USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Greenfield > History of Greenfield : shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 5
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32
THE BLOODY BROOK MASSACRE
[1675
tacked by seven hundred red devils, who rose like imps of Satan from the thick brush on either side the way, and with shot and tomahawk made short work in practically annihilat- ing the little band under Lothrop's command. Only eight persons escaped the horrible massacre. The little stream whose waters ran that day with blood has been ever since called " Bloody Brook." * Captain Moseley with sixty men had gone out from Deerfield that morning upon a scout, and hear- ing the firing in the distance, hastened to the scene, where he found the Indians busy stripping the dead soldiers and plunder- ing the train. He made a most bold and vigorous attack, dashing through the enemy, but as he was outnumbered ten to one, he could not disperse them, and was almost ready to forsake the field, when there arrived upon the scene Major Treat with one hundred Connecticut troops and sixty Mo- hegan Indians. The combined forces drove the Nipmucks toward the western woods, and Treat and his men only set their faces toward Deerfield when darkness compelled them to de- sist from the fight. "This was a black and fatal day," says Mather, "wherein there was eight persons made widows, and six and twenty children made orphans, all in one little Planta- tion." Of the seventeen Deerfield men who went as teamsters, none ever returned. The morning of the 19th, Treat and Mosely returned to the scene of carnage and buried the dead in one grave. The total loss was about sixty-four men. The Indian loss was reported to be ninety-six, and Mosely esti- mated the number engaged to be about one thousand.
Of this attack the French priests wrote : "On one occasion, out of 400 English soldiers barely 7 or 8 returned ; in addi- tion to this, a portion of the country that they inhabited was sacked ; several villages pillaged, destroyed and burned and many English of both sexes were massacred or made slaves by the barbarians." Jesuit Relations, vol. 60, p. 231.
* " Sanguennetto tells you when the dead, Made the earth wet, and turned the unwilling waters red."
33
DEERFIELD ABANDONED
1675]
*While Treat and Moseley were yet absent upon their sol- emn mission, the enemy appeared upon the west bank of the . Deerfield river in full force, threatening to cross and attack the town, but Captain Appleton, with great forethought, ordered the trumpets sounded, and magnified his small force to such an extent that the enemy withdrew, evidently without knowl- edge of the absence of the great majority of the troops. Pyn- chon and the Hartford Council of War ordered the abandon- ment of the settlement, so in a short time the stricken survivors of the pioneers removed to the lower towns, abandoning to the savages the fruits of their years of labor, and the Pocum- tuck valley was again a wilderness. Hatfield and Hadley were now the frontier towns, and were filled with fugitives who had escaped with little more than their lives. The woods were alive with the skulking savages, and only comparatively large bodies of armed men could safely move any distance from the fortified towns. Pynchon's farmhouse, barns, and crops on the west side of the river at Springfield were burned, and two men were killed near Northampton. The Commis- sioners at Boston had agreed to raise and equip one thousand men, Pynchon to be in command, with Treat as second; none of these troops were to be used in garrisons, but were intended to take the field and sweep the enemy from the valley. Pyn- chon was overwhelmed with the situation and tried to resign, but on the 4th of October he led all the soldiers gathered at Springfield, toward Hadley, where the army was to concen- trate, and was to move out the following day to sweep the valley clean of its wily foe. The cunning savages outgen- eraled the whites as usual. Near Springfield were gathered a large number of Philip's own tribe, the Pocumtucks, and a sprinkling of the Nipmucks, awaiting some chance to strike a
* " Blood soaked the turf ; the stream ran blood ; Two centuries storm and rain Have left the awful memory fresh, Of that most fatal stain."
3
34
DESTRUCTION OF SPRINGFIELD
[1675
blow upon that unsuspecting people who had for forty years lived in terms of amity with the neighboring Indians, whom even now they believed loyal to their interests. At this mo- ment, five hundred red devils lay snug in their fort on Long Hill determined upon the destruction of the town. Tonto, a friendly Indian, made known the plot on the 4th to the au- thorities at Windsor, Conn. A messenger was at once dis- patched to inform Major Treat at Westfield, and to warn Springfield. At midnight a post was started for Hadley to notify Pynchon, and the frightened inhabitants fled to the shelter of the fortified houses. As morning came and the ex- pected attack was not made, many believed the alarm to be false. Lieut. Cooper and Thomas Miller rode out toward the Indian fort to ascertain the situation, and were fired at from the bushes ; Miller was killed, and Cooper received his death wound, but reached the town before he expired. Pyn- chon and one hundred and ninety men arrived from Hadley about three o'clock in the morning and the enemy escaped to the woods, their retirement enabling Treat and his men to cross the river. Pynchon's letter to Rev. John Russell, of Hadley, gives a graphic account of the attack.
