered together to assault Newechewannick ; they began with one named Tczer, half a mile from the upper garrison, at Salmon Falls : The said Tozer was presently killed, his son taken cap tive (but returned after some months restraint) several guns being shot at this assault, alarmed Lieut. Plaisted, THE INDIAN WARS. at the next garrison, who like a man of public spirit, im mediately sent out seven men from the garrison under his command, to see what the matter was, but being met by an ambush laid in the way as they went, lost 2 or 3 of the company, the rest hardly escaping back to the place from whence they came ; whereupon the said Lieutenant Plaisted immediately dispatched away a mes senger to Major Waldern, at Quecbecho, which, because it seems to be the last time that ever that good and use ful man set pen to paper, the letter shall be here in serted. Salmon Falls, Oct. 16, 1675. Mr. Richard Waldern and Lieut. Coffin, these are to inform you that just now the Indians are engaging us with at least an hundred men, and have slain four of our men already, Richard Tozer, James Barney, Isaac Bottes, and Tozer s son, and burnt Benoni Hodsdan s house : Sirs, if ever you have any love for us and the country, now shew yourselves with men to help us, or else we are all ia great danger of being slain, unless our God wonderfully appears for our deliverance. They that cannot fight let them pray : nothing else, but I rest. Yours to serve you. ROGER PLAISTED, GEORGE BROUGHTON." What answer was returned to the importunate and pathetical letter i?^ not fully known at present ; most probably he that was most concerned in the contents of it was either absent from home or in no capacity to send the relief desired, which if it could have been had, Z 2 822 A NARARTIVE OP might have prevented the said mischief that fell out the next day ; when Lieutenant Plaisted being more earnest ly bent to perform that last office of love to his deceased friends, whom he could not by all his endeavors save from the danger of death, while they were in the land of the living, would needs venture himself with 20 sol diers out of his garrison, to fetch off the dead bodies. To that end he ordered a pair of oxen to be yoked to bring them to his garrison, in order to their Christian burial, not considering that the Indians lay skulking thereabouts, waiting for such opportunities. They went first to the furtherest place, where they found R. Tozer s body, and put it in the cart, but coming back to take up the other two bodies which were fallen in a little swamp nearer to the garrison, they were set upon by 150 of the enemy, who had hid themselves in the bushes, and un der a stone wall, and logs in the way as they were to pass ; by the sudden noise of the guns the cattle being frighted, ran away to the garrison with such of the dead as were first laid thereon (and possibly with one of them wounded at that instant) leaving their owners to fight it out with the enemy. Lieut. Plaisted being thus desper- atelv assaulted, he with his 20 men were forced to re treat to a place of better advantage ; but being there so warmly pursued, they were not able to abide it long, al though they killed and mortally wounded several of the Indians, as themselves have since confessed ; but they most of them being so much overmatched, took the op- p<> uiiii y of a fafr retreat and so got safe to their gar risons, while Lieut. Plaisted out of the height of hi* cour- THE INDIAN WARS. 283 age, disdaining either to fly from or yield himself (for, tis said the Indians were loth to kill him; but desirous rather to take him prisoner) into the hands of such cur sed caitiffs, did fight it out desperately, till he was slain upon the place ; his eldest son and another man were slain in their too late retreat, and his other son was sore ly wounded, so that he died in a few weeks after. The Indians were contented with the mischief tor the present and slunk away into the woods before the next day, when Capt. Frost came from Sturgeon Creek, a few miles below the river, with a party of his friends and buried the dead. During these onsets the enemy also took the advantage to burn three houses and two barns before they left the place. The latter end of the same month they burnt a mill near the same place belonging to Mr. Hutchinson, a merchant of Boston ; from whence they came down to wards Sturgeon Creek, where they burnt one house and killed two men not far from Capt. Frost s dwelling, he escaping himself very narrowly, being shot at by the enemy, about ten in number, who might easily have burnt his house and taken all that was in it, being but thiee boys besides himself, had he not used this policy, to call out to some to march this, and the other way, to look after the Indians, as if he had many at hand to com mand, which under God was the means of his escape ; for his house was neither fortified, nor well manned, al though far from neighbors. The next day the said Indians passed down the riv er on Kittery side, killed one man, whose house they first plundered, and then they set it on fire ; ail this was 284 A NARRATIVE OF done just over against Portsmouth, from whence out of a small battery was discharged a piece of ordnance, which by a good Providence was directed so to fling its shot, as it fell very near a party of the Indians, for they were so affrighted therewith (if none of them were killed) that they left a good part of their plunder near the place. They were pursued by some of the English before they could recover their home, and by the help of the snow- that fell about that time, were traced till they were over taken, but being near a swamp escaped, thro haste leav ing two of their packs behind. Soon after they went up the river again to Q,ueche- cho, where they burnt a house and two or three barns. Another party of them got over or beyond the other branches of Piscataqua river, towards Exeter, and Lam prey Eel river, where they killed one man. Many of them were in the woods about Exeter, and between Hampton and Exeter, where they killed one or two men as they were travelling homewards, occasioning the people of those towns to stand continually upon their guard, which proved a great annoyance to the inhabitants. But let us look a little back to the plantations more eastward from Piscataqua river* where these outrages of the Indians first began. At Casco Bay, Lieut. Ingersoll s son with another man, going out a fowling about this time, were both killed before they returned home, his father s house being burnt, with many others also thereabouts. At Black Point, Lieut. Augur with two more were assaulted by the Indians, where after many shot exchan ged betwixt them, himself was so wounded, that he died THE INDIAN WARS. 285 soon after, and his brother also was killed within a few days after, not far from the same place. When the rising of the Indians first began in those eastern parts (with us called the county of Yorkshire) Capt. Wincol of Newechewannick, with some others, having a sympathy for some of his neighbors, marched up that way with a small party of men. In his first skirmish with the enemy he chanced to lose two or three of his company ; the rest not being above 11 in all, as they were marching along by the sea-side were assault ed by a great number of the Indians, judged to be 150 ; being hard beset with so great a number, they retreated to an heap of bolts that lay near the water side, by the shelter of which they lay safe from the enemy s guns, and so well played their few guns, that they slew many of the Indians, and put them all to a kind of route at last ; after which, by the help of an old canoe they recovered safe to the other side of the bank. But nine Saco men had worse success who came with a good intent to help their friends, upon the hearing of their guns ; but as they came to rescue Capt. Wincol with his small party, they themselves fell into an ambush of the enemy and so Were all cut off, with two other men also, near the place where the first skirmish was, for the Indians from the shore side could discern any that were coming towards them when they were at a great distance, and so might easily way-lay them before they could come up to them. Near upon seven houses were burnt about this time, and some persons killed at Black Point. Two persons were killed at Wells in the beginning 286 A NARRATIVE OF of winter, one of them was a servant to Mr. William Symmonds (one of the principal men in the town afore said) the gentleman himself with his family were remov ed to a garrison house in the middle of the town. His servant going early in the morning to look after some business there, tarried longer than was needful to pro vide something for himself, the Indians invited them selves to breakfast with him, making the poor fellow pay the shot when they had done with the loss of his life. A week after one Cross was slain at Wells likewise, who was a kind of a distracted fellow. Also one Isaac Cousins was there killed in the beginning of winter, af ter there had been some overtures of peace between Major Waldern and the Indians. With such kind of mutual encounters was the latter part of the year spent betwixt the Indians and the Eng lish from Piscataqua river to Kennebeck, from the be ginning of August to the end of November, wherein ma ny were slain on both sides ; of the English in those parts were slain upwards of fifty ; the enemy lost, as ap peared afterwards by their own confession, above 90 partly in the aforesaid skirmishes, and partly in their joining with the Indians to the westward, whither it is said many were invited to repair, to help destroy the English, in hopes to enjoy their possessions afterwards ; but God had otherwise determined, who did arise at last to save the meek ones of the earth, and plead the cause of his people. The Governor and Council of Massachusetts had at this time their hands full with the like attempts of PhiJ- INDIAN WARS. 28? fp anil his accomplices at the westward, yet were not un mindful of the deplorable condition of these eastern plan tations ; having committed the care thereof to the Majors of the respective regiments of the several counties on that side of the country, but more especially to the care and prudence of the Honorable Major D. Dennison, Major General of the colony, a gentleman who by his great insight in, and long experience of all martial affairs, was every way accomplished for the managing that whole affair ; he had, to ease the other side of the coun try, drawn out a sufficient number of soldiers from the next counties, to have reduced all the Indians eastward to their obedience ; but just as they were intended to march up to the head-quarters of the Indians, to fall upon them there, viz. at Ossapy and Pigwauchet, about aa hundred miles up into the country northward, the winter setting in so sharp and severe in the beginning of December, and latter end of November, it was not possible to have marched a days journey into the woods without hazarding all their lives that should venture up, the snow being found generally in those woods four feet thick on the tenth of December, so as it was not possi ble for any to have travelled that way unless they car ried rackets under their feet, wherewith to walk upon the snow : This only consideration forced them to lay aside the design for the present, but soon after it was done to their hands ; for the depth of the snow, and sharpness of the cold, were so extreme, that the Indiana in those parts were so pinched therewith, that being starved they sued for peace, making their address first 283 A NARRATIVE OF to Major Waldern, on that account by whose mediations that whole body of Indians eastward were brought to an hopeful conclusion of peace, which was mutually agreed upon and possibly might have remained firm enough to this day, had there not been too just an occasion given for the breaking of the same, by the wicked practice of some lewd persons which opened the door, and made way for the bringing in all those sad calamities and mis chiefs that have since fallen upon those parts of the coun try, as shall hereafter be declared. In the latter end of June, 1676, the Indians that had made a genera! conspiracy against the English, were strangely dispersed and dispirited, so that from that time they began to separate one from another, and every nation of them to shift for themselves, as hath already been mentioned in the former part of this narrative. Ca- ronicus, the great Sachem of (he Narragansets, distrust ing the proffers of the English, was slain in the woods by the Mohawks, his Hquaw surrendering herself, by this means her life was spared. Many of those about Lancaster, and the places ad joining thereto, did cunningly endeavor to hide them selves among those Indians about Piscataqua, that by Major Waldern s means had concluded a peace, yet could neither dissemble their nature and disposition from suspicios of mischief, nor yet so artificially conceal their passions, but they were easily discerned by such as in former times had any acquaintance with the eastern In dians by way of trade, or other converse : Whereupon the forces newly raised in Massachusetts under the com- THE INDIAN WARS. 289 mancl of Capt. William Hathorne and Capt. Joseph Still, designed for the subduing (hose Indians about the river of Merrimack and Piscataqua, that still stood out in hostility against the English, meeting with those un der the command of Major Waldern aforesaid and Capt. Frost of Kittery ; it was mutually agreed betwixt those several commanders to seize upon all those Indians which at that time were met together about Major Wal- dern s dwelling at Quechecho ; the design succeeded according to expectation, and all the Indians were hand somely surprized the 6th of September 1676, without the loss of any persons life, either Indian or English, to the number of near 400 ;by which device, after our forces had them all in their hands, they separated the peacea ble from the perfidious, that had been our enemies du ring the late troubles ; finding about 200 involved in the former rebellion more or less, they accordingly were sent down to the Governor and council at Boston, who adjudged 7 or 8 of them immediately to die ; such as were known to have had their hands in the blood of the English, or that had been shed by their means ; the rest that were found only accessories to the late mischiefs, bad their lives spared, but were sent into different parts of the world to try the difference between the friendship of their neighbors here, and their service with other masters elsewhere. Those who had been always peaceable and true to the English, never intermeddling in the quarrel, as Wan- nalancet, the Sagamore of Pennicook, and some others, were quietly dismissed to their own places. E A A 290 A NARRATIVE OF those that were surprised at the time aforesaid, there were several others who had been the chief actors, that were taken up and down in those woods beyond Merri- mack, and so were delivered up to justice ; as John Monoco, Sagamore Sam, old Jethro with some others, as bath been already mentioned, yet young Jethro brought in 40 at one time. It was a special favor from God so to order it, that the Indians aforesaid, were so surprised ; for had they continued their former rebellion, and had taken the opportunity to have joined with the eastern Indians, as some of them did a few months before, they would in all likelihood have utterly destroyed all the plantations of the English beyond Piscataqua river, as appears by the mischief that was lately done by means of a few, from too much connivance of some in those parts that entertained a better opinion of (hem than it seems they deserved. For whereas mention was formerly made of a small party of Indians, that on the 3d day of May, in this present year, had murdered one Thomas Kembel, of