USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 11
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Soon the Indians flocked into the village and began to burn buildings. During two nights and days they continued to besiege the house and made various attempts to burn it without success. One man was mortally wounded at the garret window and another was killed outside the building. The house contained twenty-six men capable of doing service and fifty women and children. The twenty- six men, vigilant and brave, put out the fires on the building and repelled the assaults of the Indians until the evening of the third day, when Major Willard came to their relief with Captain Parker and forty-six men and five friendly Indians. Before the next morning the Indians left the place.
On the first night, Ephraim Curtis, to obtain help, crept out on his hands and knees and reached Marlborough on the morning of August 4. Some travelers toward the Connecticut River who saw the burning at Quaboag returned to Marlborough the same morning a little before Curtis arrived and a post had been sent to Major Wil- lard, who was near Lancaster. The wounded left the house as soon as they were able to travel. The buildings were all burned excepting those of the innkeeper and another that was unfinished. The meeting- house was burned and a gristmill owned by John Pynchon.
One of the colonial majors records that when he came near Brook- field at the time of the Indian attack, the cattle had been frightened away by the yells and firing of the Indians, but fell into the rear of his company and followed them into the village. In this and later Indian wars, the people were alarmed when the cattle ran furiously out of the woods to the village.
The events at Brookfield produced much fear in the Colony and especially in Hampshire County. A company of river Indians and others from towns about Hartford came up and ranged the woods, but after the arrival of troops soon fled. Major Pynchon wrote, on August 22, that the various forces of soldiers had retired, and that nothing had been done except the burning of about fifty empty wigwams.
The Indian situation was so serious when autumn arrived that Captain Beers set forth from Hadley with about thirty-six men and some carts to bring away the garrison at Squakheag, later known as Northfield.
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At the outbreak of King Philip's War, Northfield had been settled only three years, and its position was much exposed. Here were seventeen thatched cabins, a meetinghouse, a log fort, and a stockade of rough logs eight feet high pierced with loopholes. One day in early September, while some of the men were working in the meadows, a band of Indians under Sagamore Sam and another chief known as "One-Eyed John" assailed the town. They killed a number of people in the houses, shot down the workers who attempted to make their way from the meadows to the settlement, and burned several of the dwellings, but they could not capture the stockaded enclosure. The next morning when within three miles of Northfield, Captain Beers and his men were attacked from the side of a swamp by a great num- ber of Indians, and for some time there was a hot dispute. But after losing their captain and some others, they resolved to hasten away across the swampy ravine to where they had left their horses. Nearly all those who escaped arrived in Hadley that evening. The next morning another came in and at night another that had been taken by the Indians and loosed from his bonds by a Natick Indian; he told that the Indians were all drunk, bemoaning the loss of a great captain and twenty-five of their men.
September 5, Major Treat set forth for Northfield with more than a hundred men. The next day, when they came near Northfield, his men were much daunted to see the heads of Captain Beers' soldiers on poles by the wayside. After getting to their destination they were fired on by about a dozen Indians, and Major Treat was wounded, but not seriously. He decided to lose no time in bringing away the gar- rison, and they did so that night, leaving the cattle there, and the dead bodies unburied. Afterward seventeen of the cattle came a great part of the way themselves and finally were fetched into Hadley.
On Sunday, the twelfth of the month, the Indians made an assault on two men of Pocomtuck, known now as Deerfield. They were going from one garrison to another to attend an afternoon meeting, when the Indians made a great volley of shot at them, but not a man was killed, and all escaped to the garrison, whither they were going, except one man, who was running to the other garrison and was cap- tured. Afterward the Indians went to a hill in Deerfield meadow, which was a hiding and watching place of theirs, and burnt two more houses, killed many horses, and carried away horseloads of beef and pork to the hill.
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After Major Treat left Northfield the Indians destroyeu the vil- lage. This was the second place in Hampshire County that was laid waste. It had been settled only two or three years, but contained nearly as many families as Brookfield, most of them from Northamp- ton. They had no minister nor meetinghouse, but a competent person used to pray and exort in pleasant weather under a broad-spreading tree.
