USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Deerfield > History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when the people by whom it was settled, unsettled and resettled, vol 1 > Part 16
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We there destroyed all their ammunition and provision, which we think they can hardly be so soon or easily recruited with as possibly they may be with men. We likewise here demolisht Two Forges they had to mend their arms; took away all their Materials and Tools, and threw two great Piggs of Lead (intended for Making of Bullets) into the River.
There were skilled mechanics among the Indians, doubt- less renegade disciples of Eliot.
The disasters of the English which followed their success is attributed to various causes. "The want of health of Capt. Turner, unable to manage his charge any longer," be- ing " enfeebled by sickness before he set out," but "some say they wanted powder, which forced them to retire as fast as they could by Cap. Turner's order." The real cause was, that there was too long a delay on the scene of conflict, which gave the Indians from the other camps time to gather about them. When that condition of affairs was observed, the English, it would seem, drew off towards their horses in con- siderable disorder. A party of about twenty who had gone a little distance up the river to fire at some canoes that were seen coming over, were left behind, and they were obliged to fight their way to their horses, and were surrounded while mounting. One of this number, Jonathan Wells, a boy of sixteen, after being wounded, managed to escape and make his way up to Capt. Turner, whom he begged to go back to the relief of his party in the rear, or halt until they came
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PHILIP'S WAR.
up. Turner replied, "Better save some, than lose all," and pushed on. About this time, one of the released English cap- tives reported that Philip with a thousand men was at hand. This created a panic amongst the exhausted men, and the retreat became a rout. The guides differed as to the safest route, each crying out, "If you would save your lives fol- low me," and the command was in a measure broken up, each fragment taking its own course. A party following guide Hinsdell into a swamp on the left flank were all lost. Turner received a fatal shot as he was crossing Green river near "Nash's Mills." Capt. Holyoke, on whom the com- mand now devolved, labored bravely to restore order, and if he "had not played the Man at a more than ordinary rate, sometimes in the Front, sometimes on the Flank and Rear, and at all Times encouraging the Soldiers, it might have proved a fatal Business to the Assailants. The said Capt. Holioke's horse was shot down under him, and himself ready to be assaulted by many Indians just coming upon him, but discharging Pistols upon one or two of them, whom he pres- ently dispatched, and another Friend coming up to his Res- cue, he was saved, and so carried off the Soldiers without further loss." The line of retreat being through a dense for- est, the fleet Indians had the advantage of the mounted fug- itives. They hung like a moving cloud on flank and rear, shooting as opportunity offered, and even followed across North Meadows and through the Town Street to the Bars. On mustering the force at Hatfield, forty-five men-nearly one- third of the command - were missing, and two mortally wounded ; two came in that night, two Sunday and two more on Monday. The total loss was Captain Turner, Sergt. John Dickinson and Guide Hinsdell with thirty-nine men.
List of men in the Falls Fight under Captain William Turner, May 19th, 1676; made up from all available sources, but chiefly from the Mass. M. S. Archives. Absolute knowl- edge might require slight changes. Those marked thus *, were killed ; those thus +, were wounded.
Allis, William,* Hatfield. Alexander, Nathaniel, Northampton. Alvard, Thomas, Northampton. Arms, William, Hatfield. Ashdown, John,* Weymouthı. Atherton, Hope, Hatfield. Ball, Samuel, Springfield.
Baker, Timothy, Northampton. Barber, John, Springfield. Bardwell, Robert, Hatfield. Bedortha, Samuel, Springfield.
Beers, Elnathan, Watertown.
Belcher, John, Braintree. Belding, Samuel, Hatfield.
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CAPTAIN TURNER'S SOLDIERS.
Belding, Stephen, Hatfield. Bennet, James,* Northampton. Bennitt, John, Windham. Boltwood, Samuel, Hadley. Bradshaw, John, Medford. Buckley, George .* Burton, Jacob,* Topsfield. Bushrod, Peter.
Chamberlain, Benjamin, Concord. Chamberlain, Joseph, Concord. Chapin, Japhet, Springfield.