REVEREND SR. SPRINGFIELD, Oct. 5-75.
The Ld will haue vs ly in ye dust before him : we yt were ful are emptyed. But it is ye Ld & blessed be his holy name: we came to a Lamentable & woefull sight. The Towne in flames, not a house or barne standing except old Good'n Branches, till we came to my house & then Mr. Glovers, John Hitchcock's & Good'n Stewart, burnt downe wth Barns corn and all they had : a few standing abt ye meeting house & then frm Merricks downward, all burnt to 2 Garrison houses at ye Lower end of ye Towne. My Grist Mill & Corn mill Burnt downe : wth some other houses & Barns I had let out to Tenants ; all Mr. Glovers library Burnt, with all his corne, so yt he none to live on, as well as myself, & Many more :
35
PYNCHON RESIGNS HIS COMMAND
1675]
yt haue not for subsistance, they tell me: 32 houses & ye Barns belonging to ym, are Burnt & all ye Livelyhood of ye owners, & what more may meet wth ye same stroaks, ye Ld only knows.
Many more had their estates Burnt in these houses : So yt I beleeve 40 famylys are utterly destitute of Subsistence : ye Ld shew mercy to vs. I see not how it is Possible for vs to live here this winter, & If so the sooner we are holpen off ye Better. Sr I know not how to write, neither can I be able to attend any Publike service. The Ld in mercy speake to my heart, & to all our hearts is ye Reall desire of
yors to serve you, John Pynchon.
P S. I pray send down by ye Post my doublet cote linnen &c I left there & Paprs.
1129036
At the most earnest and persistent request of Pynchon, he was discharged from his military trust, and the command given to Captain Appleton. The troops at Brookfield were ordered to the valley, and Captain Appleton garrisoned some of the towns and kept out scouts, but little information concerning the whereabouts of the Indians could be obtained.
The leading men of the Colonies were driven almost to desperation. The Puritan looked upon the state of affairs, as a direct visitation of God, because of the wickedness of the people, especially in the relaxation of the persecution of Quak- ers and other ungodly people, and the prevailing extravagance in dress.
The feeling against the Indian race was so strong that two Indians were assaulted at Marblehead and killed by women. This feeling was greatly aggravated by the fact that so many " praying Indians " were found among their fighting kindred. In July, a treaty had been concluded with the uneasy Narra- gansetts, who had received some of Philip's women and chil- dren and they agreed to surrender them to the whites; but later when Canonchet had learned of Philip's success, he de-
36
ATTACK ON HATFIELD
[1675
clared that "he would not give up a Wampanoag, nor the paring of a Wamponoag's nail." Then the Commissioners decided upon the destruction of the Narragansetts, which was accomplished in one of the most daring and successful winter campaigns against Indians in our records. The few survivors fled to the Nipmucks, and augmented the forces of Philip, during his future career.
October 19th an attack was made on Hatfield, the first alarm being an intense smoke in the vicinity of Mt. Wequamps, to discover the reason for which, ten mounted men were sent out. As was usual, they fell into an Indian ambuscade and nine of them were killed, one, an Indian, escaping and return- ing to Hatfield. About four o'clock the town was furiously attacked by seven or eight hundred Indians, but the defence had been so ably planned that they were repulsed with loss, after a two hours' fight.
Unknown to the whites, Philip's women, children, and non- combatants had for some time been gathering at Northfield and Vernon, as the thrillingly interesting statement of Mrs. Rowlandson, who was a prisoner, later revealed. Philip had gone to the Narragansetts-the Nipmucks returned to their ancient home near Brookfield, from which they were, late in the fall, dispersed by Captain Henchman, who destroyed their corn, and they escaped to the rendezvous at Northfield. A party of Pocumtucks went to their old friends the Mohicans, on the Hoosac, where Philip joined them later in the season. By midwinter, at least fifteen hundred hostile Indians had gathered at a camp near the headwaters of the Pocumtuck river, and were joined by several hundred Indians from Canada, undoubtedly the result of a secret visit of Philip to New France. Sancumachu, a Pocumtuck chief, was in command, awaiting the efforts of Philip's scheme to make a treaty with the Mohawks, which luckily for the English was not success- ful, and the Mohawks tendered aid to the English against their ancient enemy.
