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 8
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Thus fell the head of the powerful Pocumtuck Confeder- acy. In one fatal day their chieftains and warriors, in their pride and strength were laid in the dust. A feeble remnant, renouncing their independence, sought the protection of the
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THE POCUMTUCK INDIANS.
English in the towns on the river below. Three original deeds, now in Memorial hall, testify that within three years the deserted lands at Pocumtuck were sold to men of Ded- ham. The enervated remains of the Pocumtuck Confedera- tion-rebelling against English domination-appeared for a few months in Philip's war. At its close the few miserable survivors stole away towards the setting sun and were for- ever lost to sight. Never after do we find in recorded his- tory, a single page relating to the unfortunate Pocumtucks.
CHAPTER V. POCUMTUCKS AS SUBJECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS; INDIAN RELICS.
The remnant of the Pocumtuck Confederacy, adopting in part the English costume, had gathered about the English, in the valley towns, had given them their allegiance, and were held amenable to the English government, thus barter- ing their native freedom for protection against the avenging Mohawks. Here they lived a vagabond life, eking out, as they could, a miserable existence on the outskirts of civili- zation, the all controlling sentiment being fear of the in- censed foe. In consequence of this they could neither hunt nor fish in their old haunts, nor anywhere except near the towns. So hampered, their stock of venison or beaver, with which to traffic for English comforts, was small, and the baskets and birch brooms made by the squaws, ill supplied their place. Much inconvenience and annoyance was expe- rienced by the whites from the intrusions and petty depreda- tions of their dusky dependents. Troubles often arose which the magistrates were invoked to settle. The savages were held to the same strict observance of the laws as their Christian neighbors, and the penalties for their transgression equally enforced against both-in theory at least. A few specimens are given from the court records :
In 1665, Nenawan was fined "40s or 20 fathom," for break- ing into Praisever Turner's mill. In 1667 Quequelett was "whipt 20 lashes" for helping Godfrey Nims and Benoni Stebbins "about running away to Canada." Indians were fined "40s" for a "breach of the Sabbath, in traveling two and fro," at Springfield. For "bringing apples from Wind- sor, and firing a gun," on Sunday, a fine was imposed on a party at Warranoco. Sachem Umpachala, and Wattawolunk- sin of Pocumtuck were fined for drunkenness.
On the other hand, Samuel Marshfield was obliged to give up land seized under a mortgage which he had extorted
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POCUMTUCKS AS SUBJECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS.
from the Indians " when in a straight." Sachem Wallump obtained redress for damages to his corn, by English cattle. The courts were also appealed to in settling disputed ques- tions amongst the Indians themselves. Alliquot and Wal- lump complained that Amoakesson had sold land to Lieut. Cooper that belonged to them, and settlement was made by compromise. Enough was retained by the Lieutenant, who was also a surgeon, to pay him for "looking after the bones of Whalehwaet."
The Indians were very fond of liquors, and in spite of stringent laws against its sale they were generally supplied by unscrupulous traders. They were quarrelsome under its influence, and maimed or killed one another in their drunk- en brawls. Heavy fines were imposed upon the illicit deal- ers, but still the trade went on. The price of a gallon of rum was four fathoms of black wampum, or a beaver skin ; and six quarts were given for "a great beaver."
After a few years' trial it was seen that this attempt to govern these children of the woods by the white man's laws had proved a failure, and representations to that effect were made to the General Court. A committee of that body made a report detailing the condition of affairs and recommend- ing that the natives be " placed directly under the control of some principal Indian or Indians, to be appointed and de- clared Sachem or chief, or head of them," the said Sachems to be held responsible for their misdeeds. According to this plan Sachems were appointed by English authorities. Lit- tle is known of the results of this measure save that soon after, these new officials were selling large tracts of land to the English, and pocketing the proceeds. It is probable that " Chauk, Sachem of Pocomtuck," under whose deed we hold our landed heritage, was one of these convenient dignitaries. All the deeds of land at Pocumtuck, from the Indians, were made and executed at Springfield, and no one has yet been found ingenious enough to define their exact location or bounds, with the single exception of the deed from Masha- lisk. She was of one of the "old families." Her estate lay on both sides of the Connecticut, and she may have escaped in the Mohawk invasion by being on the east side of the river. The fear of the fugitive Pocumtucks for the Mo- hawks was well founded, for these had not abated one jot of
73
MOHAWK RAIDS.
their enmity, and their scouting parties continued to harrass and kill them at every opportunity. This matter was a source of much concern to the English. The Pocumtucks were now their subjects, and English faith was plighted to protect them.
