USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > The history of Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, from the settlement of the town in 1639 to 1818. Vol. I > Part 25
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On the 10th, the Narragansetts and Nipmucks attacked Lancaster, plundered and burned the town with its garrison-house, murdered several of its inhabitants, and took captive all the women and children. A few days after Medfield was laid in ashes, and twenty men killed. The inhabit. ants of Simsbury were advised to move to a stronger plantation. All the towns on the east side of the Connecticut were ordered to raise fortifica- tions, into which the inhabitants, with their cattle, hay and provisions, should be taken for safety.
On the 24th, Major Treat received instructions to go up the river as far as Portland and Glastonbury, with one hundred men and as many friendly Indians as should join him on the way, to surprise the enemy and clear the coast before the main army moved northward.
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The Mohegans and Pequots were sent under the protection of a body of Englishmen into the Narragansett country to capture the enemy, and to seize their corn and provisions. On the 25th, Cornelius Hull, of Fair- field, was appointed by the council, lieutenant of Major Treat's life guard. Upon the opening of spring, the rage of the Indians broke forth
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in great fury. Early in March about three hundred of them attacked Warwick and Providence in Rhode Island, and drove away a large number of horses, cattle and sheep. An engagement took place at Warwick between the Indian sachem of the town and the English. Several Indians were killed, and four Connecticut men wounded. Northampton, Spring- field, Chelmsford, Groton, Sudbury, and Marlborough were attacked, valua- ble property destroyed, and many of the inhabitants killed or wounded, and the women and children led away into a helpless and wretched cap- tivity.
Such was the condition of the English, that the planters were ordered to labor in companies while preparing their fields for sowing grain, etc., with watchmen on guard by day, and wards by night. All the inhabitants in the several plantations were ordered "to carry arms & ammunition with them to public meetings, both at times of worship & all other times." Threats from the enemy against the principal towns in New England led the council to order fortifications around Hartford, New Haven and all the other towns capable of raising them ; and to finish their stockades and flankers with a ditch and breastwork. Every man and boy capable of working was ordered to leave all other duties, except those of necessity and mercy, and assist in completing the fortifications, under a penalty of " high contempt of Authority in matters of great importance."
To prevent the Indians from murdering the planters as they opened their doors in the morning, on the 16th the wards in the several plantations were ordered to rouse the inhabitants about an hour before daybreak, to repair fully armed to their fortifications, and there to stand on guard until the sun was half an hour high .* Two scouts on horseback were ordered to be sent out from each town into the woods during the day, and make returns to the chief military officer of the condition of the enemy.
The situation of the New England towns at this time was as critical as it was depressing. Several towns in Massachusetts were almost depopu- lated. The frontier towns of all the colonies were scenes of frequent inva- sions and devastations. The Indians throughout the western part of Con- necticut, were more or less influenced by the war spirit of the eastern part of the colony. At Milford they became very troublesome. It does not appear, however, that the Indians about Fairfield ventured to offer hostili- ties. The town of Fairfield was the military centre of the county, and too
" The subtle Indians near daybreak came about the houses privately, and lay close in the fences, and as people came out of their houses shot them down .- Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, p. 215.
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strongly fortified for the Indians to attack it, even if they had the inclina- tion. Major Gold was constantly engaged in forwarding men, grain, pro- visions and clothing for the troops to Hartford and New London. The flower of the young men of the town and county embarked from Black Rock for the seat of war. Many families wore the badge of woe for their brave loved ones slain in battle; and those who went forth to take their places filled other hearts with fears for their safety. From the summit of Grover's, Holland, Osborn and Round hills, vessels bearing courageous hearts, and stores of good cheer for the famished army, were seen gliding out of the harbor towards New London, while others were returning with the sick and wounded, bringing back news of the war.
Before March ended, Captain Pierce, of Plymouth, with fifty Englishmen and twenty Indians, was drawn into an ambuscade near his fortification (March 26), and sixty-three men were slain. Two days after forty houses, besides barns and outhouses, were burned at Rehoboth near Swanzy. Captain Wadsworth, while marching with fifty men to the relief of Sud- bury, was surrounded by the enemy, and all his men were slain.