Bradford, and carried away his wife and five children captive ; yet two or three of the actors did, upon what consideration is not known, return the woman and children again within six weeks, and be<- cause of their voluntarily returning of them were dealt more favorably with ; being only put into prison at Do ver, for a time ; yet possibly conceiving that a prison was but a preparation for a worse evil, they took an op portunity (two of the chief actors in the aforesaid mis chief, one called Simon the other Andrew) to convey themselves out of the place of restraint, and afterwards THE INDIAN WARS. 291 going amongst the Amoscoggan and Kennebeck Indians, have joined with them in those bloody and cruel depre dations lately made in those parts, which follow in or der next to be related. Some little color or pretence of injury was alleged before those eastern Indians began their outrage, both in the former, as well as in the present year ; the chief actor or rather the beginner of all the aforesaid mischiefs eastv?ard, is one Squando, the Sagamore of Saco In dians, whose squaw, as is said, was abused by a rude and indiscreet act of some English seaman, the last sum mer, 1675, who either overset the canoe wherein the said squaw with her child were sailing in a river there abouts, or else to try whether the children of the Indians, as they had heard, could swim as naturally as any oth er creatures, wittingly cast her child into the water ; but the squaw immediately diving into the water after it, fetched it up from the bottom of the river, yet it fall ing out within a while after the said child died (which it might have done if no such affront had been offered) the said Squando, father of the child, hath been so pro voked thereat that he hath ever since set himself to do all the mischief he can to the English in those parts, and was never as yet, since that time, truly willing to be reconciled, although he is said to have sent home some that were taken captive the last year. Surely if their hearts had not been secretly filled with malice and re venge before they might have obtained satisfaction for the wrong done at an easier rate ; more probably it is 292 A NARRATIVE OF that this was only an occasion to vent this mischief they had formerly conceived in their hearts. * There is an injury of an higher nature mentioned as the ground of their quarrel with us who live about Pem- maquid, which happened the last spring, viz. one Laugh- ton, with another person or more, who having obtained under the hand of Major Waldern, a warrant to seize any Indians eastward that had been guilty of any murder or spoil done to the English in those parts, did most perfidiously and wickedly entice some of the Indians about Cape Sables (who never had been in the least manner guilty of any injury done to the English) on board their vessel, or else some other way, and then carried them away to sell them for slaves ; which the Indians in those parts look upon as on injury done to themselves, have alleged it to the inhabitants of Pem- maquid, as one of the principal grounds of their present quarrel : The thing alleged is too true as to matter of fact, and the persons that did it were lately committed to prison in order to their further trial. Yet all those Indians do, or may know full well, that they who did them that wrong, were liable to due punishment (or else their quarrel might be accounted just, and they consid ered as Indians, must have the more allowance) if they could be found, nor ever were any countenanced amongst us, that had done them any kind of injury, nor did those that take upon them the revenging of the injury, know that they were inhabitants of this country that did the wrong; nor was there ever any orderly complaint made there of ; but this cannot excuse their perfidiousness and cm- THE INDIAN WARS. 293 elfy. Some other pretences alleged by the said In dians that yet do bear no proportion to the mention of a wrong, or injury, viz, because our traders were for bidden to sell any ammunition to any Indians whatso ever ; which those Indians say they cannot live without; yet seeing they themselves, as the westward Indians have so ill improved that which they had before, there was little reason why they should quarrel with us for selling no more. Further also, it is affirmed by some persons worthy of credit, that for divers years past have lived in those parts, that the Indians thereabouts need not have want ed powder or shot, only they wanted something where with to cloak their malicious and barbarous practices of late committed against us ; but there being different opinions about this point, we shall leave it for the pres ent. But this being premised in reference to the pre tended ground or occasion of the quarrel, it remains that the effect thereof be now related. Before the war with Philip walVe!! ended to the southward, there was a fresh alarm sounded again to the eastward ; for on the llth of August, 1676, the very day before Philip s heart that had harbored so many mischievous and treacherous devices against the Eng lish, was by one of his own company shot through, a party of Indians began their outrages at Casco in a most perfidious and treacherous manner, killing and car rying away captive, to the number of 30 persons, and burning their houses ; amongst whom was" the family of one A nthony Bracket, an inhabitant of Casco, who was A A 2 294 A NARRATIVE OF thought to have been killed, but he himself, with his wife, and one of his five children carried away captive, with a negro did happily make an escape from their bloody and deceitful hand*, in November next ensuing. The manner how Anthonj Bracket and his wife made their escape was very remarkable and therefore judged worthy to be here inserted, although out of due place. The Indians that led them captive having bro t them to the north side of Casco Bay, news was brought to the said Indians of the surprizal of Arowsic s house in Keimebeck, with all the stores therein, which did so re joice them, that they made all haste to share in the good things there to be had : Thus eager to be gone, they promised Bracket and his wife that they also should have a share therein if they would haste after them : The woman having a little before observed an old birch canoe lying at the water side, hoped it was an opportu nity Providence offered for their escape ; whereupon she first prudently asked the Indians to let the negro, their own servant (at the same time carried captive by them) help them to carry their burthens, which was granted ; then she begged for them a piece or two of meat, which was not denied them. Thus being furnish ed with help and provision, the Indians leaving them behind to come after with their several burthens, and a young child, they could not but look upon it as a nuirus Divimis, to bid them shift for themselves : The woman also found a needle and thread in the house, with which she mended the canoe, while they tarried on that side ef the bay, in which they soon ventured to get away, THE INDIAN WARS. 295 which proiperously succeeded ; for in that old canoe they crossed a water eight or nine miles broad, and when they came on the south side of the bay, they might have been in as much danger of other Indians, that had lately been about Black Point, and had taken it ; but they were newly gone. So things on all sides thus concurring to help forward their deliverance, they came safely to the seat at Black Point, where also by special providence they met with a vessel bound for Piscataqua, that came into that harbour but a few hours before they came thither, by which means they arrived safe in Pis- cataqua river soon after ; all which circumstances are very worthy to be noted. Amongst those Indians that seized this Bracket s fam ily, the chief was one Simon, who had but a little be fore escaped out of Dover prison, where he was not carefully overlooked ; he had had his hand in the mur der of sundry English, as he had confessed ; not missing any, save one, on whom he had discharged his gun ; but because he came in voluntarily, bringing in a woman and five children of the English, who had been carried cap tive a little before, it was questioned whether his last act of submission might not balance his former transgres sion, and therefore he was committed to that, not so se cure a prison, till his cause might be further considered of. It is said that coming to Bracket s house over night, he pulled forth a counterfeited pass under the hands of some public officers, or men entrusted with that service, making shew of all friendship ; but in the morning, or soon after, he pulled off the visor of a friend, and discov- 296 A NARRATIVE OP ered what he was ; yet granting life to this person and his family, that did not, or c.iuld not resist, which he denied to some of the neighbors not far off, who were many of them killed by this bloody viliain and his part ners. There are some circumstances in the assault of An thony Bracket s house very considerable, which, because it was the first outrage committed by the Indians in the second insurrection, 1676, are worthy of a more partic ular remembering. This Indian before mentioned called Simon, after he had escaped out of the prison of Dover came to Casco, and either in the end of July or beginning of August, acquainted himself of this Anthony Bracket, and oft fre quented his house. Upon the 9th of August some of the Indians having killed a cow of his, the Indian Simon coming to his house promised to bring the Indians to him that had killed his cow. In the mean time they of the place sent two men to Major Waldern s at Dover, to complain of this injury done by the Indians, but be fore their return, very early in the morning on the llth of August, Simon with a party of Indians came to An thony Bracket s house, and told him there were the In dians that had killed his cow ; but as soon as they had said that, the Indians went further into his house and took hold of all the guns they could see : Bracket ask ed what was the meaning of that, Simon replied, that so it must be, asking him withal, whether he had rather serve the Indians, or be slain by them ; which he an swered, that if the case were so, he would rather chuse THE INDIAN WARS. 297 to serve them than be killed by them : Simon replied, that then they must be bound which was presently done. The said Bracket, his wife and a negro were all bound by the Indians ; his wife had a brother, who offering to resist was killed forthwith ; the rest, with five children were led away prisoners. Two hours after one Pike, that lived not far off, but knowing nothing of all this, went up in a canoe, toward one Robert Oorban s house where he found one Hum phrey Durham and Benjamin Atwel at work about their hay ; after a little stay he left them, intending to go up higher with his canoe, but as soon as he was a little past, he heard the report of guns which made him with an other man he had with him, presently return back ; be fore he came beyond CorbaiVs house he saw an English boy running with all haste which made him fear some mischief was at hand, and presently a volley of shot came against them, but the bullets flying over their heads, did them no hurt ; presently Simon appeared, and called them to come on hore ; but they liked not his courtesy, and turning their canoe into the stream, got out of the reach of their guns, hasting down to his own house with all speed ; when he came near to his house, he called to the people to make haste away to wards the garrison house, and bid the rest look to them selves, and fire upon the Indians that were coming against them : In the mean while the Indians passing from An thony Bracket s to Corban s, killed Corban himself, to gether with Humphrey Durham arid Benjamin Atwel, before mentioned ; then passing on to other houses, 293 A NARRATIVE OF killed some, and carried others away captive. At one of the next houses the women and children got off into the water by a canoe ; but one James Ross, his ^ife and children were carried away. Corban s wife, with one of the other men s wives, and the children of anoth er, they carried away likewise. In another side of the town as three persons were going to reap at Anthony Bracket s, passing from an house where they left their canoe met with John Mount- joy and one Wakely, to whom they tald what had hap pened, soon after they heard two guns fired, whereby it seems two men were killed ; wherefore coming back to wards T. Bracket s, where they left their canoe, they saw him shot down by the Indians ; one of the three not so well able to run, hid himself in the bushes in hopes to make his escape more conveniently afterwards, which accordingly he did ; but in the mean time he saw the Indians carry away Thomas Bracket s wife and chil dren. Soon after the three men aforesaid got safe to Mr. Mountjoy s garrison, but not trusting to the securi ty of that garrison, they soon after repaired to an island in the bay, called James Andrew s I&land. One George Lewis and his wife tarried all this time in their house till the next day, when they had opportunity to get safe to the island aforesaid, together v,ith the two men that were now returned from Major Waldern s ; whither they had been sent but too late, to make complaint of the Indians that had counterfeited his pass to travel in to those parts, and had done this mischief. The day after, one George Felt, suspecting the worst THE INDIAN WARS. 299 by reason of a smoke he saw on the opposite side of the town, took his wife and children in a canoe to see what the matter was, but when he came near a point of land not far off, he found several of his neighbors goods, which made him conclude their owners were killed, which was a sufficient warning to him likewise to fly for his life, which he did to the same island. After a num ber of them had escaped thither, they recollected that they had left powder behind them in one or two places : whereupon they detenninad to venture a party of them in the night, to prevent the Indians from having any advantage thereby, a?d for their own defence if occasion should require ; accordingly their attempt succeeded well, for they brought away a barrel of powder from one "Wells house, and likewise a considerable quantity out of a chest in a store house, which the Indians had been ransacking, and had taken things out of the other end of the chest, yet overlooked the powder. In this surprizal of the plantation in Casco Bay, called Falmouth, there were 34 persons killed and carried into captivity. That this was not a casual attempt, but a designed plot, will appear in that, just about the same time, the Indians at Kennebeck made the like insurrection where by it is concluded, either rhatthe Indians which escaped from Dover stirred them up thereunto ; that the said Indians finding them in a disposition tending that way, by reason of some injuries done those that dwell farther northward, they offered their service to help forward the design. It ia to be noted here that the Indians about Kenne- 300 A NARRATIVE OF beck were persuaded to continue their former amity with the English, notwithstanding the report of Philip i rising that year before, and the outrages committed the last autumn and winter following ; yet which is more, they had lately renewed their league with the English in those parts, although they had often complained to those cf Peminaquid, of the injury they suffered in the withholding from them the trade of powder and shot, without which they said they could not subsist, and for want of which, it is alleged by themselves, that some of them perished the last winter. But the quarrel of late fallen or > betwixt the English and the Indians about Kennebectt and eastward thereof being a matter of great importance, it shall, for the satis faction of the reader, in what follows be more particular ly described, it being the duty of every one that publish things of this nature, to do the right of an historian to all who are any ways concerned in what is made public. The information was received from a prudent person, an eye and ear witness of all that happened amongst the said Indians both the former and present year, and one that was more publicly concerned in those transactions than some others, therefore the more credit may be giv en thereto. Mention is already made of what happened in Sep tember, 1675, to the company belonging to a sloop and two boats that went up Casco Bay to gather corn, upon that accident it is said divers Indians on the east side of Kennebeck river repaired to their fort at Totonnock, (a place higher up in the country beyond Kennebeck THE INDIAN WARS. 301 and Sheepscot river) where was an English trading house : and the Indians eastward of said river, had as yet done no harm to any of the English, yet did Capt. Sylvanus Davis, agent for Major Clarke and Capt. Lake of Boston, upon these overtures think fit to fetch down the powder and shot, with other goods from the said trading house, telling the Indians by the messenger sent up, he would have them come down and live below in that river to take off jealousies, and that he would then supply them with what was needful. But the messenger told them in case they would not come down and deliv er up their arms the English would kill them. