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 32
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"May 11th, 1704, John Allen and his wife were killed at a place called the Bars." A manuscript account says Mrs. Al- len was killed "about a mile or two from the place." Ed- ward Allen, the new town clerk, a brother of John, makes this record : "Joh Allyn, ye head of this famyly, was slaine by ye Enemy May ye II, 1704." He makes no note of the death of Mrs. Allen ; by which it appears that her fate was then unknown. Her captors finding her an incumbrance in their hasty retreat, probably, knocked her on the head in the woods, where her body became the prey of wild beasts, the scalp being retained, to grace their triumphant reception at home. Allen was forty-four years old.
The next blow fell upon an outlying hamlet of Northamp- ton, called Pascommuck, containing five families.
Near the close of 1703, complaint was made to De Vaut- dreuil, by the Penaski Indians, of losses by the English, and aid demanded. The Governor at once sent Sieur de Mon- tigny with five or six Frenchmen to "reassure them," and "engage them to continue the war" with the English. On the triumphant return of De Rouville from Deerfield, Mon- tigny, with about twenty French, and fifty of these Indians, was sent to this valley to avenge their wrongs. May 13th, he surprised Pascommuck, and took all the inhabitants pris- oners. As soon as the captives could be secured, and provis- ions and plunder packed for the journey, De Montigny be- gan his retreat.
When the news of this disaster reached Northampton, Capt. John Taylor led a company of horsemen in pursuit, with a calamitous result, as we shall see. Whether or not the death strokes were actually given by the savages, the or- dering of affairs was with Sieur de Montigny, the representa-
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MONTIGNY DESTROYS PASCOMMUCK.
tive of France, "who," says Vaudreuil, "distinguished him- self particularly on that occasion."
The following account is taken from the Recorder's Book for Old Hampshire County, which is relied upon as being an original record, though differing somewhat from the account given by Judd :-
May 12, [ 13] Pascomok Fort taken by ye French & Indians, being about 72. They took and Captivated ye whole Garrison, being about 37 Persons. The English pursueing of them caused them to nock all the Captives on the head Save 5 or 6. Three, they carried to Canada with them, the others escap'd and about 7 of those knocked on the head Recovered, ye rest died. Capt. John Taylor was killed in the fight, and Sam'l Bartlett wounded.
Those carried to Canada were Esther, wife of Benoni Jones; her niece, Margaret Huggins, eighteen; and Elisha, son of John Searles, eight. The slain were Samuel Janes, forty, with wife Sarah, and children, Obadiah, five, Ebenezer, three, Sa- rah, one; four children of Benjamin Janes, Hannah, eight, Miriam, four, Nathan, one, and one of unknown name and age : Benoni Jones, about thirty-five, with his children, Eben- ezer, six, and Jonathan, one ; John Searles, about fifty-eight, with three children, names and ages unknown ; Moses Hutch- inson, and one child, and Patience Webb, forty-six, or her daughter Patience, seventeen.
About a hundred miles up the valley, near the mouth of Wells river, was a tract of pine woods, called by the Indians Cowass, [a place of pines], and near by, many acres of clear meadows. Here a party of Indians located a camp, and plant- ed the meadows with corn, it being a convenient summer rendezvous, from which to sally out on the frontier. The captives from Pascommuck, and some of those from Deer- field were taken to the place. It was there that in May, 1704, David Hoyt died of starvation. It was not far from there that Stephen Williams found Jacob Hickson, so weak from want of food, that he died before the end of July, at French
river, while being taken to Canada. Rumors of the estab- lishment at Cowass reaching the English, about the 6th of June, a scouting party, made up of Caleb Lyman and five Connecticut Indians, was sent up to make an examination. On the 14th they discovered a camp about twenty miles this side of Cowass, which they surprised, and killed six men and one woman, while two others escaped, one mortally wounded.
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QUEEN ANNE'S WAR-1702-1713.