Meanwhile companies of volunteers from the eastern towns of Connec- ticut, with Pequots, Mohegans, and Nehantics, who had joined the English in February, with promises of sharing the plunder taken, succeeded in driv- ing the enemy from their quarters in the Narragansett country. " As soon as one company returned another went out immediately, so as to keep the enemy in continued alarm." On the 24th, Major Treat was ordered to march with one hundred men to join the forces assembled at Norwich and New London ; and to march to the Narragansett country as far north as the Nipmuck territory. He was instructed to destroy the enemy, and as much provision and estates as he met with. Before he reached Norwich, how- ever, intelligence was received at Hartford that the Indians had again attacked Simsbury, and burned part of the town. He was recalled to pro- tect the towns near Hartford. Scouts and companies continued to be sent out daily to scour the country and woods near the plantations, and to guard the planters while plowing and sowing.
On the 27th, the council of war proposed to the enemy an exchange of prisoners. They also made fruitless overtures of peace to all Indians bear- ing arms against the English.
On the 3Ist, the council ordered, that half of the soldiers of New Haven and Fairfield counties should daily follow the scouts, and kill or secure Indians skulking near the plantations on the Connecticut river. Major Gold, with three of the commissioners nearest Fairfield, was in- structed to press men into the service, so as to relieve those " who had
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great need to go to their habitations to recruit;" and to send them to Hartford as speedily as possible.
The council also addressed a letter to Governor Andros urging him to engage the Mohawks to join the English forces against the enemy, who were reported to be gathering in numbers, twenty miles north of Albany.
On account of the scarcity of breadstuffs and provisions, a vessel was dispatched from New London to Barbadoes, to obtain supplies for the army.
About the first of April, the enemy experienced a serious blow, which not only humiliated their savage pride, but greatly disheartened their lead- ers. Captain Dennison of Stonington, with one hundred English volun- teers, and several Mohegans, Pequots and Niantics under young Uncas, made an excursion into the Narragansett country, and captured Nannun- tenoo or Canonchet, son of Miantonimo, and several of his principal men, killed fifty others, and took forty prisoners. Canonchet had been a bitter enemy of the English, and was, at the time he was captured, boasting of the part he had taken in cutting off Captain Pierce and his men. Fearing if he was released, he would become more bitter against the English than ever, it was decided that he should die. He was therefore taken to Ston- ington, and there shot, at his own request, by young Uncas, the Pequots, the Mohegans, and Niantics sharing " in the glory of destroying so great a prince." On the 5th of April, the council expressed regret that they were not first notified of the capture of Canonchet, before it was decided to put him to death .*
Before April ended, a grandson of Pomham, who was esteemed the bravest and best soldier among the Narragansett sachems, was taken and killed. On the 15th of April, the council had ordered Major Treat to dis- band the soldiers, who had been pressed into the service ; and to instruct them to remain in their respective counties, equipped and ready to be ral- lied for the field at a day's warning. Provision was made that if they were suddenly called to active service, their planting fields should receive every necessary attention. On the 27th, the council ordered Major Gold to send as many Englishmen and Fairfield county Indians, t as were willing to join the volunteers at New London, in vigorous pursuit of the enemy. On the Ist of May, several Indians were sent into the Nipmuck country, with overtures of peace to all Indians at war with the English, and to meet the colonial agents of the council at Hadley.
The colony sustained a great loss at this time in the death of Governor
* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 344, 345.
+ Col. Rec. Conn., II., 437.
Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, 230-232.
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John Winthrop .* The spring court of election was held at Hartford on
the 11th of May. Major Gold was made an assistant of the General Court ; Jehu Burr and John Banks deputies ; and Jehu Burr and William Hill com- missioners, and also members of the standing council of war. Orders were issued to raise 350 men for a standing army, out of which eighty were to be taken from Fairfield county. Major Treat having been elected deputy- governor, Major John Talcott of Hartford was appointed chief in com- mand, and was ordered to be at Norwich with his forces by the 27th of the month. Captain Jonathan Selleck of Stamford, was chosen captain of the Fairfield county troops, and Cornelius Hull and John Morehouse of Fairfield ensigns. Each county was ordered to send several hundred bushels of wheat and other provisions, out of which Fairfield county was to send four hundred bushels of wheat, and one hundred and fifty bushels of Indian corn and peas.