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool, saith Solomon, cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage. This mes sage delivered by him as he afterwards confessed, but who put into his mouth, or whether it was the device of his own heart does not at present concern us to inquire, but the damage that side of the country had sustained thereby is not easy to recount ; for upon this threaten ing message the Indians forsook their fort and went fur ther eastward and sent to John s river, and to the sea side, to get all the Indians they could together to come up Penobscot river. A gentleman who at that time lived at Pemmaquid, a fund of superintendant over the affairs of that place, con sidering the sad state things were running into, labored to obtain a parley with the said Indians, or with some of them, which after much trouble and cost he did accom plish. But in the mean time, such was the violence used by some refractory English in those parts, that they Ba 302 A NARRATIVE OP eolild scarce be restrained from offering violence to the persons he sent up as messengers, or others that lived quietly amongst them, and did alto as violently set them selves up to oppose him or any others that acted with more moderation than the rest ; protesting against them as those who, for gain, supplied the Indians with powder and shot, and said they would kill any Indian they met; others at Monhiggoc offered five pounds for every In dian that should be brought, yet wonld not these per sons that were so violent against the Indians in their dis course, be persuaded then or afterwards to fight the In dians in an orderly way, as appeared both by their secu- security in not acting better upon their guard, and by their sudden flight afterwards, running away, like a flock of sheep at the barking of any little dog. Things being in this posture, what could be expected but a present war with the Indians, although as it seems there were few or none to be found willing to manage it in those parts. However, the person aforesaid understanding the general court at Boston had appointed a council of war at Kennebeck, applied himself to them, laying be fore them the desperate state things were fallen into whereupon they issued out warrants to restrain all man ner of persons from meddling with the Indians without further orders, which within a few days should be hacf. ? la the mean time the Sachems of the Indians met at Pemmaquid, where after many complaints made of the hard dealing of the English in Kennebeck river, they came to terms of peace, promising to keep true friend ship with the English, and to hinder the Amoscoggan THE INDIAN WARS. 30&\ Indians from meddling with the English, if by any means they could, ami also to return peaceably in the spring of the year. This gentleman aforesaid, having a long time waited to go to Boston, was willing to take the op portunity of the present winter, hoping things were now pretty well settled in those parts between the Indians and the English, found soon after that he was cited thither to answer some complaints, though ill grounded, for selling powder and shot to the Indians contrary to order. But those false opinions being easily blown away by his appearance at Boston, and having dispatch ed his business there, he returned before the winter was over to Pemmaquid, where hearing of a vesiel that in tended to take Indians in those parts and carry them to market, which he had many strong reasons to believe, (it being no hard matter to surprize many such, that suspecting no fraud, would easily be enticed aboard a vessel to trade, or may be to drink liquor) sent to both the master and the company, if they had any such in tent, to forbear, seeing those Indians were at peace with us ; and likewise to the Indians, to inform them of such a vessel, and to beware thereof; but yet it seems the master and company took several Indians eastward, who were also at peace with us, and to our great sorrow shipt them on board for a market. The winter being now over, the aforementioned agent of Pemmaquid went to a meeting of the Indians eastward, to persuade them of the country s willingness to contin ue a peace with them. They seemed very joyful thereat, and io the spring brought some presents to confirm the 304 A NARRATIVE OF peace, and to that end also delivered up an English cap tive boy to those of Kennebeck But when the sum mer came on, the said Indians having liberty to visit their friends as they used to do, they missed many of them who had in the winter been perfidiously carried away, and as is related, they fell into a rage against the English, making complaint thereof to the said agent, Mr. Earthy, Mr. Richard Oliver, and others. They were told means should be used for bringing those back again which had been so transported. Those to whom the complaint was made did scarce believe it to be true, not having heard thereof from any other hand, and probably hoping none, especially after such solemn warning, would deal so perfidiously with heathens, to lay such a stumbling block before them. The Indians being certain of the thing done, could not be easily pacified, being likewise incensed against the English for withholding the trade of powder and shot the last winter, saying they were frighted from their corn the last winter, by the people about Kennebeck, insomuch that many of them died in the following win ter for want of powder, and wherewith to kill venison and foul ; adding withal that if the English were their friends, they would not suffer them to die for want there of. However, the said agent making the best he could of a bad cause, used all means to pacify the complain ants, and to that end promised them that if they would meet with any of the Amoscoggan Indians (who had all along the bitterest enmity against the English) he would give them a meeting to treat in order to a peace, Major THE INDIAN WARP. 305 Waldera having already concluded a peace with the Piscataqua and Casco Indians, and by that means, if they could conclude the like peace with the Amoscog- gan men (that could not yet be found) there would be a general peace with all the Indians eastward of Piscata qua, which the Indians that were present at this dis course seemed very joyful at. Yet still by one fatal accident or another, jealousies still seemed to increase in their minds, or else the former injuries began to boil afresh in their spirits, and not being easily digested, whatever had been said or done to allay the offensive- ness thereof. Soon after comes a post from Totormock, to desire him to repair thither according to his promise, where they told him he should meet Squando, and di verse Arnoscoggan Sachems, and the Mug was sent post to fetch the said Squando. This gentleman mindful of his promise, went with the post to Kennebeck, finding Capt. Lake at his house in Arowsick. It was judged meet that Capt. Sylvester Davis should go with him, with instructions from the council then silting in Kenne beck, how to carry on their treaty. After they had gone part of the way towards Totonnock, they came to an English house, where they were told that great jealousies of deceit in the Indians were upon their spir its, from what they had heard of Mug, and Tarumkin, an Amoscoggan Sachem. Going further, to a place called Kedonucook, they met with Indians, who were very shy of telling them any thins: ; which added to their former intimation greatly increased their fears ; but being resolved on their voyage, they proceeded in their way B# 2 306 A NARRATIVE OF thither, yet falling short of the place on purpose, thai they might finish their business with them the next day. When they came to their fort, they were saluted with a volley of shot then brought into a wigwam where their sachems were : Madockawando sat as a chief, who now stiles himself their minister. Being set in council, they made Assiminasqua their speaker, whose adopted son was the said Madockawando : He told them it was not their custom, if any came as messengers to treat with them, to seize upon their persons, as sometimes the Mo hawks did with such as had been sent to them ; Capt. Davis, and the other gentleman told them therein they dealt like men : answer was presently made them, you did otherwise by our men, when 14 came to treat ipith you, and set a guard over them, and took away their guns ; and not only so, but a second time you re quired our gufis, and demanded us to come down unto you, or else you would kill us, which was the cause of our leaving both our fort and our corn to our great loss. It was without doubt no small trouble to their minds, in a treaty with those Pagans, hoec diet potuisse, and non pohmse refelli : Yet to put the best constructions thai might.be, on such irregular actions, which could not well be justified, they told them the persons who had so done, were not within the government, and therefore, though they could not call them to an account for so actiog, yet they did utterly disallow thereof ; adding further, as soon as we understood thereof, we sent for you to Pemmaquid,and treated von kindly, and kept you, as you know, from the violence of the English ; the In- THE INDIAN WARS. 307 dians replied, we do but inform you, and will treat fur ther in the afternoon ; but when the afternoon came, our two messengers told them their business was to treat with the AmoscoggaH Sachems, and that they were sor ry Squando was not there ; then having confirmed peace with those eastward Indians they entreated the Amos- coggan men to speak, who likewise urged Tarumkin, the chief Amoscoggan Sachem to speak, who after some pause said he had been to the westward, where he had found many Indians unwilling for peace ; but says he I found three Sachems (whom he named though those he spake to knew them not) willing to have peace ; and for my own part I am willing for peace, and gave them his hand with protestation of his continuing in friendship ; so did seven or eight more of the Amoscoggan men ; whose names they took, of whom Mug and Robinhood s son were two. After this Madockawando asked them what they should do for powder and shot, when they had eat up their Indian corn, what they should do for the winter, for their hunting voyages ? asking withal, whether they would have them die, or leave their coun try, and go all over to the French ? Our messengers told him they would do what they could with the Gov ernor ; some might be allowed them for necessity : He said they had waited long already, and therefore would have them now, say yea or nay, whether they should have powder, as formerly or not ? Our messengers then replied, you yourselves say many of the western In dians would not have peace, and therefore if we sell you powder, and you give it to the western men, what 808 A NARRATIVE OF do we but cut our own throats ? Adding further, it is not in cur power withost leave, if you should wait tea years more, to let you have powder ; at which words they seemed much to be offended. But yet the next day (hey resolved to go down with them and speak with the western men, thereby, if it might be, to stop their further proceedings. So going down with them the next day, they met with some Indians who had got strong liquor, with whom they fei! a drinking ; our messengers stayed at two pla ces for them, and finding that still they tarried behind, not knowing what further to do, they went home, it be ing the sixth day of the week ; but the next night save one, news came to Kennebeck, that the Indians had killed divers English in Casco, although it was not yet known at Pemmaquid : Upon this news Capt. Davis sent out one sentinel the next night ; the rest (such was their security) went all to bed, and in the morning were all like Laish surprised : Thus migtit it be said lava- daunt Aeeden sommo fsinon) vinoq ; sepultam. The particulars of the surprising of Kennebeck, and Arow- sick house, are thus related by such as were acquainted therewith. Upon the 13th of August, 1676, several Indians re- paired in the evening to the house of Mr. Hammond, an ancient inhabitant, and trader with the Indians up Kenoebeck river, his daughter, or a maid that was ser vant in the house, either naturally afraid of the natives, or else from something she observed in the countenance or carriage, manifested so much fear, as made her run THE INDIAN" WARS. 309 out of the house to hide herself in some place abroad ; the Indians perceiving it, the more to dissemble their treachery, ran after her and brought her into the house, telling her, (although they could not persuade her to be lieve) that there was no reason to be afraid of them ; presently after more of the barbarous villains coming; in to the house, she grew more afraid than before, being now more strongly persuaded I hat they came on purpose to kill or surprize those in the family, whereupon she suddenly made an escape out of the house, and present ly passed into a field of Indian corn, whereby she might the better avoid the danger of any pursuer, and so ran across over the land that night, ten or twelve miles, to give them notice that lived at Sheepscot river ; it is said that after she got out, she heard a noise in the house as if they were fighting or scuffling within doors ; but she did not count it wisdom to go back and see what the matter was, knowing before enough of their villanies, how well soever her mistress (that was more versed in the trade of the Indians) might think of them. Those of Sheepscot taking this warning, escaped away as soon as they could, leaving their cattle and dwellings as a prey to the Indians. What befel master Hammond and his family, is not yet certainly known : Reports pass up and down, that some who came down the river afterwards, saw some of the dead stripped upon the bank of the riv er, which make us fear the worst concerning all the rest ; for certainly the whole family, 16 in number, were all at that time either killed or carried away captive, none save the maid aforesaid being known to make an escape, 310 A NARRATIVE OF to inform tbeir friends, like Job s messengers, what be fell the rest of the family . The Indians having in this manner surprised Mr. Hammond s house, they passed down the river the same night, but going by another house, they meddled not with the people, only turned their canoes adrift, that they might not find means afterwards to escape them selves, or help others so to do : Pouibly their chief aiming at Arowsick house, they would not for fear of being discovered make any atteaipt upon any place near by ; wherefore the 14th of August, very early in the morning, having iu the Pighf, or before break of day, passed over on the Island called Arowsick ; several of them undiscovered lay hid under the walls of the fort, and behind a great rock near adjoid.