USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 12
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They thought Springfield was not the most convenient place for the refuge of others. "The bulk of the town is burnt," they argued, "and we fear you are incapable of maintaining yourselves or others. If the council will allow Northampton fifty soldiers besides those we have already, the town will feed them and pay their wages."
The people of Westfield felt much the same. They were reso- lutely against moving to Springfield, and they showed a disposition to go to Connecticut if they must move. It was their opinion that West- field was much more secure from the Indians than Springfield, and much better for husbandry. A letter written by the Westfield minister was sent to the council, in which he presented the situation as follows :
"Springfield, on the east side, has but few habitations left.
Those on the west side are scattered about a mile up and down, some of which are hid with bramble. Most of the til- lage ground is a long distance from the town, and not clear from brush, and the danger from field employment is double ours. Springfield has been sorely under the blasting hand of God. To remove from habitations to none, from fortifica- tions to none, from a compact place to a scattered one, from a place of less danger to one of more, seems to us such a strange thing, that we find not a man among us inclined thereto."
Mr. Russell, the Hadley minister, corresponded for himself and others with the Council of Connecticut in regard to the war. He particularly wanted to get opinions as to drawing the three upper
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towns into one. The Connecticut response was one of many reasons why Hampshire towns should not be deserted, and that same day they wrote to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, giving similar reasons. They considered the towns up the river as the prin- cipal granary of the State. This seems to have brought the contro- versy to a close. What would have happened otherwise might have been a terrible tragedy.
In a Hadley letter from Captain William Turner to the Council of Massachusetts, he says :
"The soldiers here are in great distress for want of cloth- ing, both linen and woolen. Some has been brought from Brookfield, but not an eighth of what we need. I beseech your honors that my wife may have the wages due me, to supply the needs of my family. I would be glad if some better person might be found for this employment, for my weakness of body, and other infirmities will hardly allow me to do my duty as I ought, and it would grieve me to neglect anything that might be for the good of the country in this time of their distress."
Turner's letter was dated April 25, 1676.
Springfield Street at this time must have presented a dismal aspect with the make-shift shelters, roofed cellars, fortified doorways, and barricades that extended into the street. Garrison soldiers were quar- tered in the town at times for some years, and prowling savages in the forests made every journey out to the commons for wood, or over the river, or to the region above the Three Corner Brook, a little mili- tary campaign. The appearance of Main Street can be imagined from this order :
"Henceforth no persons without liberty from the town shall dig or cumber the highway or street from the upper wharf to the bridge of Obadiah Cooley's, with firewood, clay, and timber. Also, no persons shall dig holes or pits in the streets without leave on penalty of five shillings."
The house of correction and jail, to supply the place of those burned in 1675, was located on a Main Street corner, and was built under the direction of Major Pynchon.
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The eighth of June, 1676, was a day of much excitement in the river towns. An army of four hundred and fifty men from Connecti- cut was a novel and animating spectacle, and the local inhabitants gazed eagerly on the two hundred and fifty mounted men, with their red silk banners, and especially on the two hundred Indians as they marched past. The men on horses were nearly all from the towns on Long Island Sound. The Indians were of various tribes, but mostly Pequots and Mohegans from Hartford County. They formed a motley assembly. Their dress and weapons were various, and their decorations diversified and fantastic. Such a collection of friendly Indian warriors was a sight which the inhabitants of these towns never saw before.
It was an expedition into Hampshire County of forces from both Massachusetts and Connecticut, which were to scour the country. The Connecticut Indians under Major Talcott arrived first, supplied among other things with four thousand pounds of bread and twenty gallons of liquors. The Massachusetts troops were delayed and Talcott began the campaign without them. On June 5 in the Nipmuck country he reports "took fifty-two of the enemy," and two days later he says "took two of the enemy who were laden with as much fish as they could carry, and each had a gun, and their horns were full of powder. We sent twenty-seven women and children to Norwich under conduct of some of those we call honest Indians. The others are come to Hadley. We acknowledge the great goodness of God in saving and preserving us in the midst of all our difficulties. I have quartered our soldiers and am waiting for your further orders. Gen- tlemen, if you cause any bread to be made for this wilderness work it had need be well dried. A great part of our bread is full of blue mold. We need at this time a barrel of powder, and 300 pounds of bullets for carrying on the war. Please send powder and bullets with all possible speed. Remember flint stones."