Making a hurried retreat, they reached home with six scalps in five or six days.
The method of the English scout was exactly the same as that of the enemy. Coming near the Indian settlement, Ly- man sent forward a spy, with his head and body covered with green leaves, to make what discovery he could. He found a wigwam not far away, and it was determined to attack it by night. Creeping on all fours, Lyman's party reached the wig- wam undiscovered, and deliberately fired on the sleeping in- mates. Then dropping their guns, "we surrounded them," says Lyman, "with our clubs and hatchets, and knocked down several we met with."
No provisions were found, but loading the skins, guns and other plunder into the canoes, Lyman retreated down the river about twelve miles, when at daylight he broke up the canoes and took to the woods, knowing that parties of the en- emy were between him and home. They had but one meal cach in their packs, and lived on "birds, grass and strawber- ry leaves" until they reached Northampton, June 19th or 20th.
The General Court gave Lyman £21 and the Indians £10. Major Whiting of Connecticut gave the Indians £40. This was repaid him by Massachusetts some time after.
When the Indians at Cowass heard the result of this foray, they deserted the place in alarm, and went off to Canada via French river and Lake Champlain. The Lyman scout proved to be a great and unexpected success. Great fears were entertained for their safety, for Lyman had hardly got away into the woods, before news came that an army was on the march from Canada to this valley. On this alarm Major Whiting came up from Connecticut with 342 men to aid in defending the frontier. Within six weeks, two more reports of the same nature followed, and each time, additional sol- diers came up. These reports were true, the alarm well grounded, and the preparations timely and effective.
The Governor of Canada, elated by the success of De Rou- ville, had resolved "to lay desolate all the places on the Con- necticut river." To this end he gathered a force of about 700 Indians, and adding 125 French soldiers, with several young and active officers, put the whole under Captain de Beaucours, who set out for this valley soon after the return
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CONTINUED DEPREDATIONS.
of Montigny from Pascommuck. There was great rejoicing in Canada on their departure. "This force," says Vaudreuil, " would be competent to attack whatever posts or village they please," and he "regarded as certain, the success of the expe- dition." The Jesuits, says the captive John Williams, boast- ed what great things this army would do; "that they could not devise what they should do with us, we should be so many prisoners when the army returned." And yet, adds Mr. Williams, " the great army turned back ashamed." Prob- ably they found our towns too much on the alert for a sur- prise, and they had no stomach for an open attack. De Vau- dreuil, however, in his home report assigns another cause for this disgraceful retreat. He says, "a French soldier, one Peter Newgate, deserted within a day's journey of the ene- my ; a panic hereupon seized the minds of our Indians to such a degree that it was impossible for Sieur de Beaucours to prevent them retreating."
While this army lay on our frontiers its spies and scouts filled the woods, hovered about the towns, and waylaid the roads. Some of the results are given by Stephen Williams :-
About the middle of July [the 10th, ] 1704, a friend indian was killed at Hatfield Mill. His name was Kindness. The enemy had not op- portunity to scalp him. On the same week, Thomas Russell, a young man of Hatfield, (being then a soldier at Deerfield) was sent out into ye woods with others as a scout, but he rambling from his company, was killed by ye indians.
Some tracks discoverd Deacon Sheldon wth some others went after ym & came in sight of ym, & shot at ym, & yy at ye english at a great distance, & then yy past along on ye west side of ye Town, & fird yr guns in a bravado, & went along up to ye Northward, & killd Thos Russell July 20, 1704.
July 30, 1704, one Dr. Crossman with two or three more men were riding in the night between Hadley and Springfield & were fired upon by the enemy, who woundd Dr. Crossman in the arm. This is ye only time (that I can learn) that they ever fird upon anybody travel- ling in the night.
About this time, Sergt. John Hawks was fired upon while riding to Hatfield, and wounded in the hand. July 29th, Thomas Battis, who had been sent post to Boston, was killed on his return, east of Hadley. His dispatches were taken to Canada, and were the grounds on which Vaudreuil wrote the French war minister, in the report already quoted.