The council of war met on the 18th, and, as the agents sent to treat with the Indians had in vain endeavored to make peace with them, it was resolved to suspend all controversies, and to prosecute the war vigorously.
The following day (May 19), the Indians assembled near Deerfield, and were attacked by a party of 160 soldiers from Hadley, Hatfield, and Northampton. Two hundred of their number were slain, and but one Englishman killed. They rallied, however, from their defeat while the army was returning to Hadley, fell upon its rear, and killed Captain Tur- ner and thirty-seven of his men. This battle has ever since been called the great " Falls Fight."
The following day Captain Benjamin Newbery, with eighty men was sent to defend Northampton and the adjacent plantations. He reported to the council that there were about three hundred Indians at Brookfield ; and suggested that if Major Talcott with his forces could be sent to join him, he thought an attack upon them might be successfully made.
.On the 24th, Major Treat received orders to march with his forces to the Nipmuck country. A few days after he left Norwich with two hun-
" Governor John Winthrop died at Boston, on the 5th of April, 1676, in the seventy-first year of his age. He was chosen governor in 1657, and deputy governor the next year. He was again chosen governor in 1669, and was annually elected to this office until his death. He was the son of Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts. Under a commission in 1635, from Lord Say and Seal, he erected the fort at Saybrook, and was also appointed governor of the adjacent country. Trumbull says of him : " He was one of the greatest chymists of his age, a member of the royal society of philosophical transactions, & one of the most distinguished characters of New Eng- land." He rendered great and important services to Connecticut both at home and abroad ; and his death was regarded a universal calamity to the colony, and to all New England.
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dred and fifty English soldiers, and two hundred Mohegan, Pequot, and friendly Indians. They scoured the woods and country on their march northward ; but everywhere found the forts and wigwams of the enemy deserted. On the 5th of June, they entered the Nipmuck country, and falling upon Chanagongum, they killed nineteen Indians, and took captive thirty-three more. Major Talcott then marched rapidly through Brook- field to Northampton. On account of the length of this march, and the fatigue and hunger endured by the officers and soldiers, it has ever since been called, " the long & hungry march." Great disappointment was here experienced by Major Talcott, that the Massachusetts troops had not arrived, which he had been notified would join him at Hadley .* Four days after, about seven hundred Indians made a furious attack upon Had- ley. A large body of this number lay in ambush in the road, between Northampton and Hadley, in order to attack the English forces; but, dis- covering their design, Major Talcott by a circuitous route led his forces to the scene of action, and drove the enemy from the place. Several houses outside the fortifications were burned. The men who ventured out of the garrison to save them, were killed or wounded. A number of horses, cat- tle and sheep were slain or taken away.
On the 9th Major Gold " & the gentry of that county," received orders to forward forthwith to New London for the famishing army, two hundred bushels of wheat baked into bread, and several barrels of meat. On the 2Ist Major Talcott. reported to the council, that he had scoured the country on both sides of the Connecticut as far as the falls above Pacom- tock, and found the Indians had retired back towards Watchosuck into the Nipmuck country.
The council directed him as soon as the recruits, provisions, etc., arrived, "to march out against the enemy, & to attack & destroy them, as God should deliver them into their hands." A few days after, the Massachu- setts troops joined Major Talcott. He immediately set out with a goodly army towards the Narragansett country. On the Ist of July he took four of the enemy prisoners. The following day (the Lord's day), a large party of Indians was discovered in a great spruce swamp. They were surrounded by the English and Indian allies, " and within three hours 171 were slain or taken prisoners." Among them were forty-five women and children, who were saved. Among the slain was the sunck squaw Magnus, sister of
* It appears that the Massachusetts forces under Captain Henchman, were retarded in their march to Hadley, by coming upon a party of thirty-six Indians fishing near Lancaster, of whom they killed seven, and took twenty-nine, mostly women and children, prisoners .- Drake's Old Indian Chronicle.