37
PHILIP AT SQUAKEAG
1675]
Here Philip and his sachems planned the summer cam- paign, which was, that these Indians should gather near North- field, and in the spring devastate the Connecticut valley, while the Nipmucks and the Narragansetts dealt out destruction to the coast settlements. When the valley was cleared of the whites, corn was to be planted, the French were to come down and settle and thus keep possession of the valley. Philip soon arrived at Squakeag, and desultory attacks were made upon the settlers in the valley below, causing constant alarm and the continuous service of large numbers of soldiers.
CHAPTER VI
THE FIGHT AT PESKEOMPSCUT
" The rifles with their brazen throats arouse The frightened savage from his morning drowse, Struck dumb with horror and a sense of shame, Not knowing who they were or whence they came, They fled precipitate in every way, (Like some great armies of a later day,) With shout of ' Mohawk !' 'Mohawk ' loud and shrill. Some hid in shelving rocks upon the hill, While others in the river jumped and tried To reach the shore upon the other side.
'T was useless toil ; for by the current borne, Their bodies on the rocks were bruised and torn As o'er the falls they went."
-Canning.
P HILIP'S camp upon the headwaters of the Pocumtuck had been broken up by the Mohawks, two of his mes- sengers, sent to Canada to purchase powder, had been killed, and his overtures to the Mohawks and the Canadian Indians had entirely failed. Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of Lancaster, had been a prisoner since February 10th, and her narrative gives reliable information of the location, and the sufferings of the Indians for food, while they remained in their camps about Squakeag. Early in May, Philip had returned from his western journey to his starving people, located upon the west bank of the Connecticut near Squakeag. Early in the spring, Canonchet, chief of the Nar- ragansetts-as a man and a warrior, much the superior of Philip-had volunteered to go to the Narragansett country for seed corn, so much needed by the Indians. But he fell into the hands of the English, was taken to Stonington and executed, refusing the offer they made him of life and liberty,
38
39
PHILIP'S INDIANS AT PESKEOMPSCUT
1676]
providing he would submit. He was every inch a man, and when told he must die, said, "I like it well: I shall die before my heart is soft, or I have spoken anything unworthy of myself."
Driven by necessity Philip decided to avail himself of the immense quantities of shad, salmon, and other fish which could be so easily taken at their great fishing place, the Peskeomp- scut Falls. Several hundred Indians accordingly moved down the river and encamped upon the high ground on the right bank of the Connecticut, at the head of the falls. Another party encamped upon the opposite bank of the river, and a larger number, probably more timid, pitched their wigwams upon Smead's island about a mile below, also famous as a fishing place.
Before the building of the dams at Enfield, Holyoke, and Turners Falls, no river in New England compared with the Connecticut in its abundant supply of fish, and no place upon the river was by nature better fitted for the taking of them, than the Peskeompscut Falls. Burnham's Rock, now cov- ered by deep water, then at the pitch of the falls, was cele- brated for the great number of shad taken in dip nets, by fishermen stationed upon its top. As many as five thousand fish in a day have been recorded.
The war in'the east being active, and the valley compara- tively quiet, large numbers of soldiers returned to the eastern towns, leaving the valley troops wholly on the defensive. Early in May the captive Reed escaped, and arrived in safety at Hadley, bringing news of the location of the Indians about the fishing falls, and their careless neglect of maintaining picquets or guards. This news, direct from the Indian camp, arrived May 15th, and the Rev. John Russell, (forefather of the Greenfield Russells,) wrote to the Connecticut Council : " This being the state of things, we think the Lord calls us to make some trial of what may be done against them sud- denly, without further delay, and therefore the concurring
40
TURNER PLANS AN ATTACK
[1676
resolution of men here seems to be to go out against them to- morrow night so as to be with them, the Lord assisting, before break of day." But waiting for help from Connecticut, which came not, it was the evening of the 18th that saw one hundred and forty-one men, (nearly all mounted,) under Captain William Turner, of Boston, with Captain Samuel Holyoke, as second in command, march out of the gates of the palisade at Hatfield, and take their way northward under the direction of Benjamin Waite and Experience Hinsdell as guides. The young minister of Hatfield, not yet thirty years of age, was with the detachment as its chaplain, and, as he marched, little dreamed of the strange providences which should befall him, ere he should reenter those gates. As they marched in the twilight, from the open meadows they could see looming up before them the bare summit of Wequamps watching over the graves of the men who lay buried at its foot, the victims of the ambush of their hated foes. At the crossing of Muddy brook, Hinsdell, the guide, renewed his vow of vengeance as he thought of his father and three brothers who had been butchered there a few short months before, and were buried in the common grave of Lothrop's men.