Though this party broke up, it did not fail, My Lord, to cost the
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QUEEN ANNE'S WAR-1702-1713.
enemy considerable sums; the advices they received of it, having obliged them not only to postpone their meeting the Iroquois na- tions, but also, to remain a great portion of the summer idle, not knowing where this party might strike.
July 31st, a scout was ambushed near Westfield, and two Connecticut soldiers, William Olmstead and one Benton, killed. Another English scout coming up soon after, killed in turn two of the Indians.
No more depredations in the valley this year are recorded, but the harassing uncertainty spoken of by De Vaudreuil still kept the Connecticut troops here, and parties constantly scouting on the frontiers ; it prevented labor in the fields, or any efficient action in getting a living. A strong garrison was kept here, and Benjamin Choate, a Harvard graduate of 1703, was sent here by the General Court to be "chaplain to the Town and Garrison," for six months from November Ist. He was continued here by the same authority until the return of Mr. Williams, on a salary of £40. Part of this was paid by the inhabitants.
The country tax for 1703-4 was £68, 10s. Thomas Wells, Constable, received a warrant from the Treasurer, directing him to collect and send in that amount. One-half was paid in 1703 ; the rest was due in May, 1704. October 25th, 1704, the Constable sent a petition to the General Court, asking re- lief ; saying "The town was so far destroyed, that at least one-half that should have paid it, were killed or taken cap- tive." One-half of what was due in May was abated, and Col. Partridge, Preserved Smith, and Capt. Jonathan Wells, made a committee to reassess the balance of £17, 25, 6d.
As a preparation for a winter campaign, the General Court ordered, November 15th, that "5 s be granted to every per- son who are' or shall be furnished according to law with snow shoes and mogginsins." Their necessity had been demon- strated at Deerfield, Feb. 29th, 1704; and two weeks later, 500 pairs had been ordered for frontier use. At that time the price was three shillings, which went up to seven shil- lings before the war closed.
1705. This year no enemy appeared on our borders. Vau- dreuil was crippled by the loss of the "Seine," his annual store ship of supplies, with " two millions of wealth." It was captured by the English in October, 1704. The Bishop of
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DEERFIELD A MILITARY POST.
Canada, with twenty ecclesiastics were on board. It was a severe blow to the enemy. Negotiations for a treaty of neu- trality were set on foot this year, pending which, there was less disposition for hostile action. There were several alarms here, however, and much marching of troops, and continuous scouting.
The following petition, found in the Massachusetts Ar- chives, gives a vivid picture of the town at this time :-
To His Excellency, Joseph Dudley, Esq., &c., &c. :
The Petition of the Militia of the Town of Dearefeild Most Humbly showeth-
That after the Bloody Desolation made by the French and Indian Enemy in the sd town on the last of Feb 1703-4 wee ware unanimous- ly Determined to Desert the town & seek shelter and safty whear we could find it; But the Hon Left Colo Sam11 Patridge Issued forth a warant whereby we were Impressed into Her Magestys service & Posted as Garrison Souldiers in the sd town & our hopes of seaving our lives by Quitting our Habitations superseeded by fear of Incur- ring the Penalty of Deserting Her majstys Service, And have Con- tinued ever sence the 2d of March 1703-4 under the said Impress, not being as yet Dismissed so that we are uncapable of Attending to our business to procure a maintenance for ourselves & families as other- wise we might Have done, being obliged to be in actuall duty as souldiers three fifth parts of our time.