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Ninigret and wife of Meika, a son of Canonicus. Her chief counselor was also killed, and fifteen arms taken.
The following day Major Talcott continued his march towards Provi- dence, where it had been reported a body of the enemy had fled to make peace with the people of Rhode Island. He surrounded Providence neck, and the same day Warwick neck, where his men slew and took captive sixty- seven more Indians and eleven arms. The whole number taken and slain in these two engagements was 238. Major Talcott lost but one Indian in both engagements, and not one Englishman. The same day news reached the major, that Philip was making his way towards Mount Hope. He at once resolved to overtake him; but his Indians refused to accompany him, although the chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Fitch of Norwich, used every argument to persuade them to go. The major wisely determined not to part with them, and therefore on the 4th halted at Richard Smith's house, one of the strongest fortifications at Narragansett .* The following day, hearing the enemy was largely concentrated in those parts, on the 5th he encompassed Boston neck and Port Judith, "but found only one old woman who was fast asleep." That night he and his men quartered at Thomas Stanton's farm-house at Monacontange, and the following day, being short of provisions, he set out towards home. On the way sixty more of the enemy were taken. From the beginning of April to the 6th of July, the Connecticut volunteers and the troops under Major Talcott, killed and captured about 420 of the enemy.+
Upon receiving a letter from Major Talcott, dated July 4th, giving an account of his successful campaign, the council resolved to prosecute the war as expeditiously as possible. On the 8th orders were sent to the Major to recruit his army ; and by way of encouraging the Indians to join him, to offer them ammunition, Indian corn, and all the plunder they could obtain during their march. The soldiers from Fairfield and the seaside, were ordered to furnish supplies for the army at the rate of " about five pounds of cheese or meat, & fifteen pounds of bread to a man." The magis- trates of the towns were to impress men for the service, and each man was offered a horse and a quart of liquor. The soldiers were to take with them " as many cutlasses as they could."
Men driving carts and horses, laden with newly baked bread from the great old-fashioned ovens of the mothers of Fairfield, were again seen making their way to Captain Todd's vessel at Black Rock, which had been sent from New Haven for that purpose. About this time the council received information from Major Andros, that the Mohawks had attacked
* Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, p. 180. + Trumbull's Hist. of Conn., I., 348.
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Philip's allies, in a venture they had made towards Albany, and not only slain many of them, but taken several prisoners. The council at once gave orders, if the Mohawks approached the river towns for supplies, to encourage friendly feelings by giving them relief .*
The condition of the enemy at this time was most distressing. The loss of their forts, wigwams and stores had caused great suffering among them. They had been unable to plant corn and beans during the spring, and they were almost wholly without provisions. During the extreme cold of the winter, they had sought refuge in dense forests, and subsisted upon nuts and such game and fish as they could obtain. Within the last few months, one defeat after another had followed in quick succession. Famished, discouraged and overwhelmed by their hopeless condition, they separated, and in flying companies sought refuge in different parts of the country. Many surrendered themselves to the mercy of the English. About the 20th of July, the council wrote to Governor Andros that a large party of Indians had approached Westfield and carried away horses, cattle and sweet corn ; but being pursued by some of the garrison had fled towards the Hudson, and passed southward of the road to Albany, in order to avoid the Mohawks. They requested Andros to intercept them, so as if possible to prevent their seeking refuge among the hostile Indians of Virginia.
Meanwhile Major Talcott, having recruited his army, was marching northward, and reached Westfield in time to pursue the flying Indians. Three days after their attack upon that town, he discovered them lying on the west side of the Housatonic river. It was too late in the day to approach them, consequently the army preserving great silence, rested upon their arms over night. Before daybreak they were formed in two divisions, one of which was to cross the river below the enemy and encom- pass them on that side, while the other was creeping quietly up the east bank of the river, prepared to fire when those on the west side, upon reaching their position, should fire a single gun. While the division on the west side was advancing to surround the enemy, they were discovered by an Indian, who had left his sleeping companions and gone down the river to fish. He at once gave the alarm, crying Awanux ! Awanux ! One of the party fired and killed him instantly ; but the shot was taken for the signal gun by those on the east side of the river, who at once rushed upon the enemy as they were rousing from their sleep, and killed and wounded a large number of them. The others fled to the west side of the river, and, as the division on that side had not reached their destination, they
* Trumbull's Hist. of Conn., I., 464.