Major Talcott soon wrote another letter, in which he said, "It is feared that you cannot suit us with bread sufficient for the field." So he sent forty or more horses and their riders in charge of a lieutenant to bring what bread they could from Deacon Moore, a baker in Windsor.
June 12 the Indians appeared at Hadley, ignorant that four hun- dred and fifty men had recently arrived in the river towns. The
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object of the Indians seems to have been plundering and destroying outside of the fortification. They were mostly river Indians and other Nipmucks, whose power was fast declining.
What happened that June day at Hadley, Increase Mather describes in the account that follows :
"When the morning sun was an hour high, three soldiers started to go from the town without their guns, and a sergeant who stood at the gate tried to dissuade them, but they alledged they were not going far, and were allowed to pass. Shortly afterward the sergeant thought he heard some men running, and when he looked over the fortification, he saw twenty Indians pursuing those three men, who were so terrified they could not cry out. Two of them were killed, and the other so wounded that he lived not more than two or three days.
"God, in great mercy to these western plantations, had so ordered by His providence, that the Connecticut army was come thither before the onset from the enemy. And besides the English there were nearly two hundred Indians in Hadley, who came to fight with and for the English, against the com- mon enemy, who were quickly driven off at the south end of the town. Whilst our men were pursuing them here, a great swarm of Indians issued from the bushes and made their main assault at the north end of the town. They set fire to a barn which was outside of the fortification, and went into a house, where the inhabitants discharged a great gun. At that about fifty Indians came running out of the house terribly frightened with the noise and slaughter made amongst them. Our Indians followed them nearly two miles and would have pursued them farther if they had been ordered to do so."
On the fourteenth of June Captain Henchman came to Hampshire County with Massachusetts troops and a company of Christian Indians to make an expedition up the river. He went up on the east side and Major Talcott on the west side. There was a severe thunder storm that day, but they reached the falls, without, however, finding any Indians. There was a northeast rainstorm all the next day and night, which damaged their guns, ammunition and provi- sions. Scouts were sent up on the east side of the river as far as
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Northfield, but they discovered no enemy. About thirty men went up toward the falls and burnt a hundred wigwams on an island, ruined the Indian fort, spoiled an abundance of fish which they found under- ground in Indian barns, and destroyed thirty canoes. The Indians were distressed and scattered and the people were fearful that they might return during the wheat harvest. But they were disunited and depressed, suffering from famine and disease, and hunted from place to place. Some were captured, some fled to distant places, and others gave themselves up.
Late in July a party passed through Westfield in their flight to the Hudson River. They seized some horses and cattle, and pulled up wheatstalks to suck for nourishment. Another party crossed the Con- necticut between Hadley and Springfield. The next day they passed near Westfield, and Major Talcott pursued them. John Pynchon, in a letter to the Governor, said :
"August twelvth nearly two hundred Indians were discov- ered within three or four miles of Westfield. The people and soldiers then went out and made several shots at them and took a horse from them, but found them so many they sent word to me. Major Talcott, and sixty men and as many Indians have gone on. We find by our scouts that this parcel of Indians went over the great river on rafts at the foot of the great falls, and their track comes from the Nipmuck country."
The scouts found where the Indians slept within seven miles of Springfield, and had about twenty-five fires.
In September, 1677, a year after the war was apparently closed, an unexpected foray was made on Hatfield. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when the greater part of the men were dispersed in the meadows, and others were at work on the frame of a house outside of the palisades, a party of Indians suddenly assaulted the builders, shot down three and then dashed to other structures, where they killed nine more persons, wounded four others, took seventeen captives and burned seven buildings. This was a more calamitous assault than had been made on any town in Hampshire during the two preceding years. All the persons killed, wounded and made captive were women and children, except five, and they all lived in the northern part of the village that probably was outside of any palisade.