^, Jill the sentinel was gone from his place (who went off it seems sooner than he should, considering the danger) svhen presently some Indians followed him in at the fort gate (as some report) while others of them immediately seized the port-holes thereof and shot down all they saw passing up and down within the walls, and so in a little time be came masters of the fort, and all that was within it : Capt. Lake, joint owner with Major Clark of the whole Island, hearing the bustle that was below betwixt the Indians and those that belonged to the place, was strangely surprised, yet himself with Capt. Sylvanus Davis and two more, understanding that the Indians had seized the fort, and killed divers of the English, appre hending it bootless, or rather heartless to stay, as not being able to stand upon their guard or make any resist- THE INDIAN WARS. 311 ance, made a shift to find a passage out of the back door, whereby they escaped to the water side, where they found a canoe, in which they all entered, and made away toward another island near by : This was not done so secretly but the Indians discerned them before they were gone far : four of them therefore hasted after those that had escaped in another canoe, and coming within shot discharged their guns upon theai, whereby said Davis was badly wounded ; yet making haste, as they generally used to do that fly for their lives, timor addidil alas, they got ashore before the Indians over took them ; it is said they were strangely dispirited, or else they might easily have defended themselves against their pursuers : but when once men s hearts are sunk with fear and discouragement upon a sudden surprisal, it is hard to buoy them up, to make any resistance. Capt. Davis being badly wounded, could neither trust to his legs to fly, nor yet make use of his hands to fight, yet was strangely preserved : Providence directing him to go into the cleft of a rock, near by the place where he first landed ; the Indians by the glittering of the sun beams in their eyes as they came ashore, did not dis cern him ; so that lying hid tinder the covert of the hand of Providence for two days, he at last crawled a little above the water side, till he found a canoe, where by he escaped with his life. The other two were bet ter footmen, and parting with Capt. Lake, made their escape ten or twelve miles to the farther end of the isl and, and so escaped from the IndFans, till they found means to get off. Poor Capt. Lake, who a few hours 312 A NARRATIVE OF before slept quietly in his mansion house, surrounded with a strong fortification, defended with many soldiers, is now forced to fly away with none to attend him ; and as the awful hand of Providence ordered things, was as some say, pursued by such Indians as were mere stran gers to the place, that, knew not the master from the man, but by one of whom lie was shot down, as is sup posed soon after he came ashore : Lieut. Davis heard two guns, by which it was thought and soon after was known to be by an Indian, who hath since confessed to Capt Davis that he shot him that day Arowsick was taken, which he intended not to have done, but that he held up his pistol against him ; whereas if he had but asked quarter, he should have had his life. Capt. Lake was slain at that time, although many hopes were for some time entertained that he was taken alive, and kept with other captives amongst the Indians ; and it is said the Indians of those parts did not intend to kill him if they could have helped it : but it was known his hat was seen upon an Indian s head not long after, which made his friends conclude what had befallen that good man, who misvht emphatically be so termed, in distinc tion from them that may truly be called just men and no more : For it seems according to the just agreement betwixt himself and his part owner of Arowsick Island, it was not his turn this year to have been upon the place, but such was his goodness, that he yielded to the desire of his friend and partner, as in his room and stead to take upon himself that service in this time of danger ; it is hoped his goodness in future time will not be for- THE INDIAN WARS. 313 gotten by such as were any way concerned therein, or had advantage thereby. This island (called Arowsick, from an Indian so named that formerly possessed it, and of whom it was purchased by one Mr. Richards, who sold it to Capt. Lake and Major Clarke) lies up ten miles within the mouth of Kennebeck river ; it is some miles in length and contains many thousand acres of very good land ; where meadow and arable ground are in a good propor tion well suited together. Within the fort aforesaid, were many convenient buildings for several officers, as well for wares and trading, as habitations : six several edifices are said to have been there erected. The ware house at that time was well furnished with all sorts of goods ; besides a mill and other accommodations and dwellings, within a mile of the fort and mansion house ; some inhabitants of which hardly made their escape upon the first surprisal of the fort. All which considered, the loss that befel the pro prietors at the surprisal of this island, seems to be very great, valued at many thousands ; but those that were the owners, with ethers of late times, have found from their own experience, what Solomon said of old, their is a time to get, and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away ; a time to break down as well as a time to build up. The persons killed and taken at Ken nebeck, at Mr. Hammond s and at, Arowsick, are said to be 53. Upon the report of the sad disaster, all the planta tions of the English in those parts were soon after left? Cc 314 A NARRATIVE OF and forsaken by degrees. AH the rest of the inhabit ants of Kennebeck river, Sheepscot river, Sagadahock, and Darnariicottee, fearing to be served in the same way, fled to the islands of Cape Bonawagon and Damaril s Cove. On the second day at night a post was sent to Pem- maquid to inform them of what had happened, who be ing but eight or ten men, had a mind to go on the island called Monhiggon, having secured the best of their goods, but the wind taking them short, they were forced to turn into Denarii s Cove, where they found Mr. Wis- wall, and Mr. ColHcot ; there they labored two days to settle a garrison ; but through the mutinous disposition of the people, and the want of provision, nothing could be done to secure the Island, so that it was soon desert ed. From thence they went to Monhiggon, resolving there to tarry till they heard from Buston, from whence Mr. Collicot and Mr. Wiswall promised to do their ut most endeavor to send help. There they settled three guards and appointed 25 to watch every night, not know ing but that the Indians might come every hour. But continuing there a fortnight, and finding no relief like to come, and seeing all the country burnt round about, (for after they had got all that could be saved from Pern ma- quid, they saw all the other islands, Windgin s, Corbin s Sound, New-Harbor, and Pemmaquid, all on fire in two hours time) then considering what was best to be done, they found no boats could be sent to sea for fear of weak ening the island, and that most of those who were on it were strangers, coasters, and such as came from the THE INDIAN WARS. 315 main and ready to be gone upon every occasion, they laid an embargo for one week ; after which a letter was received from Major Clarke, desiring their assistance in inquiring after Capt. Lake, if alive, saying, what could be had at Kennebeck, &c. but intimating nothing of any help like to come ; besides, those that brought the lat ter told them it was in vain to expect any help from Boston, it being questioned there what they had to do with those parts. Upon which the inhabitants consid ered, that if they should tarry there and spend all their provision and neither be able to go to sea, nor yet to live or be safe ashore for want of help, it were better for them to remove while they had something to live upon, and seek employment elsewhere ; so by consent they resolved forthwith to transport themselves and what they bad saved of their goods, to some place of security, so they sailed the first opportunity, some for Piscataqua, some for Boston, and some for Salem, at one of which places they all safely arrived. Having thus escaped at first, as Lot out of Sodom, but not counting themselves safe in that Zoar, where for a little while they made out to hide their heads, till they might escape to some surer place, there waiting for bet ter times, when they may with peace and quietness re turn to their former habitations, or seek some other else where. When the aforesaid exploits were done by the In dians about Casco Bay, several of the English removed to Jewell s island, where they hoped to be more secure from the Indians, but the barbarous enemy finding so 316 A NARRATIVE OF little resistance made against them on the main land, a considerable party of them came with their canoes to destroy that island, also, about three weeks after the aforementioned mischiefs. There was a fortified house upon the said island, where the English that either kept upon the island, or repaired thither, hoped to secure themselves. But at the time the Indians assaulted the place many of the English were absent, and few left in the garrison but women and children. Some were gone to other places to fetch Indian corn, others were in a boat employed about fish, amongst whom was one Richard Pots with two more. The wife of said Pots was washing by the water side where she was surprised with her children, and carried away in sight of her husband, who was not a little distressed at that sad spectacle, but was incapa ble of affording any relief either to his wife or children. One of the little innocents espying his father in the boat, ran into the water, calling out for help ; but an Indian was running after him to catch him up ; the poor man in great agony, being within gun shot, was about to fire upon the Indian, but fearing he might wound or perhaps kill his child, which the villain had seized and was car rying off, he forbore, chusing rather to have him carried away alive, than expose him to the loss of his life or limbs, by shooting at the Indian. It is said some of the Indians were killed by those in the garrison ; tis mentioned that a lad at one shot kill ed two or three of them ; some guns were found after wards under the fort, which were supposed to have be- THE INDIAN WARS. 317 longed to some of the Indians that were killed. Some that were abroad when the fort was assaulted, desperate ly broke in through the Indians, whereby at the last many people were preserved. Some flying away to Jewell s island, in a canoe toward Richmond s Island, met with a ketch, to which they made known the dis tress the people were in, thereupon went to the place and took all the people they found there, and carried them off to a place of more safety. Yet there were several persons said to be killed and carried away at that time, viz. three men, who were known to be killed, two women and two children that are supposed to be yet alive, though in the enemy s power. From thence they went to Spurwinks, where they assaulted one place, or more, and killed one man, wound ed another, and carried another away captive. Amongst those that were in danger of surprisal, one that could not run hid himself in a garden of cabbages, so that he was not found, yet was very near them, for he overheard several questions they asked him they took ; by which means he was the better enabled afterward to prevent the danger two more were coming into, for the poor fel low they had taken, told them that one Gendal and an other man, were to come that way by and by ; where upon this man that hid himself, meeting Gendal and the other man, gave them notice of the danger, whereby they were delivered out of the snare for that time. Not long after Mr. Gendal fell into their hands as shall here after be related. Within a while after or about the same time, another fatal accident befel six or seven per sons belonging to Casco : For upon the 23d of &eptem* Cc2 318 A NARRATIVE OF ber, some persons that belonged to a sloop and a shallop, that were pressed into the service (one reason of which was to prevent their straggling, they being persons that belonged to those parts about Casco) were over desirous to save some of their provision, to which end they first made their address to Capt. Hathorne, (under whom they were ordered to serve) desiring they might be released ; the Captain told them he could not do it, but desired them to have patience for a while ; they told him they must and would go, else their families would starve at home ; the Captain told them further of the danger, and bid them not stir at their perril. Hovever, go they would, and soon after went to Mountjoy s island to fetch sheep where they landed seven men ; but the Indians suddenly fell upon them, when they betook themselves to the ruins of a stone house, where they defended them selves as long as they could ; but at last they were all destroyed either with stones cast in upon them or with the enemies shot, except one who, though at the first it was hoped his wounds were not mortal, yet soon after died thereof. Amongst these was one George Felt, much lamented, who had been more active than any man in those parts against the Indians, but at last he lost his own life amongst them, in this too desperate adventure. The Indians growing more bold by these attempts in those remote places, drew down nearer towards Piscata- qua, for not long after a party of them came upon Cape Nidduck, .there they killed and carried away all the in habitants of a few scattering houses, to the number of seven in all 5 and such was their savage cruelty exercis- THE INDIAN WARS. 319 ed in this place, as is not usual to be heard of, for hav ing dashed out the brains of a poor woman that gave suck, they nailed the young child to the dead body of his mother, which was found sucking in that awful man ner, when the people came to the place. The day be fore a man and his wife were killed at Wells, and two more soon after. On the 12th of October following near 100 of the Indians made an assault upon B!ack Point, all the inhabitants being gathered into one forti fied place upon that point, which a few hands might have defended ; but as it seems one called Mugg, was the leader of the Indians, one that had from a child been well acquainted with the English, and had lived some years in English families, who though a. cunning fellow, and had succeeded much in his attempts, but at this time shewed more courtesy to the English, than accor ding to former outrages could be expected from any of those barbarous miscreants, and was willing to make of fer of a treaty to Mr. Josselin, Chief of the garrison, to whom the said Mugg promised liberty for all that were there to depart with their goods upon the surrender of the place : The said Josselin reports that when he came back from his treating with Mugg, that all the people were fled away out of the garrison, having carried away their goods by water before his return, insomuch that having none but his houshold servants to stand by him, he was capable of making no resistance, and so surren dered. When people have once been frighted with reports and sense of danger, they are ready to fly away like a 320 A NARRATIVE OF hare before the hunter or his hounds ; one of the inhab itants of the place affirmed he saw 250 