Chase, John, Newbery.
Church, John,* Hadley,
Clapp, Preserved, Northampton. Clark, William, Northampton.
Colby, John, Almsbury.
Colby. Samuel, Almsbury. Colefax, John,* Hatfield.
Coleman, Noah, Hadley.
Munn, James, Colchester.
Munn, John, Colchester.
Newbery, Tryal, Malden.
Nims, Godfrey, Northampton.
Old, Robert, Springfield.
Pearse, Nathaniel, Woburn.
Pike, Joseph,* Charlestown.
Poole, Benjamin,* Weymouth.
Pratt, John, Malden.
Pressey, John, Almsbury.
Preston, John, Hadley.
Price, Robert, Northampton.
Pumrey, Caleb, Northampton.
Pumrey, Medad, Northampton.
Ransford, Samuel .*
Read, Thomas, Westford.
Roberts, Thomas .*
Rogers, Henry, Springfield.
Ropes, Ephraim,* Dedham (?)
Ruggles, George .*
Salter, John, Charlestown.
Scott, John. Scott, William, Hatfield.
Selden, Joseph, Hadley.
Simms, John .*
Smead, William, Northampton.
Smith, John, Hadley.
Smith, Richard. Stebbins, Benoni, Northampton.
Stebbins, Samuel, Springfield.
Stebbins, Thomas, Springfield.
Stephenson, James, Springfield.
Sutlief, Nathaniel,*# Hadley.
Sykes, Nathaniel, Springfield. (?) Tay or Toy, Isaiah, Boston.
Ingram, John, Hadley. Jones, Abell, Northampton.
Jones, John,t Cambridge. (?) Jones, Roger, Boston. Jones, Samuel,* Yarmouth. Keet, Franc[is], Northampton.
Kellogg, Joseph, Hadley. King, John, Northampton. King, Medad,* Northampton.(?) Langbury, John,* (Came up with Capt. Lothrop; served later under Moseley.) Lee, John, Westfield.
Leeds, Joseph, Dorchester.
Leonard, Josiah, Springfield.
Lyman, John. Northampton.
Lyon, Thomas .* Man, Josiah,* Boston. (?)
Mattoon, Philip, Hadley.
Merry, Cornelius, Northampton.
Miller, John,* Northampton.
Miller, Thomas, Springfield.
Montague, Peter, Hadley. Morgan, Isaac, Springfield.
Morgan, Jonathan, Springfield.
Crow, Samuel,* Hadley.
Crowfoot, Joseph, Springfield.
Cunnaball, John, Boston. Dickinson, John,* Hadley.
Dickinson, Nathaniel, Hadley.
Drew. William, Hadley. Dunkin, Jabez,* Worcester.
Ebon, George.t
Edwards, Benjamin, Northampton.
Elgar, Thomas,* Hadley. Field, Samuel, Hatfield.
Flanders, John, Salisbury. Foot, Nathaniel, Hatfield. Foster, John .*
Fowler, Joseph,* Ipswich. Fuller, Joseph, Newton. Gillett, Samuel,* Hatfield. Gerrin, Peter .* Gleason, Isaac, Springfield. Griffin, Joseph, Roxbury.
Grover, Simon, Boston. Hadlock, John,* Concord.
Harrington, Robert, Springfield. Harrison, Isaac,* Hadley.
Harwood, James. Hawks, Eleazer, Hadley. Hawks, John, Hadley.
Hindsdell, Experience,* Hadley.
Hitchcock, John, Springfield.
Hitchcock, Luke, Springfield. Hodgman, Edward,* Springfield. Hoit, David, Hadley. Howard, William,* Salem. Hughs, George,* Springfield. Hunt, Samuel, Billerica.
Taylor, John .* Taylor, Jonathan, Springfield.
Thomas, Benjamin, Springfield. Turner, Capt. William,* Boston. Tyley, Samuel.
Veazy, Samuel,* Braintree.
Waite, Benjamin, Hatfield.