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made good their escape. In the attack, the chief sachem of Brookfield was killed. Forty others were slain and fifteen taken captive. Among the slain were twenty-five warriors.
From a letter sent by the council to Major Andros, dated August 19th, it appears that the above party of Indians, numbering about 150, were making their way to a fort at Paquiage, on the west side of the Hudson, where they were to be received and sheltered by friendly Indians ; and as soon as they were sufficiently reinforced, to make another attack upon the English plantations. This design was happily defeated by Major Tal- cott's victory. Meanwhile Major Church, of the Plymouth colony, and the Massachusetts forces had been very successful in taking parties of the enemy. Several Indians, in order to save their lives, betrayed the hiding places of their friends. In this way, King Philip was hunted for weeks from place to place. His wife and family had been taken prisoners, his brother and chief councilors had been slain ; but not for one instant did he yield to any suggestions of peace. At last he was betrayed by an Indian, whose brother he had shot for presuming to approach him with proposals of peace.
On the 19th of August, one James Shore, from Rhode Island, came in a vessel to Fairfield, and reported that one of Philip's men, having become discontented, had gone before the authorities at Rhode Island and offered to guide the English to a swamp where he lay. " Whereupon Capt. Sand- ford with a picked company of stout & able men English, & Indians hast- ened away & being come to ye place which ye Indian had described to them, by his directions laid some English & Ind : in ambush at ye passage out, & the rest brake in upon them on the other side. Philip in laboring to escape was shot at Ist by ye English but missed, & then shot down by an Indian. All the rest, but one were killed & one or two wounded escaping. They cut off Philip's head & hands & brought them away." *
Thus died one of the bravest Indian warriors in New England. Believ- ing he was fighting for the honor of his country, and having lost at the hands of the English and their Indian allies, his wife, children, brother and principal warriors, he treated with disdain every overture of peace from them, preferring death at their hands.
Upon hearing of Philip's death, the Indians in arms either submitted to
* Philip having one very remarkable hand, being much scarred, occasioned by splitting of a pistol in it formerly. Capt. Church gave the head and hands to Alderman, the Indian who shot him, to show to such gentlemen as would bestow gratuities upon him, and accordingly he got many a penny by it. [Church's History of Ind. War.] Col. Rec. Conn., II., 471. The news of Philip's death was sent by William Jones, of New Haven, to Governor Leete at Hartford.
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the English, or fled to the Indians in Canada, and to the Mohegans upon the Hudson river. It has been estimated that at the beginning of the war, Philip and his brother Wetamoe had about 500 warriors, and the Narragansetts 2,000. The Nipmucks and other hostile northern tribes, numbered about 500 more, making in all, independent of the eastern Indians, about three thousand engaged in the plot to exterminate the English. At the sitting of the General Assembly in October, John Banks of Fairfield, was appointed one of a committee to hear and settle the claims of the Mohegans, Pequots, Narragansetts and other Indian allies of the English. All captives who were proved murderers were sentenced to death.
The sunck squaw, Ninigret's daughter, with about one hundred of her men, was granted a reservation lying between Westerly and Hopkinton, Rhode Island, provided she preserved peace with the English, and did not entertain hostile Indians. Other Indians were granted small parcels of land upon the same terms. All young and single Indians of both sexes, were ordered to be taken into English families, and as a pledge of their fidelity, to be apprenticed to ten years' service, at the expiration of which time, they were to be granted their liberty if they proved loyal, otherwise they were to be sold into slavery.
A list was taken of the Indians, and a yearly tax of 5s. a head laid upon every grown man. A division of the prisoners was made among the counties. One man in each county was appointed to receive and place its proportion of captives in families. John Banks was awarded this duty for Fairfield county .*
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