The Nipmucks and Wampanoags, whom the English captains had long sought in vain, did not show themselves in the Connecticut
A COVE NEAR THE SAW MILL, HOLYOKE
Valley until September. Then they came exulting in their successes, and after Northfield was deserted lived on the good things which the English had left.
A short distance below Northfield is Clark's Island, which has a curious legend of Captain Kidd. We are told that the pirate sailed up to this secluded spot, and he and his men brought on shore a heavy iron chest full of gold and other precious loot. There they dug a
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deep hole and lowered the chest into it, in what was considered the proper old-fashioned pirate way, and one of the crew was selected by lot, killed, and his body placed on top of the loose earth that had been thrown into the hole. His ghost was supposed to haunt the vicinity, and to forever guard the riches from audacious treasure-seekers.
From time to time, in the darkness of night when the gales howled, persons are said to have seen a phantom ship sailing up the stream, manned by a spectral crew, and commanded by a black-bearded ghost with the familiar features of Captain Kidd. Opposite the island an anchor was let go, and Kidd in a boat rowed by four sailors went ashore. After satisfying himself that the plunder was safe he returned to the ship and sailed down the river. Some people doubt the entire story, and ask how Captain Kidd ever navigated his ship up there past the rocky falls.
Most of the Indian attacks came from the north and were made by Indians friendly with the French in Canada. This meant that Springfield was spared many attacks because Northfield and Hadley were above on the same side of the Connecticut so they bore the brunt. Northfield was soon abandoned, but Springfield soldiers, under command of Major Pynchon, were often stationed at Hadley as protection to both settlements.
Soon after Northfield was abandoned it was decided that a large quantity of grain which had been thrashed at Deerfield should be con- veyed to Hadley with some other things, and Captain Lothrop and his company were to be the guards. They began their march September 18, and meanwhile the Indians watched the movements of the Eng- lish without being discovered.
Captain Lothrop is vouched for by Increase Mather as a godly and courageous commander. He had about seventy men provided with teams and drivers, but a multitude of Indians lurking in the swamps made a sudden and frightful assault, and seized the carts and goods. Many of the soldiers had been so foolish as to put their guns in the carts and step aside to gather grapes, which proved dear and deadly to them. Captain Lothrop was killed and more than three- score of his men. Presently friendly Indians and other help came and the enemy retreated. Night was coming on and there was no pursuing them.
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This was a black and fatal day wherein there were eight persons made widows and twenty-six children made fatherless, all in one little plantation, and more than sixty persons buried in one dreadful grave. It has been said of Lothrop's men that they were "the very flower of the county of Essex."
The place of this assault was near Muddy Brook, a small stream which crosses the highway in the village of South Deerfield. It has since been named Bloody Brook. Two or three days after the Muddy Brook defeat, the garrison and inhabitants of Deerfield abandoned the place and a third village in Hampshire County was given up to desolation. The surviving inhabitants retired to Hatfield and other places. A petition was sent to the General Court in 1678 from "the remnant of Deerfield's poor inhabitants" scattered into several towns. They said "Our houses are burned, our estates wasted, and the ablest of our inhabitants killed, and their plantation become a wilderness, a dwelling place for owls."
Major Pynchon wrote from Hadley to the governors, September 30, "We are endeavoring to discover the enemy, and daily send out scouts. Our English are somewhat fearful in scouting and spying, and we have no Indian friends here to help us. We find the Indians have their scouts out." Soon afterward Major Pynchon's farmhouse and barns on the west side of the river were set on fire by a few Indians and consumed with all the grain and hay. The Council of Connecticut advised Major Pynchon not to disarm the Springfield Indians, but to take hostages of them. This was done and the host- ages were kept at Hartford. The Indians continued to profess friend- ship for the English, but at length, roused by the victories of the Indians up the river, they concluded to help in destroying the English towns. Their principal fort on the east side of the river was at Long Hill toward Longmeadow. Pynchon, whose war headquarters for the county were at Hadley, learned that Indians had been in the vicin- ity of the town gristmill, and on the fourth of October he called off all the soldiers stationed at Springfield, intending to have his forces go against the enemy that night or the next day.