# Judd speaks of a tradition in the Sutlief family that Nathaniel was burned at the stake.
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PHILIP'S WAR.
Walker, John .*
Wells, Jonathan, t Hadley.
Warriner, Joseph, Hadley.
Wells, Thomas, Hadley.
Watson, John,* Cambridge. (?)
White, Henry, Hadley.
Webb, John, Northampton.
Whitterage, John,* Salem.
Webb, Richard, Northampton.
Worthington, William.
Weller, Eleazer, Westfield.
Wright, James, Northampton.
Weller, Thomas, Westfield.
Killed 41. Wounded 3.
Nine veterans of this company were living in 1735, Na- thaniel Alexander, Samuel Belden, John Bradshaw, John Chase, Joseph Fuller, Samuel Hunt, James Munn, Jonathan Wells. In 1734 Samuel Hunt petitioned the General Court for a grant of land to the survivors and heirs of those en- gaged in the "Falls Fight." In 1736 a grant was made them six miles square, to be located on the north bounds of Deer- field. Of the 145 men known to be in the fight only 97 claimants appeared when the tract was laid out in 1736. Two more appeared, and in 1741 an additional grant was made of the Gore lying between the former one and " Boston town, No. 2," [Colrain] on the west. The whole was called Falls Fight Town, Fall Fight Township, Fall Town, and on secur- ing a Town Charter in 1762, Bernardston. Among the few affidavits made to sustain claims, found in the Massachusetts MS. Archives, is one from John Chase, in which he states that he and Samuel Colby were in the fight and helped to bury Capt. Turner. A grave which was probably that of Capt. Turner has been discovered within a few years on the bluff westerly of where he fell.
George Ebon, who was wounded in his head, was a soldier at Westfield, August, 1676.
Although successful, this expedition into an almost unex- plored wilderness against unknown numbers, was rash in the extreme. Had the march been discovered, another and sim- ilar tragedy would doubtless have been added to those of Beers and Lothrop. By good fortune, however, the object of its design was accomplished. The people proved prophets.
No intelligent estimate can be made of the number of In- dians engaged in this affair, and contemporary accounts dif- fer widely as to their loss. Captive Indian women said that four hundred were killed, including seventy Wampanoags. If this be true, the latter must have been women and chil- dren. We know that there was no distinction of age or sex in the slaughter. Other Indians said " the number of slain
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DEATH OF CAPTAIN TURNER:
and drowned was three hundred and upward that we are able to give an account of, and probably many more, for all the Indians that had confederated in this war were got together in these parts, and we could not tell their numbers. We miss many that might be lost" there. Another said that about sixty warriors were killed of the Pocumtucks, Nip- mucks and Narragansets, including three or four Sachems and some of their best fighting men; but that many who went over the falls got on shore below. Wennaquabin, a Nar- raganset Sachem, who was there, said that he "lost his gun and swam over the river to save his life." Necopeak, of the same tribe, said that he "ran away by reason the shot came
as thick as rain ; *
* that he saw Capt. Turner, and that he was shot in the thigh, and that he knew that it was him for the said Turner said that was his name." Both these Indians were executed with Quinnapin at Newport, R. I., August 26th, 1676. The Pocumtucks suffered severely, and their power was broken forever. From this time and place, they pass into oblivion. Here was written in bloody charac- ters the final page in their history as a tribe or nation. A miserable remnant was absorbed by the Mahicans or the Cahnawagas.
Lying before me is a manuscript from which some vandal has cut the signature, but clearly in the handwriting of Ste- en, son of Rev. John Williams, dated "Springfield, L. M., [Long Meadow,] Feb. 1, 1731-2." The substance of this was published by Rev. John Taylor, in an appendix to the " Re- deemed Captive," in 1793; but as it is intimately connected with our narrative, it seems fitting to give the entire paper in this place. Mr. Taylor prefaces the story by saying it was "the substance of an attested copy of the account, taken from his own mouth." At the date of this manuscript, Mr. Wells, the hero in fact and name, was living in Deerfield, where he died January 3d, 1738-9. To this paper will be added some statements connected with it, from other manuscript in the same handwriting, together with a tradition elucidating one point in the story.