And in Confidence that we should Receive the Pay & Subsistence of those in Her Majstys searvis wee went to the neighboring Towns & run in debt for Provisions to sustain ourselves & familis & upon the same Expectations have been Credited by them. we have also thankfully to Acknowledge that the Account for our Pay & subsist- ence hath been accepted & Passed by your Excellency & Honors to the first of Dec last but understand by Col Patridge that our pay and subsistence for the time since that, is not alowed, which con- strains us further to Acquaint your Excellency & Honors & submit to your favourable Consideration that when the enemy slew & capti- vated the one half of our town they also plundered & destroyed the greatest Part of our Provision & stock of cattle, that the last Sum- mer the frequent Alarums & continuall Expectations of the Enemy, with our obligations to Attend the Duty of Souldiers Put us by our Labour so much, that our crop of grain on wh we Depend for our livelihood was inconsiderable, that we were in no wise capable to Discharge the Debts we have already Contracted for Supplying our necessities, If we may not obtain Pay for our searvis & subsistence for the time past. And we expect that as soon as it is known that we are Dismissed the searvice & to have no pay, that our creditors will arest us for what is now due & trust us no more for the future.
We therefore Most Humbly pray your Excellency & Honors to take the Premises into your Compassionate Consideration, & grant us wages & subsistance for so long a time as we are continued in the searvis & when we shall be Dismissed such Protection as that we may
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QUEEN ANNE'S WAR-1702-1713.
be enabled to follow our Husbandry, and we shall use our utmost diligence & endeavours to be no farther charge to the Publick. And the Petitioners shall as in Duty Bound ever Pray.
JONATHAN WELLS, in the name & behalf of ye rest.
This petition was received Sept. 6th, 1705, and pay and subsistence was allowed the petitioners up to July 27th, 1705, at which time they were dismissed.
At a town meeting Nov. 24th, 1705,-
Voted yt Capt. Jonathan Weals should have aight pound in money, for his charges and sarvis in geeting our bill past.
It was also agreed and voted yt Capt. Weals should recave his 8 pounds out of ye money yt was obtained by his sarvis and to have deducted out of every man's bill, according to proportion.
Soldiers' Pay .- " In Council, July 12th, 1704. A Muster Roll of the soldiers posted in garrison at Deerfield under the com- mand of Capt. Jonathan Wells, containing an account of Wages for their service from the 28th of Febuary, 1703 to the 27th of June, 1704, amounting to the sum of £199, 105, 21/2d, having been examined by Mr. Commissary General, was pre- sented," and a warrant to the Treasurer made out to Mr. Samuel Porter, to the order of Capt. Wells and company. A bill of £11, 5s, 6d was also allowed "for keeping the Post and scout horses, at the garrison in Deerfield" for the same period.
November 20th, 1704, .£397, 18s, 10d was allowed on the Deerfield Muster Roll, on account of "wages for the service & subsistence from the 28th of June to the 20th of October, 1704, and for subsisting the Auxiliary forces sent thither, and other incidental charges."
December 13th, a supplementary account for £26, 10s, 3d, was allowed. The allowance for subsistence, fixed March 22d, 1703-4, was "1 pound of bread a man a day, allowing one eighth for breakage; Two pieces Pork, each containing two pounds, to 6 men per day, and sometimes two pieces of beef, instead of Pork, each containing 4 pounds to 6 men per day, 3 pts of pease for 6 men per day, 2 quarts of Bear to a man per day."
REDEMPTION OF CAPTIVES.
In the efforts for the recovery and redemption of the cap- tives from Canada, Ensign John Sheldon was a central fig-
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ENSIGN SHELDON'S RESOLUTION.