Indians, which was more by an hundred than any body else ever saw near the fort. But when a place is consigned to ruin, every thing they take in hand shall tend that way. The loss of Black Point was accompanied with anoth er sad accident that happened about the same time at Richmond s island : For young Mr. Fryer, with some others at Piscataqua, to whom it seemed grievous that the Indians should make all that spoil in every place in those plantations, ventured, upon the great importunity of Mr. Gendal, with a ketch, to try what they could save of such things as the Indians had left ; but things were so ordered, that before they had loaded their ketch, coming too near the stage head, they presently found themselves in danger of a surprisal ; for part of their company being ashore, seized by the Indians, or in dan ger thereof, whom they were not willing to leave behind; and besides the wind blowing in hard upon them they could not get out of the harbor, but we re "forced to abide the danger of an assault, the Indians getting many of them into the stage head, annoyed them so fast with their shot that not a man of them was able to look above deck, but he was in danger of being shot down ; amongst the rest Mr. James Fryer venturing too much in view of the enemy, received a wound in his knee, which ap peared not dangerous at first, but for want of better look ing to than could be found amongst that black regiment, into whose hands he soon after feii, it proved mortal ua- to him within a few days after ; he being by a strange accident brought home to his father s house at the great THE INDIAN WARS. 321 Island in Piscataqua. Mr. Fryer Being thus wounded the rest of the company defended themselves for a while with much courage and resolution till they were brought to the sad choice of falling into the hands of one of these three bad masters, the fire, the water, or the barbarous heathen, to whom at last they thought it best to yield in hopes of liberty afterwards, at least of lengthening out their lives a little longer, for the Indians had manned out a canoe with several hands to cut their cable, and others stood ready within the defence of the stage head, by which means the vessel after the cable was cut, soon drove ashore ; and then it was threatened to be present ly burnt, if they did not all yield, to which they all at last consented. The Indians, how barbarous soever in their own na ture, yet civilly treated their prisoners, and upon farther discourse sent two of them to Piscataqua, to give them there an opportunity to ransom their friends. The per sons sent home to procure a ransom, were to return with such a quantity of goods as the Indians had desired, by such a precise time ; but they that brought the things for their ransom, coming a day or two before the time, when those that sent them was gone up the river at Black Point, and not returned : Some other Indians waiting for such an opportunity, seized the goods, at least that part which they most desired, and through mistake, killing one of the three men that brought them dismissed the other two, without return of the prisoners as was expected. As to what happened afterwards we are yet much in 322 A NARRATIVE OF the dark, and for the present can write hut by guess : For within a few days after the return of Mr. Gendal, and the ether man that went to carry the ransom, be fore the 1st of Novemhf r, Musjg himself rpme t" Pi-Tut- aqua, bringing Mr. James Fryer, who sr.on aftor died of his wound ; one of the prisoners! alonsr with him Com plaining that without his knowledge some of the Indiana had seized what was sent for the random of the rest, promising upon his faith, that he would make good his word for the sending home all the prisoners, and offered also in the name of the other Indians to confirm a new- peace with the English for the future. The Major- Genera! of the Massachusetts colony was then at Piscat- aqua, but not willing to transact a matter of that nature and moment by hi* sole authority, ordered the said Mugg (supposed to be the thief leader of the Indians) to be carried down to Boston to the Governor and Council there, io conclude the business, with whom he soon after agreed upon a firm peace with the English of Massachu setts, in the name of Madockawando the Chief of all the Indians in the eastern parts about Penobscot, en gaging also to remain himself as Hostage, aboard the vessel (in which he wa* sent home from Boston, the 21st November following) until the prisoners (which are said to be fifty or sixty) that they have still in their hands be sent home, and the rest of the articles performed ; the issue of which we as yet wait to hear in God s good time, this 12th day of December following, 1676, when they there have made .an end of the reckoning, it is hoped we may have our rights again. THE INDIAN WARS. 323 There are two principal actors amongst the Indians that have all along promoted these designs amongst them, one named Squando, Sagamore of Saco, and the afore mentioned Madockawando, the Chief commander of the Indians eastward about Penobscot, who are said to be by them that know them, a strange kind of moralized savages ; grave and serious in their speech and carriage and not without some shew of a kind of religion, which no doubt but they have learned from the Prince of Dark ness (by help of some Papist in those parts) that can transform himself into an Angel of Light, under that shape the better to carry on the designs of his kingdom. It is said also, they pretend to have received some vis ions and revelations, by which they have been com manded to worship the great God, and not to work on the Lord s day. We know where that fountain hath its rise, that sendeth forth at the same place sweet and bitter waters ; and from whence their hearts are inspired, that join blessing of God with cursing and killing his ser vants. It is reported by some that came lately from those parts, that the Indians there as yet refuse to have any peace with the English, and will not as yet return any of our captive friends till God speak to the aforesaid enthusiasts, that are their leaders, that they shojld no longer make war with us, and the like. But not to trouble ourselves farther with those min isters of Satan, or those that are actuated by the Angel of the bottomless pit, who possibly since their delusions are but too fold more the children of Hell than they 324 A NARRATIVE OF were before. We know better how to understand the mind of the great Lord of Heaven and earth, than to depend on such lying oracles. That God who hath at present turned their hearts to Late his people, and deal subtilly with his servants, we hope in time, will either turn the stream, and cause them to deal friendly and sincerely with his people as hereto fore, or give us an opportunity to destroy them. In the next place it remains, that some account be given of our forces, under Capt. Hathorne, and of their several expeditions into the eastern parts, since the mid dle of September last ; first up toward* Casco, by the sea aide, then afterwards through the woods, directly northward, toward Ossapy and Pigwauchet, in hopes to have found the enemy at their head-quarters. Upon the first report of those devastations and spoils that had been made by fire and sword in those eastern plantations it was judged necessary to send some force* that way to put a stop to the current of those outrages, before the remainder of the southern Indians could have an opportunity to join with them : To that end about 130 English, with forty Indians, were dispatched away Into those parts, under the command of Capt. William Hathorne, Capt. Still, and Capt. Hunting, who were to join with such as could be raised in those parts, under Major Waldern and Capt. Frost. After they had sur prised the Indians that flocked into those parts, (a* wag related before) which was done upon tha 6th of Septem ber, 1676, Capt. Hathorne, who was commander in chief, marched the forces by the sea side, towards Casco : For THE INDIAN WAIIS. 325 at that time they were upon some demur whether to march directly toward Ossapy and Pigwauchet, where the head quarters of the enemy was supposed to be, or else to march directly toward Casco Bay where they heard parties of the enemy were daily spoiling the plan tations of the English ; the last it was judged the most expedient to try if they could not meet with some par ties of the enemy amongst those plantations near th? sea side, by that means at least to prevent them from doing more mischief, if they could not find an opportunity to fall upon some of them and destroy them ; but their time was not yet come, nor were all the dessolations as yet accomplished, which God had a purpose to bring about by their means : For notwithstanding there was a sufficient force to have suppressed all the numbers of the enemy, if they had been many more than they were, yet being emboldened and grown subtle by their for mer successes, they had so dispersed themselves all about the woods in those parts, that when our forces were in one place, they would be in another, and so did much mischief thereabouts, while our soldiers were out after them : For after they had by several steps in tea days time got to Caseo from Newechewannick (about the 8th of September) they marched to Wells and from Wells to Winter Harbor, and so from thence to Black Point they passed by water, and then arrived at Casco Bay, about the 20th of September, yet about that very time were several of the English cut off at Mountjoy s island, and that in sight of our forces, when they were not able to come at them for want of bouts, the Isf- DD 326 A NARRATIVE OF and lying two leagues off in the Bay ; this happened the 23d of the same month, as was said before, and within two days after another party of the enemy were doing mischief at Wells and Cape Nidducfc, and yet escaped away when they had done. Nor could our forces in all their expedition meet with any of them but two ; one of which soon after he was taken was let go by the treachery or carelessness of them that held him. For when our forces were come within a few miles of the hither side of Casco Bay, some of our Natick Indians under Biind Will (a Sagamore of Piscataqua, who went in company with 8 of his men, supposed to be good piiots for the places more eastward) met with some of the enemy, and laid hold of a couple of them ; justice was done to one of them ; the other, although he was led by two of Blind Will s Indians, they made shift to let go, who escaping, got over a river and gave notice to the Indi-uis who were on the other side, and were heard but a little before threshing in a barn that belonged to Anthony Bracket, whom they had lately surprised. Another disappointment our forcei met with about the same time: for when Capt. Hathorne was up at Casco Bay with his soldiers, he never could come up with the Indians, either through want of skill in them that were his scouts, or rather want of faithful ness in one that should have been his guide, who had got his living by trading with the Indians, therefore seemed unwilling to have the brood of them destroyed, as was known afterwards ; and by that means a party of the enemy escaped the hands of our soldiers. Yet it THE INDIAN WARS. 327 pleased God at one time to bring the forlorn of our for ces upon a party of the enemy, who espying the Eng lish presently fled away into the woods like so many wild deers ; yet one of them, viz J. Sampson, who had been of the company that killed Robinson the year be fore, was by the special hand of Divine justice, suffered to fall by some of our forces; he was a veiy lusty, fctout man, and one that was aimed with several sorts of weapons, but there is no weapon shall defend them whom death hath a commission to destroy ; there is no ran som in that war. The rest of the Indians that were scattered about Ca^coBay having discovered our forces made their escape ; but we hope their time is short, and that God will find some way to cut off the bloody and deceitful enemies of his people, and not suffer them to Jive out half their days. But by one such accident or other, our soldiers could not meet with any of them that had done the mischief in those parts. While our forces lay about Casco Bay, a small party of the enemy came down upon the bor ders of the town of Wells, where they lay in ambush near a garrison house at one end of the town, and shot Mr. James Gouge from his horse, on Lord s day, Sept. 24th, as he was going home from meeting, and then knocked down his wife, giving her several wounds with their hatchets about the head, of which she died in three days after. The next day, Sept. 25th, the same party, being not more than seven in number, went toward York, and surprised Capt. Nidduck in a most barbarous manner, 328 A NARRATIVE OF killing most of the poor people belonging thereunto. Some of their neighbors hearing the guns, came to their rescue ; the Indians being on the further side of the river, dared them to come over and fight with them man to man, using many reproachful expressions, and mak ing a shot at them, which some of the company not be ing able to bear, did very resolutely adventure through the river after them ; but they were not willing to try the valor of the English, when they perceived they found a way to puss over the river upon them, but re turned back towards Wells, where they killed one George Farrow, September 27th, as he was too careless ly venturing to his house without any company. These things happened while our forces were at Casco, where they tarried seven or eight days ; and hearing of these outrages committed in some of those places which they left behind them, and not being able to meet with any of them in the place where they were, they returned back towards Wells and York ; but the Indians were escaped away into the woods after their companions before they came there. Our soldiers having thus spent much time and pains in a fruitless expedition towards Casco, resolv ed to venture another march after them up towards Os sapy, supposing they might by that time be drawn homewards towards their winter quarters ; or else they might destroy what they had left behind them, to pre vent their harboring there for the future : But it seemed good to him, who by his sovereign power and infinite wisdom ordereth all events and purposes (wherein his people or others are concerned) to disappoint all eodea* THE INDIAN WARS. 329 vors used at that time for the suppressing of the enemy, or putting any stop to their wonted successes ; for soon after our forces were returned back from Casco, news was brought of the surprisal of Black Point, on the 12th of October, as was mentioned before ; which notwith standing it was judged more adviseable to venture and proceed on with the expedition towards Ossapy, (whith er it was supposed by this time the greatest number of them were retired) rather than to return back again to recover Black Point, where was nothing to be expectecji but an empty fort, and some deserted houses, which it seems the Indians had forsaken by that time. And be sides, that other forces were about the same time order ed to repair thither, sufficient for the repairing and se curing the place, with what else was left remaining from the hands of the enemy: And likewise several soldiers were ordered to garrison the towns thereabouts, to pre vent them from making any further assault upon them. However, they were so far emboldened by the taking of Black Point, and the ketch at Richmond island, that a party of them came the very next week after towards Wells, hoping to attain that, and all the towns and pla ces between Casco Bay and Piscataqua, as they had done Black Point : For a party of them under Mugg their chief leader, brought Mr. Gendal along with them to Wells, where they summoned the first garrison at the town s end. To