ESCAPE OF JONATHAN WELLS.
I shall give an account of the remarkable providences of God to- wards Jonathan Wells Esq then aged 16 years and 2 or 3 months
162
.
PHILIP'S WAR.
who was in the action [at the Falls Fight, May 19th]. He was with the 20 men yt were obliged to fight wth the enemy to recover their horses; after he mounted his horse a little while, (being then in the rear of ye company) he was fird at by three Indians who were very near him; one bullet passd so near him as to brush his hair another struck his horse behind a third struck his thigh in a place which be- fore had been broken by a cart wheel & never set but the bones lapd & so grew together so y' altho one end of it had been struck and the bone shatterd by ye bullet yet the bone was not wholly lossd in ye place where it had knit. Upon receving his wound he was in danger of falling from his horse, but catching hold of ye horse's maine he recovered himself. The Indians perceving they had wound'd him, ran up very near to him, but he kept ye Inds back by presenting his gun to y" once or twice, & when they stoped to charge he got rid of them & got up to some of ye company. [In this fight for life, as appears by another scrap of our manuscript, he stopped and took up behind him Stephen Belding, a boy companion of sixteen years, who thus escaped]. Capt. Turner, to whom he represented ye difficulties of y" men in ye rear & urgd yt he either turn back to y' relief, or tarry a little till they all come up & so go off in a body; but y" captain replid he had 'better save some, than lose all,' and quickly y" army were divided into several parties, one pilot crying out, 'if you love your lives follow me;' another y' was acquanted wth ye woods cryd 'if you love your lives follow me.' Wells fell into the rear again and took wth a small company y' sepa- rated from others y' run upon a parcel of Indians near a swamp & was most of y" killed. They then separated again & had about ten men left with him, and his horse failing considerably by reason of his wound, & himself spent wth bleeding, he was left with one John Jones, a wounded man likewise. He had now got about 2 miles from ye place where yy did y" exploit in, & now yy had left ye track of ye company & were left both by y" indians yt persued yn & by their own men that should have tarried with y". These two men were unacquainted wth y' woods, & without anny track or path. J. W. had a gun & J. J. a sword. J. J. represented ye badness of his wounds, & made his companion think they were certainly mortall, and therefore when yy separated in order to find the path, J. W. was glad to leave him, lest he shª be a clog or hindrance to him. Mr. W. grew faint, & once when ye indians prest him, he was near fainting away, but by eating a nutmeg, (which his grandmother gave him as he was going out) he was revivd. After traveling a while he came upon Green river, and followd it up to ye place calld ye Coun- try farms, & passd over Green river, & attempted to go up ye moun- tain, but as he assend'd the hill he fainted & fell from his horse; but after a little he came to himself & found y' his horse's bridle hung upon his hand & his horse was standing by him. He tyed his horse and laid down again. At length he grew so weak yt he cd not get upon his horse, & conclud'd he must dye there himself, & so pitying his horse he dismissd him, never thinking to take any provision from him, altho he had three meals of provision behind him. Ab' noon this, & at ab' sun an hour high at nt, being disturbed by ye flies, he stopd ye touch hole of his gun & struck fire, & set y" woods on fire;
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ONE SHOT MORE.