After vain remonstrance and negotiations by local officials, an appeal was made to the General Court. The petition was referred to a committee of which John Pynchon was chair- man. After a hearing he reported the necessity of stringent measures, saying that it was "necessary that they be told that these actings of theirs look as if they intended to pick a quarrel with us, they being expressly against the promise of those in our hands, whom we secured against the violence of the Indians, and sent home with manifestations of love and friendship," and that these actions are "contrary to the agree- ment made with our Indians last year * * * that then your people would not meddle with any Indians that wore English cloaks, or that had their hair cut short," and that these things "are not to be borne." The General Court ac- cepted the report and sent a long letter to the Mohawks de- tailing grievances and concluding "we never yet did any wrong to you or any of yours, neither will wee take any from you, but shall right our people according to justice ; yett we are desirous to continue all amicable correspondence with you, if the fault be not in yourselues, by offering insolencjes to our people, which wee may not beare or suffer." This firm language had considerable effect. Two or three years later £20 were sent by the Mohawks to indemnify English owners for animals slaughtered in their raids. £3-IOS were allowed for an Indian servant killed at Northampton. It does not appear that any losses by the Indians were consid- ered in this settlement. But after this the River Indians were somewhat relieved from the incursions of the Mohawks, and more at liberty to resume their native mode of life. It was soon found, however, that they had lost their self respect and their spirit of self reliance, and had retained their ac- quired habits of shiftlessness and dependence. When on the verge of starvation they occasionally assisted the English in "laying stone wall" or doing farm work in the field.
The end came with Philip's war. The change in the con- dition of affairs in the valley for ten years before the war,
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INDIAN RELICS.
was gradual, but the savages were surely disappearing in consequence of their environments-the weaker race before the stronger. The same causes, with like results, have at- tended the march of civilization across the continent. The Indian cannot endure before the vices and the restraints of the white man. The story of frontier life was the same here as everywhere. The legislation of the colonies aimed at a strict preservation of the rights of the natives, and these laws were no dead letter; yet the natives were crowded at every turn. The actual contact was on the fringe of the set- tlements, where the unscrupulous pioneer sold the natives rum, and cheated them when drunk. To prove these abuses before a magistrate when sober, was difficult, and the repara- tion tardy and unsatisfactory, when a case was made out. To these wrongs add the fines, imprisonments and lashings caused by their own misdeeds, and it would seem that their cup of misery was full. When the emissaries of Philip came among them, assuring them that the time had come when the English should be swept from the land, and as an earnest of good times coming, distributing freely, wampum, gar- ments, and other spoil already taken from the English, it was inevitable that the remembrance of their abuse, their sufferings and their poverty, should come uppermost in their minds; that they should consider this the golden opportuni- ty for revenge on the English : that they should join the art- ful Wampanoag in a war of extermination. They could not be expected to see that this act could only hasten their im- pending doom.
RELICS OF THE DEPARTED RACE.
Dwelling Places .- The most constant and most unmistaka- ble evidence of habitation is the presence of fire stones. Be- fore contact with the whites the natives used for culinary purposes vessels of wood, bark, clay or stone. To seethe their food these were supplied with cold water, into which heated stones were put, one after another, until the object was accomplished. In this region large sized gravel stones were used for that purpose. A considerable number of these found together and bearing the peculiar marks of fire and water, surely indicates a place of abode. I have found as many as a bushel in one pile, but on arable land they have usually been scattered by cultivation. Piles of stone chip-
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WEAPONS, UTENSILS, ENSIGNS.