On an October morning in 1675, Major Pynchon, by order of commissioners who outranked him, rode at the head of a company of troopers to Hadley, where he, with others, were intent on arranging
Hampden-10
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for a hot pursuit of the enemy. But King Philip was not seeking a pitched battle and meanwhile the Agawam Indians had been secretly persuaded to join in a war of extermination. That night a large num- ber of warriors stole into the Agawam fort on Long Hill. Some of them had been down to Hartford, where they succeeded in freeing the hostages held there and on the way back they passed the word that Springfield was doomed. Toto, an Indian living with a Windsor family, became agitated, and the family with much effort learned his terrible secret. It was long after dark that the confession was made, and then, in frantic haste, a man was sent to carry the news to Spring- field. When he rode into town at that late hour and roused the inhabi- tants, they were doubly terrified because the soldiers had gone off on the Hadley campaign.
The alarm was sounded at every door in the village. What few men were there seized their guns and ammunition, and with all haste escorted the women and children to the three garrisonhouses which had recently been repaired and fortified. It was a night of consterna- tion. Among the men in the town at the time were the disabled Dea- con Chapin, Reverend Mr. Glover, and Lieutenant Cooper. Mes- sengers were at once dispatched to Mr. Pynchon at Hadley, and to Captain Treat at Westfield. Mr. Glover succeeded in transferring what he called his "brave library" to Mr. Pynchon's house, and Tues- day's sun rose on a common of homes almost empty except for the three garrison-houses, which were uncomfortably full. With the morn- ing meal and possibly some religious services in the forts, courage returned, and Lieutenant Cooper went so far as to discredit Toto's testimony. Mr. Glover was of the same opinion and he carried his library back to his house.
Lieutenant Cooper had been a familiar figure among their Indian neighbors for over a quarter of a century, and he knew every Aga- wam Indian by name. Sometimes, as an officer of the law, he had to deal with one or two of them. Other times he aided them with loans and seeds or utensils. He had no fear of the Agawams, and he induced Thomas Miller, who always was ready for adventure, to go with him to the fort quite early in the morning. Less than a half hour later Cooper's horse returned on a full run up the village street from Mill River, and on his back was his bleeding master. The horse ran straight toward the Pynchon house, from which it had started, and
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when he stopped at the door Cooper fell to the ground dead. Miller was killed at the first volley from the Indians, just as they were enter- ing the woods on the lower side of Mill River.
The Indians lost no time in making the air dismal with their yells. Some of Mr. Pynchon's mills at the south end were soon in ashes and the wife of John Mathews was killed in that vicinity. The excited savages applied the torch to the deserted houses and thronged through the streets in great numbers.
Soon the flames were leaping from thirty-three houses and from twenty barns, but the three garrison-houses were too well built and too well defended for the Indian mode of attack. One savage in his plundering became the proud possessor of a pewter platter. He held it before him and marched toward one of the houses, but it only served to guide the bullets that pierced his heart. This platter, with two bullet holes, was later sold by a servant and nothing more is known of its fate.
About noon some of Major Treat's soldiers arrived in great haste on the West Springfield bank, but the Indians had little trouble in keeping the reinforcements at bay. Three hours later Major Pynchon and Captain Appleton with two hundred troopers rode into Springfield, after coming all the way from Hadley on a dead run; but all that was left for them to do was to scare off the Indians who had no intention of fighting a pitched battle. They were heavily laden with plunder, and the ashes of the town showed what they had accom- plished. For the time being they were content, and off they went into the forest. Their place of retirement was Indian Leap, otherwise known as Indian Orchard. There they built twenty-four fires on that naturally fortified spot overhanging the waters and slept in perfect security ---- yes ! and woke the next morning in triumph; but Springfield slept in smoke and danger and woke in fear. The town never knew a darker day.
An Indian squaw captured by the English said there were two hundred and seventy warriors in the attack on Springfield. Other estimates vary, and some even claim there were six hundred. The squaw said that King Philip intended to burn three towns in one day and his divided army makes the smaller estimate seem the most probable.