but there being much rubbish. he had like to have been burnt up by it, not being able to get out of ye way; but by scraping away ye leaves, &c., he was wth much difficulty preserved from burning; his hands and hair were much burnt, notwithstanding all yt he cd do. He then made a fire of some wood yt lay in his reach & lay down by it. Now new fears arose: He concluded yt his fire would direct the indians where to come to find him, & being so weak he cd not stand or go, concluded he must then be killed by ye indians; he flung away his powder horn one way and his bullet pouch another, yt yy might not have ym, reserving a little horn of powder yt he might have one shot before yy killed him; but w" y" fire spread considerably, he ex- pected yy wd be as like to look in one place as another, & again took courage & took some tow & stopd into his wound, & bound it up with his hand kerchief & neckcloth, & so securely laid him down to sleep; and when asleep, he dreamt yt his grandfather came to him & told him he was lost, but yt he must go down yt river till he came to ye end of ye mountain & then turn away upon ye plain, (he was now abt 12 miles from Deerfield) & y' was y" way home. When he awoke in the morning, (having been refresht by his sleep & his bleeding be- ing stopd), he found he had some strength, & found yt wth ye help of his gun for a staff he cd go after a fashion; when ye sun arose he found himself lost, (tho before he thot ye direction in ye dream was quite wrong), but upon considering ye rising of ye sun, &c., he re- solved to go according to ye direction of ye dream, (he had now got 6 miles further from home than ye place was where they did their exploit upon ye enemy) & picking up his powder horn & bullets he girt up himself & set forward down ye river & found yt at length he came to ye end of ye mountain & to a plain (as in his dream, which before he knew nothing of, for he was never above ye place called Hatfield Clay Gully before this expedition, & when he went up 'twas n', as before observd, & he was now many miles from any place where ye army came).
He travelled upon ye plain till he came to a foot path wch led up to ye road he went out in, where he cd see y' tracks of ye horses. He travelled by leaning upon his gun as a staff, & so he came down to Dd river, but did not 'know how to get over. He met wth much dif- ficulty, for ye stream card his lame leg acrost ye other leg; but at length by putting the muzzell of his gun into ye water, (for he was loth to wet the lock), he got over, but filled the muzzell of his gun with gravel & sand. Being much spent when he got up ye bank, he laid down under a walnut bush & fell asleep, and w" he awoke an indian was coming over the river in a cano to him coming ashore to him-near-his distress was great; he could not run from his enemy & was quite incapacitated from fighting, (his gun being full of sand & gravel), but he presented his gun, and when the indian discovered him, he jumped out of his cano, (leaving his own gun weh was in ye head of ye cano), & made his escape & went & told ye indians yt ye English army was come again for he had seen one of ye scouts. Mr. W., suspecting the indians wd come to search for him, went away in- to a swamp (y' was hard by) and finding two great trees yt had been left by ye flood lying at a little distance from each other & covered over wth rubbish, he crept in betwixt them & within a little while
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PHILIP'S WAR.
heard a running to & fro in ye swamp, but saw nothing; within a lit- tle while all was still, and he ventured to proceed on his journey.
(The indians afterwards gave out that a Narragansett indian was going up the river after eals, that he saw ye track of a man in ye path yt went up ye bank & was going to see, & saw a man on ye bank & jumped out of ye canoo, & went & told ye indians ye English army were coming again; yt he had seen one of ye scouts; upon wh yy went to ye place, but not seeing anything, yy concluded he was afrightd groundlessly, for ye Narragansetts, yy sd, were no better than squaws, &c., and so yy made no strict search).
A digression from the narrative, but not to be skipped.
The Indian story in the parenthesis above appears to be an attempt to cover up the humiliating fact of their being outwitted by a crippled boy. It is not improbable that Wells told the story as written, with the double purpose of annoy- ing the Indians on a sensitive point, and of concealing the artifice for future emergencies. No one brought up on Coop- er's novels could for a moment believe that Wells escaped in the manner described, and from the writer's boyhood, this part of the story has thrown a shadow of doubt over the whole account of this romantic experience. Any one closely observing a pile of drift wood in situ, will see how difficult it must be for the most careful hand to remove any part of it without leaving unmistakable evidence of the disturbance. And the trail of the hobbling boy, from the track "in ye path yt went up ye bank" to the great trees and rubbish "left by ye flood " in the swamp, must have been patent to the most casual eye, let alone an Indian on the trail of an enemy. A more interesting and romantic story of border warfare in real life is rarely met with. Carefully trace the events as modestly, naively told, with no whining and no complaint. Note the hero's bravery and coolness when attacked ; his knightly court- esy in stopping in his flight to rescue Belding ; his thought- fulness for those behind, and judgment in pleading with Capt. Turner to keep his command in a body; his humanity in re- leasing his horse; his resignation when lying down to die ; his forethought in putting out of the reach of the foe his powder horn and bullets; his courage in preparing for " one more shot ;" his expedient for lighting a fire to keep off the insects ; his self-possession in building a fire to lie down by, after his narrow escape from being burned to death ; his clear- headedness when "lost" or "turned round" in the morning;
165
A YOUTHFUL LEATHERSTOCKING.