ure. To his tenderness of heart, to his unflagging faith, his indomitable will, his muscles of iron and nerves of steel, is due in a large measure, the success which followed. His wife and their baby, his brother-in-law, and daughter's hus- band were slain. Four of his own children, his wife's broth- er with a large family, were in captivity. His house re- mained, but his hearthstone was desolate. The house of worship was spared, but the voice of his loved pastor was unheard within its walls. His colleague, Dea. Hoyt, was in captivity, and he alone was left to uphold the shattered church. Dea. Sheldon could give sympathy and Scriptural words of comfort to the bereaved, for he drank daily of the bitterness which flooded their souls; but unfitted for other sacerdotal duties, he mourned sadly for his pastor and friend, and pondered in his heart the possibilities of his redemption. Other public duties also devolved on this man. Ensign Shel- don was second in command of the garrison, and the inces- sant labors of that summer of fear and disaster, we have al- ready seen. But as the season waned and the blasts of au- tumn laid bare the thickets which had been the coverts of the enemy, the danger lessened; and when Rev. Benjamin Choate was sent to be their chaplain and spiritual guide, in November, and the deacon was thus relieved of his ecclesias- tical duties, he felt his presence less essential, and a grand purpose gradually took form. He resolved to risk his life in a visit to his distressed children and friends in Canada. He could no longer endure the uncertainty hanging over their fate, which constantly haunted him. Had they met a linger- ing death, on the march, through hardship and privation? or a sudden one by the merciful hatchet? Had their flesh been given to the wild beasts, and their bones left to bleach on some desolate hill, or moulder in some dark morass? How many, and which, of their precious ones were dead? How many of the younglings of the flock were imbibing Popish poison in cruel bondage? These and similar questionings must be answered. Inspiring young John Wells (whose sis- ter had been killed and mother captured) with like resolu- tion, both set out for Boston, to get the necessary leave from the government.
Dec. 13th, 1704, Gov. Dudley informed the Council that " John Sheldon and John Wells of Deerfield, who both had
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QUEEN ANNE'S WAR-1702-1713.
relations in captivity, were now attending him, and very ur- gent to have liscense to travell thither." On the 19th, he an- nounced that Capt. John Livingstone of Albany, who was ac- quainted with the route by the lakes, was in town, and was willing to go with Sheldon and Wells for £100 and his ex- penses. The Council advised his being employed, and the next day the three Johns, with credentials from the Gov- ernor, and letters to Marquis de Vaudreuil, took the Bay path for Hatfield, where they were fitted out for the journey by Col. Partridge. Their route was over the Hoosac Mountain to Albany, and thence northwards through the wilderness.
In an historical sketch of Ensign John Sheldon, read before the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Feb. 27th, 1878, C. Alice Baker says of this journey :-
We need not go back to King Arthur for exploits of chivalry; our colonial history is full of them. This man, long past the daring im- pulses of youth, -this youth, whose life was all before him-show me two braver knights-errant setting out with loftier purpose, on a more perilous pilgrimage.
Three hundred miles of painful and unaccustomed tramping on snow-shoes in mid-winter, over mountain and morass, through tan- gled thickets and "snow-clogged forest," where with fell purpose the cruel savage lurked; with gun in hand and pack on back, now wading knee-deep over some rapid stream, now in the teeth of the fierce north wind, toiling over the slippery surface of the frozen lake, now shuffling tediously along in the sodden ice of some half-thawed river, digging away the drifts at night for his camp; wet, lame, half- famished, and chilled to the bone, hardly daring to build a fire, -a bit of dried meat from his pack for a supper, spruce boughs for his bed, crouching there wrapped in his blanket, his head muffled in the hood of his capote, eye and ear alert, his mittened hand grasping the hilt of the knife at his belt; up at daybreak and on again, through storm and sleet, pelted by pitiless rains, or blinded by whirling snow, -what iron will and nerves of steel, sound mind in sound body, to dare and do what this man did!
Slowly and warily, they traversed Lakes George and Cham- plain, down the Sorel to the St. Lawrence, and thence to Que- bec, where the worn travelers arrived without having been molested by the savages. Here the minister and his deacon met. Here the latter heard the welcome news that his chil- dren and relatives were still alive, and the sad story of those who fell by the way, among whom was the mother of John Wells, his companion.