facilitate the business, they sent the said Gendal as their agent or messenger to move them to surrender without hazarding an onset ; but the peo ple were not so despondent as to yield up the place upon 330 A NARRATIVE OF so slight an occasion ; which when the enemy discern* erf, they soon drew off, after they had done some little mischief to the inhabitants ; for first they killed Isaac Littlefield, not far- from the garrison ; it is said they would willingly have had him yield himself prisoner, but he refuting, they shot him down, yet they were so civil as to suffer his friends to fetch away his body without offering any further act of inhumanity to it, or hostility towards those that carried it off. An old man called Cross, was likewise killed by them about the same time ; and another whose name was Jacob Bigford, belonging to the garrison, was so badly wounded that he died very soon after. Thirteen head of neat cattle were also killed by them, out of which (through haste) they only took the tongues leaving the bodies whole to the owners, unless it was the leg of one of them, which was also taken away. This was all the mischief done by them after the ta king of Black Point. The inhabitants of Winter Har bour, near adjoining thereto, being alarmed with the sur- prisal of the other place, fled away with their goods for a time until they heard the enemy were moved farther eastward, and then it is said they returned to their place again. In this posture have things remained ever since in those eastern plantations between Piscataqua and Casco Bay. But our forces under the command of Capt. Hathorne and Capt. Still, having at last obtained all things neces sary for a winter march into the woods, did upon the first of November following, set out towards Ossapy ? THE INDIAN WAR?. 331 where, after four days march of a very difficult way, over many rivers, not easy to pass at that time of the year, they arrived ; but found not an Indian either there or in the way as the marched along. The Indians be longing to those parts had not many years before, hired some English traders to build them a fort for their se curity against the Mohawks, which was built very strong for that purpose, fourteen feet high, with flankers at each corner ; but this time the soldiers intending to disap point them of their refuge, made fuel thereof, which at that time was very needful for our people who had marched many miles through a deep snow in a very cold season, when they could hardly keep from freezing as they passed along, SD early in the winter. None of the enemy being to be found there in the strongest fort, it was not counted worth while for all the company to march any further ; wherefore a small party being sent up eighteen or twenty miles farther northward amongst the woods, where as they passed along they met with many vast lakes, (supposed to be the cause of the sharp ness of the cold in that side of the country) making the place scarce habitable for any besides those savages that used to hunt thereabouts for rnoose in the winter, and beaver in the summer ; but at this time it is sup posed they were all gone lower, towards the sea side, to share the spoils of the English plantations lately surpris ed by them, which is all the reward they have met with, who in former years for the sake of a little lucre by traffic with them, have run themselves there into the very jaws of destruction, either by irregular dealing witb 332 A NARRATIVE OF them or by their too much confidence in their deceitful friendship. The 91 h of November, our forces having spent nine days in this service, returned safe to Neweche wan nick from whence they set forth at first, having run more hazard of U;< ir limbs by (he sharpness of the frost, than of their lives by any assault from their enemies. There was a great probability that the design might have had some good effect if Mugg did not much abuse those he fled unto, with a proffer of peare ; for he told them that there were about an hundred about Ossapy not many days before. But it becomes us to look be yond second causes in events of this nature and conclude that God had raised up their barbarous enemies to bring a like chastisement upon the English in this side of the country, with that which others had endured elsewhere in the end of the former and beginning of the present year. Things were so ordered by the Providence of God, that the vessels before mentioned, arrived safely at Penob- scot in the beginning of the month, where they found the said Madockawando, who was ready to confirm and make good the articles of the peace concluded at Boston by his agent in his name ; and was willing also to deliv er all the prisoners that were then in his power, or un der his command, which were but eleven, who were taken in the vessel at Richmond s island, the 12th of October last. The said Mugg likewise being sensible of the obligation he lay under to make his word good, did venture to go up himself to another plantation of the THE INDIAN WARS. 333 Indians, where we supposed some more of the English prisoners were, to see whether he could obtain a release, as also to persuade the rest of the Indians thereabouts to join in the confirmation of the peace : It appeared to the persons belonging to the vessels, that the said Mugg went with reluctancy, as fearing the Indians he was go ing amongst, w r ouSd either kill him or keep him prisoner ; to which end, he ordered the commanders belonging to the vessels, to tarry for him about three days, or four at the most, assuring them that if he did not return by Ihat time, they might certainly conclude that either his life or liberty was taken from him ; however, the vessels tarried about or near a week beyond the time limited in expectation of his coming ; but after so long a stay, they neither seeing nor hearing from him, were ready to fear the worst, viz. that his countrymen had made him siwe, from having more to do with the English, whereupon for fear oi being shut np by the sharpness of the winter from returning themselves, they took the op portunity of the next fair wind, of setting sail for Boston (only turning into Pemm.iquid, to bee if they could hear any farther news there) where they arrived with such prisoners as were freely delivered by MadockawandOj the 25th of December following, anno. 1676 ; amongst which prisoners, besides the two aforementioned, who were found at Penobscot, there was a third, by a more remarkable Providence thai: oi dinar), added unto them, Mr. Thomas Cobbet, son of that reverend and worthy minister of the gospel, Mr. Thomas Cobbetj pastor of the church at Ipswich, a town within Massachusetts ju- 334 A NARRATIVE OP risdiction, wbo had all the time of his son s captivif y, together with his friends, wrestled with God in their daily prayers for his release, and accordingly lie was with the more joy received by his friends, as an answer and return of their prayers. The said young: man had lived with Mr. Fryer, merrhant, of Portsmouth, for some years before, and had been often at sea with Mr. James Fryer the eldest son of the said merchant, and who had after much experience of his faithfulness, dexterity and courage on all such accounts, borne him so much res 1 , pect, I bat when he was urged by his father to go along with Mr. Gendal as was said before, he would not ven ture unless his friend Thomas Cobbet would go along with him ; which service he only for his friends sake accepted, which proved a fatal adventure to Mr. James Fryer, and might have been to the other also had not God otherwise disposed of him, having as is hoped, more ser ving for him in the land of the livimr. Amongst all the prisoners at that time taken, the said Thomas Cobbet set.med to have had the hardest portion ; for besides the desperate danger that he escaped before he was ta ken, first by a bullet si ot through his waistcoat, second ly by a drunken Indian, who had a knife at his throat, to cut it, when his bands were bound, when the Indians came to share the prisoners yuuH gst them he fell into the hands of one of the ruggedest fellows, by whom with in a few days after his surprisal, he was carried first from Black Point to Sheepscot river, in the ketch, which the Indians made to sail in, in the said river, from whence he was forced to travel with his Pateroon, four THE INDIAN WARS. 335 cr five miles over, and to Bamariscottee, where he was compelled to row or paddle in a canoe, about fifty miles farther to Penobscot, and there taking leave of all his English friends and acquaintance, at least for the winter, he was put to paddle a canoe up fifty or sixty miles far ther eastward, to an island called Mount Desert, where his pateroon used to keep his winter station, and to ap point his hunting voyages ; and in that desert like con dition was the poor young man forced to continue nine weeks in the service of a savage miscreant, who some times would tyranize over him, because he could not un derstand the language and for want thereof, might occa sion him to miss of his game, or the like. Whatever sickness he was subject to, by change of diet, or on any- other account, he could expect no other allowance than the wigwam will afford : If Joseph be in the prison, so long as God is with him there, he shall be preserved, and in due time remembered, After the end of the nine weeks, the Indian whom he was to serve, had spent all his powder, whereupon on a sudden he took up a resolution to send this youmr man down to Penobscot to Mr. Casteen to procure more pow der to kill moose and deer, which it seems is all their way of living at Mount Desert ; the Indian was certain ly overruled by Divine Providence in sending his cap tive down thither, for a few days before, as it seems, af ter the Indians in that place had been powawing togeth er, he told him that there were - v English vessels then come into Pemmaquid, or Peurbscot, which indeed proved so ; yet was it not minded by him surely when 336 * NARRATIVE OF he sent his captive thither for powder, for it proved the means of his escape, which his Pateroori might easi ly have conjectured, if it bad not been hid from him. As soon as he arrived at Penobscot, he met with Mugg who presently saluted him by the name of Mr. Cobbet, and taking him by the hand, told him he had been at his father s house (which was the 1st or 2d of November before, as he passed through Ipswich to Boston) and had promised to send him home, as soon as he returned. Madockawando taking notice of what Mugg was speak ing that way, although he was willing he should be re leased according to agreement (his Pateroon being one of this Sagamore s subjects, though during the bunting voyage of the winter, he lived at such a distance from him) began to demand something for satisfaction, in a way of ransom, not understanding before that his father was a great preachman, as they used to call it : Reply was made him that he should have something in lieu of a ransom, viz. a fine coat, which they had for him on board the vessel ; which the Sugamore desired to see before he would absolutely grant a release ; but upon si^bt of the said coat seemed very well satisfied, and gave him free liberty to return home. Whilst this Mr. Thomas Cobbet was a prisoner at Mount Desert, soing along with the Indians to hunt on an extreme cold d *y, he was so overcome with the sharpness thereof, that all his senses were suddenly benumbed, so that he fell down upon the snow, not being able to stir hand or foot, and had without doubt there perished in a lit! * 1 t : me, but the Indian he was going along with, missing him, presently THE INDIAN WARS. 337 ran about the woods to seek him, and when they found hirfl, they were even so pitiful to him, or so careful of thetr own good, as not to cast away a likely young man, from whom they expected either much service, or a good ransom, for want of a little care and pains to pre serve his life ; wherefore taking him upon their shoul ders, they carried him into the next wigwam, so that he soon after revived, and came to himself again, without any farther mischief. At another time, the savage villain, whose prisoner he was, so long as he had strong liquor, for five days to gether was so drunk he was like a mad furious beast, so that none durst come near him, his squaw he almost kill* ed in one of those drunken fits. The said Thomas to get out of his sight went into the woods for fear of being injured by him ; where making a fire, he kept himself alive ; the squaws being by God s special providence so inclined to pity, that they came to him daily with victuals, by which means he was at that time also preserved ; all which put to gether, makes bis deliverance the more remarkable, as an answer of prayer. As for the rest of the prisoners (which are said to be 50 or 60) they were left with those who first surpris ed them at Kennebeck and Sheepscot river : The wo men were employed it seems to sew, and make garments for them ; they having plundered many English goods at Arowsick. They are so much elated with their late successes, in spoiling so many English habitations, that ithey seemed not very ready to hearken to terras of EE 838 A NARRATIVE OF peace, as their Sagamore Madockawando doth desire .- Nor are the English able to come near them with *ny of their forces this winter season, in regard both of the remoteness of the place, and sharpness of the cold, which used to be extreme in those parts. How their hearts may be inclined in the following year, or what the Eng lish may be enabled to do against them, is known unto God only, on whom we desire to wait for a comfortable issue of these our troubles. But until they have spent all the plunder that is taken, it is no doubt, but they will seem averse from having peace ; as others to the west ward did, whose hearts were hardened against all prof fers of that nature, till they were destroyed ; possibly some remnants of them that escaped in those other parts, are got hither amongst these and do animate them all they can to hostility against us, till they make these as miserable as themselves, and so forced at last to fly from their country. Many have been the troubles we have met with from these our barbarous neighbors round about us, but God we trust will deliver us out of them all as he hath promised to do for the righteous, who may in the darkest night of affliction say, light is sown for them, which shall spring up in the appointed time there of. No further news came to hand concerning the Eng lish prisoners at Kennebeck, after the return of Capt. Moore, from Penobscot, till the 5th of January ; when one Francis Card, witb another young man, formerly an inhabitant of some place about Kennebeck, or of Arow- sick (but then a prisoner with the Indians) made an es- THE INDIAN WARS. 339 cape from them, and got over to Casco Bay, and then to Black Point, from thence he was conveyed to Piscat- aqua soon after, and then to Boston. The manner of his escape, as Ije reports, was this : He was employed by the Indians to thresh corn at a barn a little lower in the river, than the place where the Indians commonly kept ; being trusted alone, to go and come of himself, because there was no suspicion of any coming to carry him away, or seeming possibility to get away without being discovered, he found means to plot with another young man, who was sent to look horses ; whose flesh it seems is by those wild savages preferred before the best beef, so that having their choice of both, they took what they liked best. This being the employ ment of the young man, he had the better opportunity when he was in the woods to make a contrivance to get away. Thus being resolved upon their design, they provided necessaries accordingly, and sent such a mes sage home to their masters, as might occasion them not to expect them very soon that night. Thus resolved, they marched away as soon