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The Indians went north with their captives as far as Deerfield the same day and there captured four more of the English and killed one. They resumed their march up the Connecticut the next morning and stopped on the east side of the river about thirty miles above North- field, where they built a long wigwam and stayed about three weeks. They were pursued as far as Northfield, but not overtaken. During the three weeks above Northfield some of the Indians went to Wachu- set and brought back about eighty Indian women and children. Efforts were made to ransom the prisoners, but they were frustrated.
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TOWN HOUSE AT HAMPDEN
Some time in October the captors and the captives again moved up the river. They crossed the country to Lake Champlain, and it was winter weather when they arrived in Canada. These sufferers from Hatfield and Deerfield were the first ever forced to leave their homes in New England and travel through the dreary wilderness to Canada. Hundreds were afterward forced to do the same. Two children of the captives were born in Canada. One was a daughter of Benjamin Wait and the other the daughter of Stephen Jennings. To commemorate their captivity, Wait's child was named Canada, and Jennings' child, Captivity. These names they retained ever after.
Wait and Jennings, who were men of energy and perseverance, undertook to redeem their wives and children and the other captives. They set out from Hatfield in October and went by way of Westfield
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to Albany. Discouragements were many, but they kept on and hired a Mohawk Indian to guide them to Lake George. This savage was humane and friendly, and as the lake was open, he fitted up a canoe for them, and drew a map of the lakes they were to pass. He was a great help, for they were the first New England men who ever passed down Lakes George and Champlain to Canada, and they were ignorant of the country. After going down Lake George, they carried their canoe two miles on their backs to Lake Champlain, where they were hindered by ice and headwinds many days. At Sorel and its vicinity they found the captives. From there they went down to Quebec, where they were civilly entertained by the French Gov- ernor, who granted them a guard of eleven persons to escort them toward Albany. They left Quebec on the nineteenth of April, and Sorel on the second of May, after redeeming all the captives. Late in the month they were in Albany, and from there a messenger was sent to Hatfield.
After staying five days in Albany they walked twenty-two miles to Kinderhook, where they found men and horses from the home town. They rode through the woods to Westfield, and soon all reached Hat- field in safety. The captives had been absent eight months, and Wait and Jennings seven months. The day of their arrival was the most joyful day Hatfield ever knew. The ransom of the captives cost more than two hundred pounds, which was gathered by contributions.
The fortifications around the Hampshire towns were repaired or rebuilt, and kept in order several years, and men went to their work and to public worship with their guns in their hands. In February, 1677, Hadley voted to fortify the meetinghouse, and the selectmen were to call out men and teams for the work. It was also voted that every male inhabitant above sixteen years of age should bring guns and ammunition to meeting on the Lord's days and at lectures, or forfeit a shilling for every neglect. The meetinghouse was sur- rounded by a palisade, to provide a place of refuge for the women and children which the men could defend. The guns were carried to meeting because it was important they should be near at hand in case of an attack on any part of the village.
In 1676 and 1677 the number of persons slain in different parts of Hampshire county, which then included the present Hampden, Hamp- shire and Franklin counties, were two hundred and twenty-two, and
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three more were slain in Canada. The number of dwelling houses burned during this period in Hampshire was at least one hundred and ten, but many of these were small and cheap. The number of barns burned was less.
In the three towns, Brookfield, Northfield, and Deerfield, which the Indians destroyed, it may be estimated that the number of houses burned were forty-five; Springfield, thirty-three; Westfield, three; Northampton, ten; Hatfield, sixteen; Hadley, none; Suffield, some; and Westfield, then called Swampfield, a few. Hatfield, in proportion to its population, suffered the greatest loss of life and property, but Springfield's loss in actual values was the greatest of all. Hadley lost the least property and Westfield the fewest lives. Hatfield, in a peti- tion for aid, said they had lost the greater part of their cattle, sheep, and horses.