The envoys were well received by De Vaudreuil, and en- couraged to believe they would be successful in their mis-
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A HARD SUBJECT FOR CONVERSION.
sion. Mr. Williams, who had been sent down to "Chateau- riche"* to prevent his hindering the Jesuits in their efforts to convert the captives to popery, had been allowed to come up to Quebec. Every effort was made to learn about the prisoners and forward measures for their relief. The Jesuits, who had great influence with Vaudreuil, obstructed the en- voys in their mission in every possible way, and at their re- quest, Mr. Williams was returned to Chateau Richer, after being at Quebec but three weeks. "One of chief note," prob- ably the intendant, invited Mr. Williams to dinner, where he was tempted with an offer to collect all the prisoners about him, and have a pension "large enough for an honorable maintenance for you and them," if he would be of their re- ligion. The Puritan replied, "Sir, if I thought your religion to be true, I would embrace it freely, * but so long as I believe it to be what it is, the offer of the whole world is of no more value to me than a blackberry." His lordship then earnestly requested me, says Mr. Williams, "to come down to the palace to-morrow morning and honor me with your company in my coach to the great church, it being then a saint's day," who replied, " Ask me anything wherein I can serve you with a good conscience, and I am ready to gratify you, but I must ask your excuse here." It was after the Jesuits had given up all hope of any seeming compliance even, to their forms, that he was sent away from Quebec.
The apparently courteous reception of Mr. Sheldon really afforded him little opportunity of communication with the captives, but as his presence in Canada became known, “it gave revival to many," says Mr. Williams, "and raised expec- tations of a return, * * * and strengthened many who were ready to faint, and gave some check to the designs of the Pa- pists to gain proselytes. But God's time of deliverance was not yet come." The Indians feared an exchange of prisoners, when the French might take away their captives without ran- som ; so they hustled them into hiding places, and pretended they were absent with hunting parties. March 29th, Mr. Shel- don received a letter from his son's wife enclosing the fol- lowing note, probably from Mr. James Adams, who had been captured at Wells, by Beaubassin, August 10th, 1703 :-
* So Mr. Williams writes it, but Miss Baker has no doubt that this place is the present Chateau Richer.
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QUEEN ANNE'S WAR-1702-1713.
I pray giue my kind loue to Landlord Shelden, and tel Him that i am sorry for all his los. I doe in these few lins showe youe that god has shone yo grat kindness and marcy, In carrying youre Daigh- ter Hanna, and Mary in pertickeler, through so grat a iorney, far be- iend my expectation, noing How Lame they war; the Rest of your children are with the Indians, Rememberrance liues near cabect, Hannah also Liues with the frenc, Jn in the same house i doe.
In reply the father sent the letter following, which, with that of Mr. Adams, has been preserved among the Sheldon family manuscript. By this it appears that Mr. Sheldon had before heard of his son Remembrance's whereabouts, but had not been able to get sight of him :-
QUBECK, the I of Aperl, 1705.
der child :- this is to let you noe that i reseued youres the 29th of march, which was a comfort to me; this is to let you noe that i am whele blesed be god for it, and i maye tel you i dont here of my child as it the saye is that he is in the wodes a honten; remember my loue to Mr Addams and his wif and judah writ and all the reste ase if named and my harty desire is that god would in his time opene a dore of deliurans fore you al and the mene while let us wait with patiens one god for it, hoe can bring lite out of darkness and let us cast al oure care one god whoe doeth care for us and can helpe us. Mr williams is sent downe the riuer a gane about 18 or 20 miles i ded ingoy his company about 3 wekes [which ] was a comfort to me. he giues his loue to al the captives there. my desire is that Mr Addames and you wod doe al you can with your mistres that my children mite be redemed from the indanes. our post retorned bake agan in 8 days by reson of the badnes of the ise, they goe again the sekcont of this month and i desine to com up to moreal the beginen of May. John wels and Ebenesere warner giues ther loue to al the captiues there, and soe rites your louene father, JOHN SHELDON.
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