pings, with occasionally an unfinished weapon, or worn out tool, point out definitely the homes of their artisans, and at- test their fancy in the choice of material, as to color or quali- ty. If enough of the fire stones and chips are found to in- dicate a village, certain other features may be predicted with confidence, and generally found, unless the face of the country is essentially changed. These are an easily cultivated plant- ing field, a properly sloping promontory for store houses, a burial place and a defensible post. If the village was a per- manent one, what may be called the sweat box was another usual, and perhaps constant, accompaniment to a settlement. This was an excavation in the ground used by the medicine man for steaming his patients, by means of a blanket, hot stones and a decoction of potent herbs. One of these I dis- covered on Pine Hill; and another at Sheldon's Field, while excavations for the Canal railroad were in progress. In con- nection with the indications of abode named, fragments of weapons and utensils can always be found. With these proofs about him the close observer can say with confidence, here dwelt the red man; here stood his fort, here lay his cornfield, and standing on a selected spot he can add, under- neath my feet lie his moldering remains.
On village sites, and scattered over the haunts of the In- dians, are found on the surface, or turned up by the plow and spade, or discovered in their graves, a great variety of weapons, utensils, ensigns, ornaments and other articles. Each of the species named below has been found in this town and is represented in Memorial Hall: Axes, spear and arrow points, knives, tomahawk heads, arrow straitners, ham- mers, drills, gouges, chisels, bark peelers, rubbing stones, fleshers, skin dressers, hoes, corn mills, pestles, spinning bobs, stone "beeswax," ear ornaments, gorgets, amulets, pendants, totems, ceremonial ensigns-as maces or banner stones-pipes, aukooks and fragments of clay pottery. In graves are found, besides these, beads, shell ornaments, wam- pum, burnt and unburnt vessels of clay, and bone awls. All the above, not otherwise noted, are of stone. The aukooks were made of soapstone and varied in size from half a pint to twelve quarts. They were quite common, but the near- est known quarry of this material is thirty miles away. The clay pottery was rudely ornamented with conventional lines
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INDIAN RELICS.
and dots, although quite elaborate specimens are occasional- ly found. These vessels, being of a frail character, are never found entire, except in graves, and are very rare in New England. Less than half a dozen are known to me from that region. Yet to be noticed is another interesting arti- cle, of which there are about three or four hundred speci- mens in Memorial Hall. They are of stone, usually round- ish or oval disks, varying in size from four ounces to fifty pounds. The characteristic artificial mark is one or more corresponding pits, or depressions, on the opposite sides. A few triangular and quadrangular prisms have three or four pits ; one irregular, oval specimen contains fifty pits. These articles are not found at random, wherever Indians have lived, like other relics, but only in particular localities. This collection was mostly gathered within the compass of a mile from the Hall, and rarely from a greater distance than two miles away. If a collection has been made from any other place in New England I am not aware of it. These stones have been found in particular localities in New Jersey, West- ern New York and Ohio. There has been much speculation about these relics, but no satisfactory name or use has yet been assigned them. Theories that they are hammers, nut crackers, or club heads, are at once dissipated by an ex- amination of this collection. They must not be confounded with " chunke-stones," to which they bear but slight resem- blance. It may be, that they were used in some Indian game played only at national gatherings, like that held here by the Pocumtuck Confederacy, Sept. 10, 1659; but this is purely conjecture. They may be relics of a race which preceded the Pocumtucks. A Japanese visitor to the Hall had seen something of the kind in a museum at home, said there to have been connected with ancient religious observances.
"Indian Barns," as the English called them, were excava- tions in the earth for storing provisions. In studying Indian occupation, for the history of Northfield, my attention was attracted to certain peculiar appearances, uniformly called by tradition either "deer traps," or "wigwam places." A slight examination showed that tradition was at fault, and that an explanation must be sought for in other direc- tions. Some months later, on reading Hubbard's account of the discovery of some " underground barns" at Peskeomp-
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DISCOVERY OF GRANARIES.