his persistent care for his gun and ammunition ; his ingenu- ity in saving himself when in the very jaws of the enemy ; his fortitude under the discouragements by the way, and his expedients for overcoming them ; his reverence and care for the dead at Bloody Brook. Here stand, clearly revealed, traits of the noblest character, in a lad ripened to self-reliance by the exigencies of frontier life. It is with great satisfaction that the writer is able to dissipate the faint shadow resting upon the narrative.
The key to this remarkable escape is found in a tradition handed down in the family, and given me by Rodney B. Field of Guilford, Vt. By this it appears that the "two great trees yt had been left by ye flood a little distance from each other and covered over with brush," were lying, one end on the river bank, with the other projecting into, and supported by the water. Wading along to the nearest tree, ducking his head under its trunk, and standing erect between the two, with head above water, Wells was securely hidden and no trace of his footsteps was left. This was a device which might well baffle his pursuers and was worthy of Leatherstocking himself. The real danger,-that which could not have been foreseen,-appeared when the Indians in their "running to & fro" stopped for a moment on this cover. Under their weight it sank, forcing the poor boy's head under water, so that sev- eral times he was nearly drowned.
Narrative continued :-
In Deerfield Meadows he found some horses' bones, from which he got away some small matter; found two rotted beans in ye meadows where ye indians had thrashed yr beans, & two blew birds' eggs, wch was all ye provision he had till he got home. He got up to Dfd town plat before dark, Saturday, but ye town was burned before & no in- habitants, so he kept along. His method of travelling was to go a little ways & then lye down to rest, & was wont to fall asleep, but in ye nt twice he mistook himself when he awoke, & went back again till coming to some remarkable places, he was convinced of his mis- take & so turned abt again, & at length he took this method, to lay ye muzzell of his gun towards his course, but losing so much, he was discouraged & laid himself down once & again, expecting to dye; but after some recruit was encouraged to set forward again, but meeting wth these difficulties he spent ye whole nt in getting to muddy brook (or, as some call it, bloody brook); here he buried a man's head in ye path, yt was drawn out of ye grave by some vermin, wth clefts of wood, &c., and upon ye road to H'f'd was (like Samson after the slaughter of ye Philistines) distressd for want of drink, & many times ready to faint, yet got no water till he came to Clay Gully, but divers
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PHILIP'S WAR.
times he was refresht by holding his head over candlewood knots yt were on fire, ye woods being then on fire on ye plains, & got to Hat- field between meetings on Sabbath day.
He lay lame under Dr. Locke for some time, & was under Mrs. Al- len & Mr. Buckley four years & 2 months (in all) & never had any- thing allowd him for time or smart, tho yy pd ye surgeon; he lay at one time half a year in one spot on a bed, without being turned once, or once taken out; often dispared of his life; all his skin came off his back by lying in one posture.
The Indians have given the account following to Jonathan Wells, Esq., viz .: That the Monday after the fight, 8 Englishmen that were lost came to them and offered to submitt themselves to them, if they would not put them to death, but whether they promised them quar- ter or not, they took them, and burnt them; the method of Burning them was to cover them with thatch and put. fire to it, and set them a running; and when one coat of thatch was burnt up, they would put on another, & the Barbarous creatures that have given this ac- count of their inhumanity, have in a scoffing manner added, that the Englishmen would cry out as they were burning, "Oh dear! oh dear!" The indians themselves account it very unmanly to moan or make ado under the torments and cruelties of their enemies who put them to Death.
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