as they perceived the coast was clear ; and having provided a canoe accordingly fit for the design, by the help of which they got over the water by which they were to pass, which was not frozen; and in the night time turned into a swamp, where they might make a fire to keep them from suffering with the cold without being discerned ; so that within two or three days they recovered the fort and garrison at Black Point, from whence they were soon conveyed to Boston. This Francis Card made his relation of matters when 340 A NARRATIVE OF he came to Boston, viz. that the prisoners which he left behind were well, and not much ill used, only put to do the servile work about the Indians. Woe must it needs be with Christians, when put not only to sojourn, but to serve in those tents of Kedar. Such of the women as were skilled in knitting and sewing were employed to make stockings and garments for their Pateroons : so it seems the ware-house at Arowsick furnished them with cloth, stuff and linen, and the inhabitants served for arti ficers to cut it out and make it up. He reported also that the Indians spake nothing of any peace ; but rather being heightened with their late and great successes, were contriving how to get posses sion of the other places in the hands of the English on that side of the country, which God forbid should ever come to pass ; but finding so easy work of their former exploits, they hope to accomplish their purposes, with the like facility in all other places where they come. It seems Squando is their chief leader, that enlhusi- 3stical or rather diabolical miscreant ; who hath put on a garb of religion, and ordered his people to do the like ; performing religious worship amongst the Indians in his way, yet is supposed to have very familiar converse with the Devil, that appears to him as an angel of light in some shape or other very frequently. This Francis Card also affirmeth, that there is not so great a number of Indians as is herein reported ; for he saitb, when they were going out upon some design while he was in their hands, he had opportunity to count them all and could find but 98 of them that were men; neither could he THE INDIAN WARS. 341 discern that there were any of the western Indians, un less Simon and Andrew, that formerly escaped out of Dover prison : altho it was before apprehended there were multitudes of them flocked thither. Francis Card s declaration of their beginning, gust 14th. The Indians came to Richard Hammond s and there killed Richard Hammond, Samuel Smith, and Joshua Grant, there parting their company, eleven men came up Kennebeck river to my house, and there took me, and my family. Therefore the rest of their company went to Arowsick and there took the garrison : About a fortnight after, they came down Kennebeck river, and so went down to Damaril s Cove, and there burnt houses and killed cattle; then coming back parted their compa ny ; one party went to Jewel s island, and the other party went to Sagadahock, being in number 81. Those that went to Sagadahock look a shallop; from thence came to Kennebeck river, and then went to killing and destroying of cattle and houses ; for they had intelli gence of a ketch and a shallop at Damaril s Cove, and going there they took the shallop, and killed two men, being in number about 80. The next day made up their forces, went out to Black Point, being about 1*20 fighting men, and are now in two forts about 60 at a place, with six or eight wigwams between the two forts. Now the best place to land men is in Casco Bay, and in Kennebeck river ; the one place being eight, the oth er about fourteen miles from the fort where I was kept ; 1? n A NARRATIVE OF and if the army do not go with speed, they will be gone forty miles farther up in the country. At the first ta king of me they carried me up to Taconnet, and the men coming down, they brought me and two more men down for fear of our killing their women and children ; for they kept their women and children at Taconnet all the summer. As soon as the warm weather doth set in they do intend to go away to Taconnet, and there to build two forts, for there is their fishing places and plant ing ground. Squando doth inform them that God doth speak to him, and doth tell him that God hath left our nation to them to destroy, and the Indians take for truth all that he tells them ; because they have met with no affront. Now Mugg the rogue, being come again to the fort, doth make his brags, and laughs at the English, and saith, that he hath found the way to burn Boston, and doth make laughter at your kind entertainment ; they make their brags how they do intend to take vessels, and to go to all the fishing islands, and so drive all the country before them ; reckoned to be a great number hi the spring. There are a great many Indians at Can ada that have not been out this summer, both of Kenne- beck and Damarascoggan, therefore a great many of these Indians at Kemiebeck do intend to go to Canada in the spring to them, aud they do give gift both of cap tives, and of goods to the eastern Indians, to have them go with them ; but as yet I do not know what they vv ill do, for Madockawando and Squar.do are of several judg ments, and so hath parted and Madockawamlo doth pre- teml love to the English captives as civilly aa we can THE INDIAN WAR?. 343 expect by such a people. That this is a truth, is de clared by me Francis Card, the 22d of January 1679. By the report which he brings it does not appear so difficult a matter to make an attempt to recover the place and destroy them that hold i(, as was before apprehend ed : Insomuch as that design that was under debate be fore the Governor and Council a little before and was let fall for the present, as a matter not feasible, hath since been set on foot with a fresh resolution : And another thing also occurred about the same time, which put new- life into the said design, viz. an apprehension that there were several of the Narragansets scattered about in these woods near Piscataqua, who it was feared might join with those of Kennebeck in the spring, and so come down upon the English plantations, and spoil them all that were thereabouts. For soon after Francis Card came to Boston, some of Major Waldern s Indians at Quechecho, as they were hunting in the woods, chanced to meet with three strange Indians, two of which had guns, but those of Quechecho were without. The other Indians began to insinuate into them, to see if they could make way for their acceptance with the English : Thoe Indians that this motion was made unto, in a most per fidious manner gave them encouragement hi the busi ness, and appointed a place where to meet them the next day, saying they could not hove them go home with them to their wigwams lest their women and children would be frighted with the si^ht of their guns ; all which was spoken upon a treacherous at ,c<mnt, by that means to betray them, for they had neither women or children 344 A NARRATIVE OF at their wigwams ; but not having guns themselves, as the others had, they durst not tnen seize upon them. The next day therefore, according to appointment, their guests expecting a treaty and a friendly compliance (yet coming apart as was ordered the day before to be the more easily surprised) arrived at the place appointed and there presently the first, being thus treacherously brought into the snare, was dispatched out of hajid. The like was also done to the second. The third was at a distance, but he either discerned or suspected what became of his fellows and therefore made the more haste to escape ; but his deceitful friends were too quick for him, who shot him down before he could get out of their reach ; so that they took him alive, as is said ; but he could not live much longer by reason of his wounds. Quechecho Indians cut off the scalps of their poor coun trymen (which is their usual manner when it is too far to carry their heads) which being brought to Major Wai- dern s Indians they were presently discerned to be Nar- ragansets by the cut of their hair. This instance is a sufficient evidence of the subtility, guile and falshood, natural to all these Indians, and may satisfy any rational person, what little trust there is to be put in their words, promises or engagements, though ever so solemnly made, farther than they that make them, for advantage in the keeping and performing. Subtility, malice and re venge, seems to be as inseparable from them, as if it were a part of their essence. Whatever hopes may be of their conversion to Chris tianity in after time, there h but little appearance of any THE INDIAN WARS. 345 truth in their hearts at present, where so much of the contrary is so ordinarily breathed out of their mouths. These manners of the Gentiles in former times, while they remained children of disobedience, until they were renewed after another image : Nor are these uncapable subjects for divine grace to work upon ; yet are there some natural vices proper to every nation in the world, as Paul speaks of the Grecians, from the testimony of one of their own poets. But to return. These things so concurring and sev eral gentlemen from about Piscataqua repairing to Bos ton, so represented the state of things eastward before the Governor and Council, that it is apprehended not only necessary, but feasible also to suppress the aforesaid In dians in those parts : Whereupon it was forthwith con cluded that an expedition should be made against them; to which end 250 soldiers, whereof about 60 were of Natick Indians, who had given good proof of their value arid faithfulness to the English ; all which were im mediately dispatched away the first week in February, by water under the conduct of Major Waldern, as com mander in chief; a person well approved for his activ ity, as well as fidelity and courage in matters of this nature. They had to encounter with rough and contra- , ry winds, and much cold weather the first week after their setting out ; but having so much experience of the i favor and goodness of Almighty God, who is always wont to be present with his servants in like cases, tho* he hath often for a time deferred, for the trial of their faith and exercise of their patience, yet useth not to fail 346 A NARRATIVE OP his people, that put their trust in him, being appointed for l hat end, to which we expect a comfortable answer. \Ve that have sent forth our friends on ihe public ser vice, being thus engaged to follow them with prayers, at present in silence wait upon the Lord of Hosts to give a blessing to the design ; hoping our friend^ in this ne cessary, though difficult service, thus called forth, have gone out with the like encouragement and resolution that sometimes Joab did. Let us be of good courage, and play the men of our people, and for the cause of our God. And let the Lord do that which seemeth him good. Upon the llth of February, two Indian squaws that had run away from Major Waldern s in the beginning of winter, out of discontent, because the husband of one of them, and some of the relations of the other were sent away, came back with more wit than they carried away with them, though with less flesh upon their backs ; hav ing wandered up towards Pigwauehet, till (hey were al most starved there. They say some of the Indians were seen by them, pretending they were going to the head of Connecticut river, with hostile intents against the Eng lish ; but they going away in the manner /before descri bed, little- heed is to be given to the stories they tell on their return. The 19th of February following, John Abbot, the master of Mr. Fryer s ketch taken October 12lh at Black Point, came into the Isle of Shoales, having made a desperate adventure to escape. He gave a more pro bable account of things in those parts. He saith they were first carried to Shecpscot river, THE INDIAN WARS. 347 where the vessel in which they were taken was moored all the winter ; in which time the Indians have spent all their ammunition and most of their provision, thought it high time to be looking out for more ; to which end they caused the said Abbot to fit up the vessel (boins; a pin nace of about 30 ton?) as well as he could, with such assistance as they could afford him ; and ten of them shipped themselves in the same, intending for Penob- scot ; from thence to sail up that river as far as they could ; and then leaving their vessel to proceed on with their canoes as high up the river as the stream would permit, and so to pass on to Canada, to buy powder of the French there ; it being at this time thirty two shil lings a pound amongst the Indians at Kennebeck. But as Providence ordered it, after these mariners launched into the deep a small storm with a contrary wind began to rise ; of which the English skipper found ways in his steering to make the danger seem more than really it was, insomuch that they resolved to put in at Cape Bonawaggon, three leagues to the eastward of Sheeps- cot, where eight of them went on shore, leaving two In- dians on board with the English skipper. After he had got so well rid of them he contrived how to get clear of the others also ; therefore he persuaded them that the vessel would not ride safely in that place, so that he prevailed with them to let him go to another harbor call ed DamariPs Cove, two or three leagues more eastward. In the way as he sailed he so ordered his steering that sometimes the waves were ready to overtake the vessel, which put his two Indians into a fright, so that they 348 A NARRATIVE OP made all the haste they could to get ashore, as soon as they come within the harbor, urging him to go along with them ; but he pretended a necessary excuse to stay bt hind to look after the vessel but with intent as soon as he should see them ashore, to hoist sail for some English harbor, having no body on board with him, but a small English child about three years old. It seems the Indians had a child or two of their own dead in the vessel, who died after they began their voyage, they were the forwarder to JTO on shore with them for burial. The said Abbot now perceivii-g he bad ;>btoined his pur pose (for he resolved on this project before) first greas ing the mast with a piece of fat pork left by the Indians, as high as he could reach, that he with his own hands might the more easily hoist the sail, HO choosing; rather to cast himself upon the Providence of God on the wa ters, than to trust himself any longer with the perfidious savages on the dry land, he came safe to the Isle of Shoales before the evening of the next day, the 19th of February. Within a few days after John Abbot aforesaid made his escape in the vessel, there came an express from Major Waldern (the commander in chief over our for ces sent to Kenneberk to subdue the Indians in those parts, and deliver the English captives that have been detained in their hands since August la*t) which giveth this account of their proceeding. Feb. 17th. This morning ihe wind northeast, soon after south and south-west, \ve set sail with our ve^ls from Black Point, for Portland, but on the east side of THE INDIAN WARS. 349 Cape Elizabeth, we espied John Paine (who was sent out a scout) who brought word the way was clear of ice and Indians ; whereupon we steered for Mary Point at the head of Casco Bay, and got there this night, but too late to get to the fort before morning. Feb. 1 8. We sent this morning our scouts out by land, who returning about 8 o clock, brought word they saw the tracks of three Indians, and found a birch canoe at Muckquit, about four miles off, by which we feared we were discovered ; the companies about four o clock were diawn forth, and just beginning their march when we espied five of the enemy about half a mile off; they landed over against us on an island, and hallowed to us, whereby we perceived they desired a treaty ; hoping to gain the captives, we sent