skut in 1676, I surmised that the clue to the mysterious "wigwam places" had been found, and determined upon an investigation. Engaging two trusty friends our party start- ed at daylight on a summer's morning, armed with pick and spade, to make a private examination of some "wigwam places," just over the Vermont line, on the farm of Elijah E. Belding, which had been shown to me by the owner. Two hours' work proved beyond a doubt the correctness of my conjectures. We had struck a group of thirty-three Indian granaries, lying within a space of 90 x 45 feet. Each showed a basin-like depression from six to fifteen inches in depth. Those examined were about four and a half feet deep. One was found to have been lined with clay. In others acorn shells, fragments of wood, bark and broken stone were found. On communicating this discovery to Hon. John M. Stebbins of Springfield, he called to mind certain peculiar de- pressions in a pasture on his father's farm in Hinsdale, N. H. We examined these in company, and found they also were the remains of Indian granaries. Many others were after- wards discovered in various parts of Northfield. These barns varied in size, being from four to twelve feet deep, and from three to twenty feet in diameter. They were usually placed in groups, being thus more easily protected from wild animals by a stockade, and, for obvious reasons, always on a watershed.
In Deerfield several storehouses have been discovered, sometimes through traditions of "wigwam places," but gener- ally through knowledge gained by experience at North- field. Frederick Hawks informed me that a group of " wig- wam places" was plainly to be seen on his father's farm in Wisdom. On visiting the spot it was found that they were destroyed in building the Hoosac Tunnel railroad. My at- tention was called by Mrs. Nancy Campbell to certain "In- dian lookouts " on Pine Hill. These proved to be barns of considerable size. South of the road from Bars Long Hill to Mill River the barns were common. Three large ones were found on the farm of Isaac Wing, which have since been nearly filled by cultivation. On the banks of the ravine southwesterly of Mr. Wing's house, and about Bear's Hole, several of a large size are still to be seen. On the south side of the ravine three others have been filled up
78
INDIAN RELICS.
within a few years by Joseph N. Fuller, in leveling his land for the plow. None of these interesting remains have been found about the Street, Wapping or Great River, all having been destroyed by cultivation of the soil.
Indian Graves .- Two distinct modes of burial prevailed here, as shown by the position of the body in the grave. Whether this be an indication that two tribes, with differ- ent customs, lived here at the same time-or successively- or whether it be a distinguishing mark of rank, or sex, can- not be determined by the evidence at hand. In one case the body was placed erect, facing the east, the knees drawn up to the chin and clasped by the arms. In the other it was curled up, like a sleeping dog, and laid on the right side, the face turned to the east. A single instance of a third mode has recently come to light. On an elevated sandy plain, at the head of a beautiful valley opening north from the falls at Peskeompskut, a burial place was disturbed by workmen repairing the highway in 1881. The spot was on the farm of T. M. Stoughton, and the ground was at once examined by Mr. Stoughton and his son William, mainly in a search for relics. They found twelve graves, about two feet below the surface. The bodies had been extended and radiated from a center, head outwards, the feet resting on a circle five or six feet in diameter. Small fragments only of the bones remained, but enough to show the position of the bodies. Many stone weapons were disinterred and a number of smooth stones of unknown use. All these bore the marks of fire, from the effects of which many of them had been broken into frag- ments. They had evidently been cast into the fire while whole, and not as fragments.
Graves have been found singly or in groups in all parts of the town. On the side hill west of Old Fort, it was common, fifty years ago, to turn up Indian skulls while plowing with- out disturbing any other bones. At the foot of Bars Long Hill, just where the meadow fence crossed the road, and the bars were placed which gave the village its name, many skeletons were exposed in plowing down a bank, and weapons and implements were found in abundance. One of these skeletons was described to me by Henry Mather who saw it, as being of monstrous size-" the head as big as a peck bask- et, with double teeth all round." Mather, who was about six
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A VALUABLE FIND.
feet tall, made the comparison, and says the thigh bones were about three inches longer than his own. The skeleton was examined by Dr. Stephen W. Williams, who said the owner must have been nearly eight feet high. In all the cases noted in this paragraph, the bodies had been placed in a sit- ting posture, facing the east. In those that follow they were laid on the right side, as above described.