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According to Captain Mosely, this squaw had a terrible fate. He wrote that she was "ordered to be torn to pieces by dogs, and was so dealt with." Such a fate by order of the English seems incredible. If the squaw returned to her own people and suffered death for serv- ing the English, that story might be accepted as plausible.
Springfield's plight seemed to most persons a death blow. Winter was approaching and the one thing that fate had in store was plainly abandonment. Mr. Pynchon so wrote to the Massachusetts authori- ties. Not a house nor a barn was standing between Round Hill and Mr. Pynchon's house, with one exception-the Pynchon garrison- house, but the Indians had leveled his barns and outbuildings. Many of his neighbors owed him money, and this with mills and property outside destroyed, almost bowed him down with sorrow, and the sight of the blackened districts was especially depressing. He had quite a property in grist and cornmills, and four tenements, all destroyed, and with them much corn.
"The Lord show us mercy," wrote the down-hearted magistrate. "I see not how it is possible for us to live here this winter, and if not, the sooner we are helped off the better."
There were left standing fifteen houses on the street, and with those on the outskirts and over the river there were forty-five. These forty-five occupied houses had to accommodate forty families more, as well as a garrison of two hundred soldiers. Besides, there was great need of medicine for the wounded, and provisions were scarce. Several whose houses were saved lost their goods in others' houses, whither they had carried them. Many of the soldiers com- plained that there was no bread to be had, but meat seemed to be plenty.
The loss of Lieutenant Cooper was severely felt. In town affairs his responsibilities were many. He was a practicing attorney before the county court; he was a farmer, a carpenter, a bone-setter and a surveyor, and among other things had been a deputy at the General Court and had been of great value in dealing with the Indians. In his way he had been as much a pillar of the town as Deacon Samuel Chapin.
With the disastrous beginning of the Indian War in October, 1675, Major Pynchon wanted to be spared further responsibility as commander-in-chief, and in making a formal request to withdraw, he
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said, "The distressed state of my affairs at home, the sorrows and afflictions my dear wife undergoes, her continual calls to me for relief, she being almost overwhelmed with grief and trouble, and in many straits and perplexities which would be somewhat helped by my pres- ence there." Shortly afterward his request was granted.
Captain Appleton followed John Pynchon as military leader in the Valley. He said, "as to the state of poor desolate Springfield, to whose relief we came too late, though with a march that had put all our men into a most violent sweat, and was more than they could well bear, their condition is indeed most afflictive, but I am opposed to the idea of abandoning Springfield."
Immediately after the burning of Springfield the General Court issued a military manual for the government of the army in the field, and the first provision of the code was: "Let no man presume to blaspheme the holy and blessed Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, on pain to have his Tongue bored with a hot iron."
The destruction of the Pynchon mills forced Springfield to go to Westfield for flour, and this was a very dangerous journey at that time. Scouts were sent in all directions to find some trace of the enemy, but the men were affected with "timorousness," as they had been when Major Pynchon was in command, and nothing came of it. On another occasion, when Appleton proposed to advance to Deer- field, Mosely did not want to get so far from the towns. Once a thunder storm played havoc with their plans and forced them back to Hatfield. Philip was nearby and his scouts were lurking here and there watching a chance for an attack.
Winter closed in early and the fighting season was over, but with many Springfield families living in closed cellars and dugouts.
Jonathan Burt, then or soon after deacon of the church, relates the facts of the burning of Springfield and entered them on a flyleaf of the records which is signed "Jonathan Burt, an eye witness of the same, recognizing devoutly the good providence of God in preserving the lives of the people."
An event of importance to the church that occurred a few days after the burning of the town, was the death of Deacon Samuel Chapin. From a very early period he had been one of the most useful and influential members of the church, a man of distinction,
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who was not only associated with Mr. Pynchon in the administration of the town, but was one whom the church often designated to carry on the work of the Sabbath. To lose such a man so soon after the great calamity must have been deeply felt.
The destruction of the town by the Indians was soon followed by taking down the old meetinghouse and building a larger one farther west, wholly or nearly within the limits of the present Court Square. Some of the Indians wintered above Northfield and for fear of skulk- ing savages the whites lived in a state that was essentially imprison- ment. In February the town met to elect a selectman, "God having taken away the aged Captain Holyoke."