During the war the headquarters were at the house of John Rus- sell, the Hadley minister, and he entertained the principal officers. Two petitions for pay were signed by his friends, and one of them by his wife, but not by him. The whole sum charged was then over seventy-eight pounds. It is said that the "chief gentlemen, improved in the affairs of the war," were entertained there, and called for the best provisions to be had. Mr. Russell was obliged to serve various "barrels of beer, and much wine, and fruit suitable to the company, yet had no more credit for such company by the week or meal than other men for ordinary entertainment." "The great trouble and burden on his wife were noticed," and presently the account was paid.
Matchlocks and flintlocks were both in use when the war began, but few matchlocks were used in 1676. Matchlocks and muskets with rests were unfit for Indian warfare. The Indians did not use them, and they were excellent marksmen. In Massachusetts a great preju- dice was aroused among the people against all Christian Indians because a few had proved false, and their enmity knew no bounds. Honest and faithful praying Indians were falsely accused, insulted, robbed and imprisoned. Some were shot at and wounded, and others murdered. There was a savage hostility felt toward all Indians. But whenever the Christian Indians were employed in the army, they were brave and faithful, and gradually the hatred of the white race abated.
One curious item of the period, which concerns the Hampshire region, is furnished by the famous Boston minister, Increase Mather.
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The subject is "Noises in the Air," and he says, "It is certain that before this war broke out there was heard in Northampton, Hadley, and other towns thereabouts, the report of a great piece of ordnance with a shaking of the earth, and a considerable echo, when there was no ordnance really discharged at or near any of those towns."
Hadley had a mill three miles north of the village, and it is remarkable that this lonely mill was not destroyed by the Indians in 1675 or 1676. The garrison kept there was very small-sometimes only two or three men, and at last the cornmill was burned by the enemy. During the war the Hadley ferrymen were kept exceedingly busy by the soldiers who were crossing the river sometimes by hun- dreds at the upper and lower ferries. Samuel Porter took care of most of the wounded soldiers at Hadley, and did much for their provision and comfort. Richard Montague baked for the soldiers and Timothy Nash repaired their weapons. Hadley was the head- quarters during the Indian fighting for the soldiers from Springfield. The houses were often filled to overflowing, companies of soldiers were arriving and departing, and armed men appeared daily in the broad street.
More Indian Wars
Hampden-11
CHAPTER XI
More Indian Wars
The next onset came October 19, at Hatfield, where first of all, the Indians made great fires north of the plantation to attract the English, and then came and lay in the bushes by the wayside, about two miles from the village. Toward noon ten horsemen were sent out to scout, and as they were passing the Indians in ambush, nine were shot down and one escaped to Hatfield. About four o'clock the Indians attempted to burn the village, and they came in fury, hoping to do again mischief such as they had newly done in Springfield. Seven or eight hundred of the enemy came on a sudden from all quarters, but they found it too hot for them where they attempted to break in on the town, and were beaten off. Captain Appleton's sergeant was mortally wounded by his side, and a bullet passed through his own hair, by that whisper telling him that death was very near. Night came on making knowl- edge of the enemy's losses uncertain. Some were seen to fall, some ran through a small river, others cast their guns into the water, it being their way to venture as much to recover the dead bodies of friends as to defend them when alive. At last, after burning a few barns and some other buildings, the enemy hastened away as fast as they had come, leaving the English to bless God who had so mercifully delivered them from their merciless foes.
After this defeat most of the Indians withdrew from this part of the country, and not long afterward the soldiers departed, except for a small garrison in each of the five old Hampshire towns, Spring- field, Westfield, Northampton, Hadley, and Deerfield. It was against these towns that nearly the entire force of the enemy was directed that autumn, and men from most of the towns of Massachusetts moistened the soil with their blood.