As they picked their way in the uncertain light along the deserted street among the charred and blackened ruins of Po- cumtuck, where many of the men had recently occupied happy homes, they hoped that the morning's light would give them an opportunity to even up some of the scores they owed to their savage enemy. Benjamin Waite led them away from the usual ford across the Pocumtuck, and they waded that stream, near the Red Rocks, and thus escaped the sharp ears of the Indians guarding the usual ford lower down the river. After crossing the stream, they climbed the steep hill to the mighty pines which covered what we now know as Petty's plain, and made their way along the plain and meadow to the Picom- egan (Green river) at the mouth of Ash swamp (Mill) brook, where they forded, and, following along the north side of the
41
THE FIGHT AT PESKEOMPSCUT
1676]
little stream, tributary to Mill brook, now known as Cherry Rum brook, before the break of day arrived upon the high. plain near Fall river, just north of the Factory village, where they dismounted. Here leaving their horses in care of a few soldiers, Turner and his men forded Fall river, and climbed the steep hill on the east side,-tradition says, near where the road leading to Gill now runs,-and forcing their way through the brush and trees to near the present residence of Timothy M. Stoughton, they found themselves in close proximity to their silent foes, who were heavily sleeping off the effects of a great feast of the previous night. Save the tremulous roar of the falling water no sound was heard, and with palpitating hearts the English crept to the very site of the wigwams, some even thrusting the muzzles of their guns inside the flismy walls, and awaited the signal to fire. At last came the com- mand, and more than a hundred guns belched forth their con- tents into the very presence of the savages, who, always dream- ing of their ancient enemy, shouted : Mohawks! Mohawks! Numbers rushed, almost crazed, for the canoes resting upon the river bank, and piling into them, pushed off, some with- out paddles, only to be carried by the ever rushing waters to certain death in the whirlpools below. Some attempted to swim the stream, but only the most expert could hope to stem the sturdy tide, and the old and feeble, the women and chil- dren were swept away in the whirling waters. Some few made a brave fight, against the attacking party, and many hid under the shelving rocks and banks of the river, only to be hunted out and put to the sword by men filled with hate and revenge. Captain Holyoke boasted of having with his own hands killed five, old and young, who were hiding under a bank. The at- tack was so much of a surprise, that but little resistance was made, only one white man being wounded and another killed as he came out of a wigwam, by one of the soldiers, who thought him an Indian. The wigwams were set on fire and consumed, two pigs of lead found in the camp, thrown in the
42
THE DISASTROUS RETREAT
[1676
river, and two forges used by the Indians to repair their guns and their camp utensils and provisions were destroyed. While this was going on, some one discovered that a little distance up the river, many Indians were crossing in canoes from the southerly side. Some twenty of the English set out to attack them, but the Indians were found so numerous that the men retreated toward the main body, who were also on their return to their horses. This party in the rear had to fight their way, and when they gained their horses they were surrounded by the enemy. While thus fighting, a boy named Jonathan Wells was wounded but escaped, and, overtaking Captain Turner, urged him to return to the relief of the men in the rear, but Turner exclaimed, " Better save some than lose all," and con- tinued his retreat .* Turner was a sick man, and ought never to have undertaken the expedition. A white man who had been a prisonor and had escaped, stated in the midst of this panic that Philip and a thousand men were coming, and the disorderly retreat became a disgraceful rout. The guides be- came demoralized, and shouted, " If you would save your lives this day, follow me." Those following Hinsdell into the great swamp were every one killed. The larger part returned north of the swamp, and as Captain Turner was crossing Green river at the mouth of Mill brook he was wounded by a mus- ket shot and died on the west bank of the river opposite the mouth of Mill brook.t Captain Holyoke, succeeding to the command, brought the retreating rabble into some order, and a contemporary says, " If he had not played the Man at more than the ordinary rate, sometimes in Front, sometimes on the Flank and Rear, and at all Times encouraging the Soldiers, it
* See end of chapter.
t The Nash family have lived in this immediate vicinity since the first settlement of the town. Jonathan E. Nash, an aged man but of good memory, assures me that the Indians were concealed in the woods on either side of the mouth of Mill Brook, and fired down from the hillsides upon Captain Turner and his men as they forded Green river. Captain Turner was shot in the left side and fell from his horse as he reached the west bank of the river. This is the family tradition.