The Longmeadow settlers were not able to visit the village on Sunday to attend service. In March a party escorted by guards to make the journey were attacked by eight Indians. Selectman Keep and his wife and child were killed and several wounded. There was a story told at Boston after this tragedy that the guards took to their heels the moment the Indians fired. John Pynchon with a company of horsemen pursued, but to no purpose.
The snow suddenly disappeared in the latter part of January and "a kind Providence gave the planters a mild winter and an early spring," and at the same time allowed the Indians to scatter into planting and fishing parties to provide against famine.
On the eighteenth of May, Captain Turner, of Boston, attacked the Indians while they were yet asleep at what is now called Turner's Falls. More than three hundred were killed, but another party of Indians hastened to the rescue and forced the whites to retire down the river. Captain Samuel Holyoke, of Springfield, was protecting the rear. He had seen some fighting and was gaining a name for Indian warfare. On the retreat Holyoke was brought into hand-to- hand contests with the savages, five of whom he killed with his sword in the morning fight. Holyoke's horse was shot from under him and as he fell numbers of Indians closed on him. The first was killed by Holyoke's pistol and the captain's men saved him from death. He was only twenty-eight years old. Turner had been shot in Greenfield Meadow, and young Holyoke, assuming command, succeeded so well in checking what was almost a panic, that he arrived at Hatfield with one hundred and forty men. He had taken charge of a rout and con- verted it into a military retreat, but it cost him his life. He never
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recovered from the exhaustion of those two days, and in October he sank into his grave and was buried beside his father, Elizur Holyoke.
On the thirtieth of May, Philip made a desperate attempt to over- power Hatfield, but he was repulsed with considerable loss, and his army was forced to scatter. In early August, when Philip was in a swamp near Mount Hope, an Englishman fired his gun at him and missed. Then an Indian friendly to the white men shot Philip, who fell on his face in mud and water with his gun beneath him. His hands were exhibited at Boston, his head at Plymouth, and the beasts of the forests fed on his mangled breast. He had been the terror of New England for fourteen months. Schemes were attributed to him which he did not contrive, and deeds that he did not do, and he was charged with the atrocities and cruelties of others, but Philip was a savage, and doubtless rejoiced in the havoc and bloodshed made by the fierce and furious Nipmucks and Narragansetts. The famous Indian was dead, the Connecticut Valley was at peace and Springfield was in ashes.
In May, when the fishing season arrived, the Indians established themselves at the falls north of Deerfield; and they planted corn at Northfield, and even as far south as Deerfield, without being disturbed.
The Nipmucks and other Indians assailed many places that had not suffered in the preceding year, and their success appalled for a time even the stoutest English hearts. In a March letter to Major Savage, the Council at Boston urged the necessity of bringing the people of the five towns into two places. "The lesser towns must gather to the greater ones," they said.
Some who knew the places best thought Springfield and Hadley the fittest places to fortify and plant. They said that to remain in such a scattered condition was to expose lives and estates to the mer- ciless cruelty of the enemy. So they wrote that same day to Major Pynchon, assuring him there was no other way but for all Springfield and Westfield to come together-it was impossible to hold both towns. They said, "The like advice we have given to the other towns-come in to Hadley and fortify it well. Then, by united strength it may be kept, but otherwise all will be lost."
The people of Northampton decided to remain in their own town and boldly meet the dangers that menaced them. In a letter to the council, they said :
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"We dare not entertain any thought of deserting this plan- tation. The Lord has wonderfully appeared of late for our preservation, and we fear it would be displeasing to him if we should give up into the hands of our enemies, that which the Lord has so eminently delivered out of their hands. If we should desert a town of such considerable strength it may so animate the enemy and discourage other plantations, as may prove no small prejudice to the country. Besides there seems to us a great necessity for holding this place, for the relief of those forces that may be improved in following the enemy. There can be no prosecuting of the war in these parts to advantage unless this and the two neighboring towns be maintained."
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