In the following December and much of January the cold was severe and the snow deep. There seems to have been no direct com-
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munication between the Hampshire towns and Boston during that winter. The deep snow, the destruction of Brookfield, and especially the fear of the Indians, stopped all traveling in that direction. Ser- geant Ayres no longer remained to greet the weary traveler at his rustic but comfortable ordinary on the hill in Brookfield.
The destruction by the Indians was widespread and every family had to entertain soldiers. During the latter part of autumn and the next winter the people built palisades about their plantations. These consisted of rows of poles, stakes or posts about ten feet in length with two feet in the ground and eight feet above the ground. The posts were made by splitting sticks of timber and hewing off the edges of the cleft pieces so that no part should be less than two or three inches thick. They were set close together in the ground and fastened to a piece of wood near the top. Many fence rails were used for the purpose. Such defenses, which would have been very inadequate against an attack by Europeans, were an effective barrier against the assaults of savages. A considerable body of Indians wintered near Ware River, north of Brookfield; others west of the Connecticut above Northfield, and some, including Philip, were in the vicinity of Hoosac River, northeast of Albany. The Dutch traders at Albany sold ammunition to the Hudson River Indians, who bought it for the New England Indians, and in that way got them a supply.
Early in March, 1675, a body of Indians were at Northfield, and with them was Mrs. Rowlandson, who won fame later by writing the story of her captivity. The Indians went up the river some miles, where were Philip and many others, of whom Mrs. Rowlandson records: "Now the Indians gathered their forces to go against Northampton. One went about yelling and hooting to give notice of the design. Whereupon they went to boiling ground nuts, and parch- ing corn for their provision, and in the morning, away they went."
They assailed Northampton, but were defeated and returned without much booty. Evidently they did not know there were two or three companies of soldiers in the town.
Major Savage, of Boston, was now in chief command in Hamp- shire, where he had four companies. In a letter to Governor Leverett, he says :
"I have improved our time since we came hither in sending forth scouts, but as yet can make no certain discovery of any
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of the enemy's places of abode. This morning about two o'clock we were alarmed again from Northampton, which was occasioned by some Indians being seen on two sides of the town. The towns, both of Springfield and Westfield, are in great fear of the enemy, as well as those here. I humbly ask you whether this way of following the enemy up and down in the woods will best reach your end at this season of the year, in which they have no fixed station, but can take advantages against us, and avoid us when they please. As near as we can gather, their aim is at the towns on the river, to destroy them, so they can plant and fish with less molestation."
Above Deerfield a few miles was the great place of their fishing, and this was expected to furnish their provisions for the year. If an attempt were made to drive them from there it would rouse their utmost rage.
In the spring of 1677 Massachusetts sought a friendly league with the Mohawks against the Indians in Maine, and Connecticut joined in the project. Then John Pynchon, of Springfield, and a Hart- ford man were sent to Albany, where they treated with the Indians, and gave them presents of wampum, and of duffles, a coarse kind of cloth, and lastly added a present of powder and shot. The Mohawks boasted of what they had done for New England, and promised to use their endeavors against the Indians at Kennebec. But their pre- tensions and promises were deceptions, and the scheme of engaging them in our quarrel was a source of many calamities. Instead of going to Maine the savages raided the peaceable praying Indians of Massachusetts, first in September, 1677, and again the next June. Some they killed and some they made captives. They brought two squaws through Hadley and the people of that town tried to redeem them, but the Mohawks would not let them go. When persons were sent to Albany to demand the release of the captives, evasive answers were their only response.
In November, 1680, John Pynchon was again sent to Albany. He charged the Mohawks with "mistreating our friendly Indians," and with not releasing those who were captives. He accused them, too, of killing swine and cattle that belonged to the English and robbing houses and marching through villages in a hostile posture. He said
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such things must stop, and then he tried to win them by presenting gifts of duffles, shirts, blankets, and such things as rum and tobacco that had cost nearly three hundred dollars.
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