43
ROLL CALL AT HATFIELD
1676]
might have proved fatal Business to the Assailants. The said Captain Holioke's horse was shot down under him, and him- self ready to be assaulted by many Indians just coming upon him, but discharging Pistols upon one or two of them, whom he presently dispatched, and another Friend coming up to his rescue, he was saved, and so carried off the Soldiers without further loss." The Indians continued their harassing flank attacks down through the meadows as far as the Bars. At the roll call at Hatfield, forty-five men were missing, but af- ter a day or two enough stragglers came in to reduce the actual loss to thirty-nine, among whom were Captain Turner, Sergeant Dickinson and guide Hinsdell.
The Indian loss was never ascertained, but was estimated by some of the soldiers at two hundred, and by others, many more. There is no doubt that the loss of the enemy in fight- ing men was much greater than in any other engagement, ex- cepting that of the taking of the Narragansett fort.
It was the end of the Pocumtucks as a nation; the few remaining alive joined the Mohicans or other friendly tribes and their old haunts were forever abandoned.
As Greenfield was the scene of the remarkable circumstances which attended the escape of Jonathan Wells, the sixteen- year old lad who pleaded so eloquently with Captain Turner for the relief of his endangered comrades, we give space to the extended account of his adventures, written by Rev. Stephen Williams of Long Meadow, son of Rev. John Wil- liams, the author of " The Redeemed Captive." This state- ment was written in 1731-2 while Mr. Wells was still living in Deerfield, where he died, January 3, 1738-9.
Escape of Jonathan Wells. I shall give an account of the remarkable providences of God towards Jonathan Wells Esq. then aged 16 years and 2 or 3 months 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
44
THE BOY HERO JONATHAN WELLS
[1676
(being then in ye rear of the company) he was fird at by three Indians who were very near him ; one bullet passed so near him as to brush his hair, another struck his horse behind, a third struck his thigh in a place which before had been broken by a cart wheel & never set but the bones lapd & so grew to- gether so yt altho one end of it had been struck and the bone shattered by ye bullet yet the bone was not wholly lossd in ye place where it had been knit. Upon receiving his wound he was in danger of falling from his horse, but catching hold of ye hors's maine he recovered himself. The Indians perceiv- ing they had wounded him, ran up very near to him, but he kept ye Indians back by presenting his gun to ym once or twice, & when they stoped to charge he got rid of them & got up to some of ye company .* Capt. Turner, to whom he represented ye difficulties of ye men in ye rear & urged yt he either turn back to y' relief, or tarry a little till they all come up & so go off in a body; but ye Captain re- plied he had "better save some than lose all," and quickly ye army were divided into several parties, one pilot crying out " If you love your lives follow me," another yt was ac- quainted wth ye woods, cryed " If you love your lives follow me." Wells fell into the rear again and took wth a small company yt separated from others yt run upon a parcel of In- dians near a swamp & was most of ym killed. They then sep- arated 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 ye exploit in, & now yy had left ye track of ye company and were left both by ye Indians yt pursued ym & by their own men that should have tarried with ym. These two men were unacquainted wth ye woods, & without any track or path. J. W. had a gun & J. J. a sword. J. J. represented
* Sheldon says Wells stopped and took up Stephen Belding another sixteen year old boy and companion, and thus saved his life.
45
JONATHAN WELLS'S ESCAPE.
1676]
ye badness of his wounds, & made his companion think they were certainly mortall, and therefore when yy separated in. order to find ye path, J. W. was glad to leave him, lest he shld 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 revived. After travelling awhile he came upon Green river, and followed it up to ye place calld ye Country Farms, & passed over Green river, & attempted to go up ye mountain, but as he assend'd the hill he fainted & fell from his horse; but after a little, he came to himself & found yt 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, & concluded he must dye there himself, & so pitying his horse he dismissed him, never thinking to take any pro- vision from him, altho he had three meals of provision behind him. Abt noon this, & abt sun an hour high at nt, being dis- turbed by ye flies he stopd ye touch hole of his gun & struck fire, & set ye woods on fire; 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 with 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 wn ye fire spread considerably, he expected 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 handkerchief & neckcloth, & so securely laid him
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