On the home lot of the writer, about twenty graves have been examined. In some the bones were entire and sound ; in others scarcely a scrap was left. In several graves was a quantity of what appeared like fine blue sandy clay. In one grave there was found what appeared to be the remains of a basket made of thick, rough bark, filled with earth having the blue, clayey appearance. In another, that of a child, was a stone figure, about four inches long, perhaps representing a fish or serpent. With another child was found abundant remains of birch bark wrappings. A grave discovered in 1866, in which the skeleton was well preserved, was rich in relics. There was a vessel of burnt clay, rudely ornamented, which is a great rarity in New England. There were also shell pendants for the ears, thin disks of shell about one inch in diameter perforated through the center, and some fifty pieces of white peag or wampum. These were all of Indian manufacture. Other articles, evidently procured from the whites, were about five hundred small glass beads, red, white and green-mostly the latter-much corroded by age ; six red beads, half an inch in diameter, handsomely inlaid with stripes of blue and white. A bodkin or awl of bone was al- so found. These graves were uniformly about three feet deep, situated near together on a promontory overlooking the Meadows. About seventy rods to the northwest of this, on John Broughton's Hill, skeletons were found more than fifty years ago. There, surface relies, also, have been very abundant. A few rods north of Indian Bridge, the remains of a woman, who was apparently buried with a child in her arms, were uncovered by Lemuel Childs, about 1840. The bones were mostly sound, and the skull of the child was quite perfect. In a grave discovered on Petty's Plain in 1884, were found a pipe, trinkets of copper, and the metal foundation of an epaulet. Many other Indian graves have been found in different parts of the town, but the mode of burial has not
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INDIAN RELICS.
been ascertained. Hardly a year passes without the dis- covery here of isolated graves. There was an Indian burying place west of the "Old Street burying ground." The place was used as a gravel pit, and has long ago been carried away, and the bones scattered, or used for repairing the highway. Beads of the larger kind described above were found here, also another kind which were faceted. The latter were precisely like specimens recently received from S. L. Frey of Palatine Bridge, N. Y., who took them from a refuse heap of the Iroquois. Graves have been opened at Farming- ton, Ct., and in the burial places of the Podunks, where the po- sition of the body corresponded exactly with that of those de- scribed as lying on the side here. I am not aware that this position has been noticed elsewhere.
These notes are offered as a contribution to a more com- plete history of the Connecticut Valley Indians.
CHAPTER VI.
PHILIP'S WAR.
The war of 1675-6, will always be known as " Philip's war ;" but, rather because it was instigated by the Pokanoket Sachem, than that it was carried on under his orders. The fears of the colonists, indeed, made Philip the omnipresent arch fiend who planned each cunning ambush, ordered each bloody massacre, and directed every incendiary torch : the foremost in every attack, the most daring of his race. The evidence now before us fails to sustain these assumptions. We have no proof that Philip was ever in a single action in the colony, or that he was the leader of more than a small clan. He never held rank as commander-in-chief of the al- lied forces. In the spring of 1676, the Pocumtuck Sachems at Squeakheag threatened to take his head to the English as a peace offering ; and at Wachusett, Sagamore Sam and other Nipmuck chiefs contemptuously ignored Philip, and over- ruled his more sagacious plans respecting the ransom of captives.
Philip should rather be ranked with the Seer or the Poli- tician. He may have exceeded his fellows in political fore- sight, but he failed in that equipment of genius and that moral honesty necessary to inspire respect as a leader and to secure a loyal following. In his character we miss every element of greatness, and find him essentially narrow and mean. He was artful and his principal weapon was treachery. He was cruel, and a Sagamore of his own tribe accused him of cowardice, deserting him on that account. Volunteers from his own clan, hunted him in his extremity from swamp to thicket. Members of his own household betrayed his hiding places ; and finally he fell by the avenging bullet of one of his own tribe, whose brother he had wantonly murdered ; his body was vilely insulted and barbarously mutilated by his own countrymen.
From first to last Philip showed lack of state-craft, lack of
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PHILIP'S WAR.
military skill, lack of the essential elements of leadership; and his low cunning, ambition and desire for revenge, and his success as an agitator, were but poor substitutes. In six weeks after the first blow was struck at Swansea, he was driven from his country and his tribe scattered. With about forty or fifty followers he escaped up the valley of the Black- stone and took refuge among the Nipmucks at Wennimisset, arriving there the day after their retreat from the attack on Brookfield, in which, it is often said, he took part.
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