John Paine to them, they promised him to bring the captives by morning and de sired peace. After this John Paine was sent again, and stayed among the Indians in the room of Simon, who came to the Major. He was questioned, and answered as follows. Quest. How came you to know we were here ? Ans. We continually kept out our scouts, and yes terday our Indians left a canoe at Muckquit, which this day we missed, and perceived the English had taken it, and our men that left the canoe espied you a great way off at Portland. Quest. Why did you break your covenant with me? Ans. Blind Will stirred us up to war here, and said he would kill you at Quechecho. Simon having FF A NARRATIVE OF said this, asked the Major what his business was here, to whom it was answered, we catne to fetch off the cap tives and make war as we see good. Simon also told ug that the captives were all well, that we should have them by morning, that Squando was there, and would give the captives to Major Waldern ; that they intend ed peace, and had sent to Boston before now, but that Mugg told them the English would be here shortly. The Major upon this dismissed Simon, and sent for Squando, to which Squando answered he would meet him half way if he would come alone in a birch canoe, To this the Major answered, he would not venture him self in one of their leaky canoes, and that if he had no more to say, the treaty was ended : To this Squando answered, he would be with us again at ten o clock, and bring the captives. Feb. 19th. Wind north-east, the weather thick : About noon we discovered a party of Indians in four teen canoes about three miles above us in the Bay ; they landed on a point of land, and burnt one English house and shouted to some of our men that were scouts, chal lenging them to fight : Immediately on the return of our scouts we marched against them as secretly as we could ; upon sight of us they fled ; but Capt. Frost came upon them with his whole body before they were half out of gun shot. In this skirmish we judged we killed and wounded several of them without any damage, yet some of their bullets hit some of our men. For the Captain s sake immediately after this we hung out a flag of truce and the enemy did the like. John Paine was sent to THE INDIAN WARS. them to demand the reason why tiiey fired the house, and broke their promise. Simon met him half way, and answered, the house was fired accidentally without order from Squando ; that they had sent for the captives who were a great way off, and the foul weather hindered their coming : He questioned John Paine also why we fought them while we were in a treaty. Paine answered, they broke it themselves in not per forming their promises, challenging our soldiers to fight ; the latter Simon denied, and answered the other as be fore : Simon told him they had two men wounded 3 and expected satisfaction, but also promised the captives the next day and so left us. Feb. 20th. The wind north east, and snow, it was resolved to sail for Kennebeck the first fair wind, whith er we had immediately gone upon our knowledge that we were discovered by the enemy, but that the wind and v/eather hindered us hitherto. Feb. 21. This morning the wind noth- west, we set sail for Kennebeck, and arrived at the harbour s rnouth at four o clock. About sun set we set sail up the river, and got to the lower end of Arowsick. Feb. 22d. We set sail this morning but could not get to the head of the river for ice, whereupon we land ed our soldiers at two o clock about twelve miles off Aboundessit fort, and immediately began our march ; at 8 o clock at night came to the fort ; we found no In- (Hans, there we took up our quarters this night. Feb. 23d. We sent out scouts to discover (he march 352 A NARRATIVE OP of the enemy, but found so many tracks every way, that we knew not what way to follow them. At a council of war it was resolved that Major Waldern should sail for Penobscot, with two ketches, and part of the soldiers to seek after the captives, and fight the enemy if he had opportunity ; the rest to build a garrison. In the ab sence of our forces, the vessels espied several fires be low the river, and one English house was burnt ; about sun set the soldiers returned to the vessels. Feb. 24th. This morning the Major with two boats and a shallop, went to spy out a place to settle a garrison, and found one against the lower end of Arowsick island and the vessels are brought to it. Feb. 25th. We rested here this sabbath. John Baker s house opposite the lower end of Arow sick being judged the most convenient place for their purpose, as well for the conveniency of water for the sol diers, as for a cove wherein ships might ride, within command thereof, the vessels therefore w.ere immediate ly anchored there, where they rested on the Lord s day, February 25th. Next day according to the advice of the commanders, Major Waldern embarked 60 men in two vessels, with which he set sail immediately for Penobscot, leaving the rest to be employed in making preparation for settling a garrison in the said place. In their way off from Gyobscut Point, they espied two Indians in a canoe, that waved their caps as if they desired to speak with them. John Paine and Walter Gendal were presently sent ; they gave theoa intelligence THE INDIAN WARS. 353 that many Indians were at Pemmaquid with the English captives, upon which they bent their course thither ; when arriving, they anchored at four o clock the same day ; soon after two Indians hallowed to them from Mr. Gardner s fort. John Paine was sent ashore to enquire who they were, and what was become of the captives. Sundry sorts of Indians were found about the place with several Sagamores, the chief of whom was Mattahando, who told them he was glad to see Englishmen there and that he desired peace, and promised to deliver such captives as were at Penobscot, the next morning ; ad ding also, that he desired to speak with Capt. Davis. After John Paine returned to the Major, he was sent back with the said Davis and stayed ashore till three Sagamores went on board, and signified as much to Ma jor Waldern, as they had before to John Paine. While they were in discourse, an English captive was espied in a canoe with his Pateroon, with whom they desired to speak, but it was not granted at that time he being rcarried farthea p the river out of sight. Soon after the Major went on shore with six men, yet carrying no arms with them. He found their words smoother than oil, yet were there drawn swords in their hearts, of which some of their actions gave no small ground of suspicion ; for they deferred all till the next morning ; nor were they willing to let the man that \^ai> espied before in the canoe come on board to see his friends without leaving an hostage in his room, of which the Major was very glad, that he might have an oppor tunity of a little discourse with one whom they might F F2 354 A NARRATIVE OP trust. When they returned from the shore a io;n was promised to be given for the appearance of the Indians by the firing of three guns. The next morning, February 27th, the Major with the same number as before, went to treat with them, they, with John Paine, first hallowing to them : Upon their coming on shore their persons were searched on both sides, and all arms laid aside. The whole forenoon was spent in a treaty, whereat they seemed much to rejoice in expectation of a peace with the English ; yet when Major Waldern desired a present delivery of captives, with assistance of men and canoes to fight the Monoscog- gan Indians, enemies to them both, it was denied, tho* they could not have had a better testimony of their fi delity. They alleged that the captives were given them by the Kennebeck Indians, and they must have something for keeping them a winter, and therefore were not wil ling to let them go without a ransom ; and as for their canoes, they said they had them in present service, be ing then bound for Penobscot. The price demanded, twelve skins a person, was yielded to ; upon which they delivered William Chadburn, John Wannick, and John War wood, which were all that they would own, or could be proved they had. That part of pay which was to be in liquor, was pre sently laid down, the rest was promised to be sent in the afternoon. The commanders debated what was fur ther (o be done ; one or two of the old Sagamores (who were beiievedj seemed sincere about the peace, pro- INDIAN WARS. 355 fessed that none of them had any hand in the war, but only some of their young men, whom they could not rule ; but several of the company affirming they saw some of the said Indians at Casco engaged in hostility against the English, it was resolved not to enter into any league of peace with them, but rather to fight or sur prize them after they had dispatched the business about the captives. This being determined, the Major with five of his men went on shore, with part of the ransom, the better lo beget a confidence in them, and then to return on board again, and fit his men for further service ; but if he had not wisely proved against all exigencies before hand, he might have been prevented from ever going on board any more, for stepping aside a rod or two from the place for better circumspection, he espied the point of a lance from under a board, hid there, as were other arms near by, for a treacherous design that was in their minds, soon after, upon the receiving the rest of tlie pay, to have been put into execution. Whereupon Major Waldern took up the lance and came towards them, charging them with falsehood and treachery, for hiding weapons just by, wherewith to destroy them as soon as they had delivered the goods. The Indians dis covered their guilt by their countenances, some of them making towards him, thinking to get the weapon out of his hands ; but he bid them stand off threatening to kill every one that offered to touch him ; and immediately waved his cap over his head (which was the sign agreed upon for all the soldiers to come on shore in case oF 356 A NARRATIVE OF need) upon which token the soldiers all hasted away. la the mean time the English float went on shore to wait upon the Major, were forced to bestir themselves, both to se cure the goods from being carried away, and to defend Major Waldern. Some of the squads, with others of the enemy ran away ; one of them catched up a bundle of guns that were hid near by, and ran off with them. Captain Frost seized an Indian called Megunnaway, a notorious rogue, (that had been in arms at Connecticut last June at the falls, and saw the brave and resolute Capt. Turner, when he was slain about Green-River, and helped to kill Thomas Bracket at Casco in August last) and with the help of Lieut. Nutter, according to the Major s order, carried him on board, while himself searching about farther, found three guns hid in a cow house just at hand, wherewith he armed the other three men that were with him. By this time some of the soldiers were got ashore, and instantly according to their Major s command, pursued the enemy towards their ca noes ; in the chace several of the enemy were slain whose bodies were found at their return to the number of seven, amongst whom was Mattahando, the Sagamore, with an old Powaw, to whom the Devil had revealed, as sometimes he did to Saul, that on the same day he should be with him ; for he had a little before told the Indians that within two days the English would come and kill them all, which was at the very same time verified upon himself. The body of our men overtook them before they all recovered their canoes so that without doubt, divers others of them were slain likewise, for they sunk THE INDIAN WARS. 357 a canoe wherein were five drowned before their eyes, and many others were not able to paddle ; four they took prisoners, whom they brought away with them There were about 25 Indians present at this, encounter. Much more damage might have been done by our men upon the enemy, if they had known the most direct way to their canoes ; but the Indians having prepared all things ready for flight, as well as for fight, the more easily made their escape. One of the captives was sis ter to Madockawando, who was entertained very cour teously by the Commander in Chief, and would have been carried forthwith to her brother in hopes by her means to have gained the better terms for our remaining English captives, had it not been certainly known that he was gone from home upon a hunting design, and not to return in two months. The English took much plunder from the Indians, about a thousand weight of dry beef, with other things. Megunnaway was shot to death the same day or the next ; so that justice is by degrees pursuing those per fidious villains, and they, one afte? another are brought under the wheel of destruction. Sirnon, that arch-traitor, seems as is said, by his consumptive looks, to have re ceived the sentence of death, which may bring him into the same place or state with the rest. Feb. 28, they set sail for Sheepscot, but the wind failing, they put in at Kennebeck, from whence Captain Fisk with 40 men, were sent to the same place to seek after plunder, where they found between .30 and 40 bush els of good wheat, which they brought away with them 358 A NARRATIVE OK several other things they lighted upon here and there, some of which were brought away, such as one or two great guns, from Sagadahock, and boards from Arowsick, where they found an hundred thousand foot, of which they brought home enough for the lading of their ves sels, leaving the rest to be transported in a more con venient season. While our soldiers were upon Arowsick, two of the enemy chanced to come upon the place, and one of them instantly received his reward, the other received his payment in part, which however is supposed to amount to the whole, the canoe wherein he was escaping, being found the next day all bloody, and split asunder. March 1st, one of the Indian squaws, a captive, was sent to Taconet fort, with a message to the feagamoi es to treat for the rest of the captives. Five days were given her to return, which were not expired, when Major Wal- dern with most of the soldiers were called to return home towards Boston, where they arrived on the 16th of March, 1676 7, having first put in at Portsmouth ; bringing along with them bones, or rather the body of Captain Lake, preserved entire and whole, and free from putrefaction by the coldness of the long winter, so as it was found by the one that was near him when he was slain, easily discerned to be his, by such as had known him before. It is supposed by those that returned, that the ene- emy are by this encounter of the English so scattered and broken that they will not be able to rally again sud denly, or make any attempt hereafter, if the present ad- THE INDIAN WAUS. 359 vantage be seriously pursued. Thus have our enemies, many of them fallen into the pit themselves which they have been digging for others. This day also letters were received from Major Pynchon of Springfield, but without mention of any ap pearance of the enemy in that quarter : whereby we are encournged to believe, that they have stumbled and fall en down backward, so t|>at they shall never rise any more to malfe farther disturbance. That which crown ed the present service was- the performing it without loss of blood ; all safely returning. Let them according ly remember to pay a suitable tribute of thankfulness to HIM, under whose banner they went forth and returned in safety. THE END. I 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewals only: Tel. No. 642-3405 Renewals may be made 4 days prior to date due. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. fiBTDLP MAR 2 : OCT 1 5 1975 :- 1 1 1979 REC. cm JAN 1 4. 1379 -3 man . **& w u* , RECEIVED \ 3 1996 MC.CIR. __ m. APR 1 3 General Library U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES