History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 16

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 16

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III.

MAS-SA-SOIT AND HIS TWO SONS, WAM-SUT-TA AND MET-A- CO-MET.

The powerful tribe of the Wampanoags, or Po-ka-no-kets, dwelt at the head of Narragansett Bay and along its eastern

shore, and consequently were the near neighbors of the Pil- grim Fathers of Plymouth. Mas-sa-soit, the chief sachem of the Pokanokets, was always the warm friend and steadfast ally of the English. Massasoit had two sons, who were the hereditary heirs of his sachemship, named Wam-sut-ta and Met-a-co-met. Early in the summer of 1660, Mas-sa-soit died at an advanced age, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Ham- sut-ta. In the month of June, 1660, Wam-sut-ta visited the/ General Court at Plymouth, and among other requests was desirous of an English name. It was easy for the court to grant this last request, and so they "ordered that for the fu- ture he should be called by the name of Alexander Pokanoket." Desiring the same in behalf of his brother, the court at the same time ordered that Met-a-co-met should from thenceforth be called Philip.

But the reign of Alexander over the Pokanokets was short. It was reported at Plymouth in the summer of 1662 that he was plotting with the Narragansetts, and a message was sent to him to come to town and explain his conduct. Failing to come, an armed party was sent for him. He made satisfactory explanations, and set out on his return. At the end of two or three days he changed his mind, and turned back toward Boston. He reached Maj. Winslow's house at Marshfield, and there was taken sick of a fever. He was carefully taken home by water, soon died there, and his brother, Philip, be- came chief sachem of the Pokanokets.

IV.

PHILIP OF POKANOKET.

In the month of August, 1662, at the beginning of Philip's sacbemship, he was summoned to attend the General Court at Plymouth. Apprehensions were felt as to the temper he was in, and he was called to answer such questions as should be proposed to him, and to deliberate upon such matters as might tend to the promotion of peace and good-will. At this interview " it was concluded by the court and him mutually, that the ancient covenant betwixt his predecessors and them should be continued," and Philip, with five of his sagamores, signed an instrument acknowledging himself to be a subject of the king of England, and to faithfully keep and preserve in- violate the agreements made by his father, Massasoit, and his brother, Alexander.

At the end of five years of peace, in June, 1667, it was ru- mored at Plymouth that Philip was making overtures to the Dutch or French for a combined movement against the Eng- lish ; but Philip so explained the matter that the apprehen- sions of the English were allayed.

Again, in 1671, Philip began to excite suspicions of mis- behavior. His arms were ordered to be given up, and the court appointed eight persons to act with the magistrates as a "Council of War."* Advice was also asked of the colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Philip in the mean time continued contumacious, and made complaint to divers gen- tlemen of Massachusetts. The latter colony offered its assist- ance in the quarrel between Philip and the Plymouth court. This resulted in another compact with Philip, and three more years of peace ensued.

In the year 1674 new troubles began. Sau-sa-man, a faith- ful Indian, informed the Governor of Plymouth " that the said Philip was undoubtedly endeavoring to raise new troubles, and was endeavoring to engage all the sachems round about in a war."+ This resulted in the murder of Sau-sa-man in June, 1675. His murderers were caught, tried by the court, con- victed, and executed.

A short time before the court met at which this trial took place, " Philip," says an old chronicler, " began to keep his men in arms about him, and to gather strangers unto him, and

* Plym. Col. Rec., Vol. V., p. 63, etc.

+ Records, etc., in Hazard, II., 532; quoted in Palfrey's Hist. of New England, Vol. 111., p. 150.

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

to march about in arms toward the upper end of the neck on which he lived and near to the English houses."

Mount Hope, the home of Philip, which he inherited from his father Massasoit through his elder brother Wamsutta, alias Alexander, was on that beautiful peninsula, about twelve miles long, which extends southerly from the north- eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, and now belongs to the town of Bristol, R. I. Down through this peninsula runs a range of hills, on one of which, called Mount Hope, was Philip's home.

The Beginning of the War .- The English settlement nearest to Mount Hope was Swanzey, in the Plymouth colony. As early as the 14th of June, 1675, news came to Swanzey that Philip was continually in arms; that many strange Indians were flocking to his fort; that they had sent their wives to the Narragansett country ; and that they " were giving fre- quent alarums by drums and guns in the night, and invaded the passage toward Plymouth; and that their young In- dians were earnest for war." At length, on Sunday, the 20th day of June, the first blow of the war eame. On that day. a party of Philip's Indians approached Swanzey, burned two houses, and then withdrew. On the 23d the Indians again appeared at Swanzey, and robbed a dozen houses. During the next three days several Englishmen were killed and their bodies brutally mangled.

Decisive measures were at once taken by the colonists. Troops from Plymouth under Maj. Bradford and Maj. Cud- worth, and from Boston under Capt. Henchman, a troop of horse from Boston under Capt. Prentice, and a hundred vol- unteers under Capt. Mosely, all reached the scene of action on the 28th. The troops were attacked on the evening of their arrival, one man killed, and others wounded. The next morning the Indians approached the English camp, were driven back by Capt. Mosely, and five or six of them killed.

But Philip, in the mean time, found his position untenable, and, leaving it in the night, went over in canoes to the east shore of the bay. The English, under Maj. Savage, who had arrived from Boston to assume the chief command, now crossed over and occupied Mount Hope. While this was going on, Philip's Indians marched toward Plymouth, and, falling upon the settlements at Dartmouth, Taunton, and Mid- dleborough, burned the houses and killed three inhabitants.

But our account of this war must hereafter be confined principally to the bloody seenes enaeted during its contin- uance in the valley of the Connecticut. And in this chapter but little more than a summary of the main incidents of the struggle will be attempted, leaving the details to the histories of the different towns in which such incidents occurred.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1675 IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

The Rising of the Nipmucks .- Up to the middle of July, 1675, the war had been confined to the eastern country bounded on Narragansett Bay, but now a new danger menaced the English,-that of the union of all the tribes in a common war of extermination. With the view of preventing this, on the 15th of July the commissioners of the colonies of Massachu- setts and Connecticut, attended by a strong military force, went into the country of the Narragansetts, and concluded with them a treaty of alliance, hy the terms of which that powerful trihe agreed to aid the English against Philip.

But at this time the Nipmucks, who occupied the central region of Massachusetts, in what is now the county of Worces- ter, commenced hostilities against the English by attacking the town of Mendon, on the 14th day of July, and the Indians in the valley of the Connecticut began to show decided symp- toms of uniting their fortunes with Philip. Then the war suddenly assumed a new and more formidable aspect, and the English prepared for the work.

At Quaboag, now Brookfield, some fifteen or sixteen families

had settled. At this place, by the middle of July, a large num- ber of Nipmucks had assembled. On the 28th, Capt. Edward Hutchinson arrived at Quaboag, with the object of making with the Nipmucks a treaty similar to the one just made with the Narragansetts. Arrangements were made for a conference, and Hutchinson, on the 2d day of August, repaired to the spot agreed upon, but the Indians failed to appear. Hutchinson proceeded seven miles farther in search of the Indians, but fell into an ambuscade, and was driven back with severe loss. In the mean time, on the day before this fight, Philip arrived at Quaboag. The little force under Hutchinson made their way back to the settlement, and, joining the inhabitants, hastily fortified a large house. On the 3d and 4th days of August the Indians invested the fort, and made repeated attempts to destroy it by fire. An hour after nightfall of the 4th, Maj. Simon Willard galloped into town at the head of forty-seven horsemen, and relieved the little garrison. In this affair the Indians lost about eighty men. The day after the siege was raised, Philip, with forty of his warriors, met the Nipmuck chiefs in a swamp some ten miles from Brookfield, and made them presents for their bravery in the late encounter with the English.

Brookfield was deserted, and Maj. Willard went to Hadley with his troops, where he remained three weeks.

The seat of war was now transferred to the valley of the Connecticut, and the Indians of the valley were animated and encouraged by the presence of Philip himself.

First Signs of War among the River Indians .- In the spring of 1675 the inhabitants of the Connecticut Valley noticed that the Indians who lived among them exhibited many signs of discontent, if not of open hostility. Among other things the Indians neglected to plant the usual breadth of corn, and began to remove their effects to within the shelter of their forts. Some friendly Non-o-tuck squaws also told families at Northampton of the impending trouble.

After the affair at Brookfield was over, the exposed state of the towns in the Connecticut Valley excited the special solici- tude of the General Court, and large forces were immediately sent in that direction from the seaboard towns, which, now that Philip had left them and gone into the Nipmuck country, were enjoying a season of peace.

Iladley, being protected on three sides by water, was desig- nated as the principal military fort, and the place of deposit for supplies.

The Massachusetts troops sent to the valley were under the command of Capt. Beers, of Watertown, Capt. Lothrop, of Ips- wich, and Capt. Mosely, of Boston. The Connecticut troops sent from Hartford were commanded by Maj. Treat, of Mil- ford, who had with him at Hadley a band of Mohican Indians. The highest officer in command of these forces after Willard went eastward was Maj. John Pynchon, of Springfield.

When the news reached Springfield of the attack on Qua- boag, Maj. Pynchon immediately sent Lieut. Thomas Cooper, with a Springfield company and thirty men from Hartford, to the relief of that settlement. But this force arrived at Qua- boag after the Indians had been driven away by Maj. Wil- lard and the troops from the Bay under Capts. Lothrop and Beers. ·

After the return of the troops from Quaboag, the people of the valley awaited further developments with great anxiety. Precautions were taken to guard against surprise, and detach- ments of troops from Hadley were stationed at Northampton, Hatfield, Deerfield, and Northfield.

In the latter part of August, Maj. Pynchon wrote to Capt. John Allyn, of Hartford, as follows :

"SPRINGFIELD, Aug. 22, 1675.

"CAPT. JOHN ALLYN, S .- In ye night a Post was sent me from Hadley that or forces are returned ; Capt. Wats thither and the Bay forces to Quabang. Nothing done, but about 50 wigwams they found empty web they have burnt.

" They write from Hadley they expect nothing but ye enemy to insult and fall upon ye remote Townes; that they are in great feares; a guard of 20 left at

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Squakeok is too weak ; some of yr soldiers left at Pacomruck Capt. Wats speaks uf calling of, weh troldes ym grtly ; suspect or Indians yt went out to be fearefull or false or both ; say yt ye sheepe at Squakeake are driven away since yr soldiers were there ; suspect ye enemy to be between Haulley and Squakeok, at Paquayag, about 10 mile from ye Grt River. I am sending to Capt. Wats to stay wtb his forces there : I would gladly you would allow it, and give further order about it; as yt they may make discovery for ye enemy at ye place forenamed. The Indian you formerly writt off coming in to Uncas, it must be seriously considered whether none that are murderers of ye English be among them, and such must be delivered up. I pray God direct you and us & be our salvation.

"Comunecate advice and councell as you may judge needtull. They much de- wire ye presence of some principall man at Hadley to direct, as need reg's & to ex- pedite affairs.

" Yours in ye L'd Jesus,

" JOHN PYNCHON.

" Momonto thinks ye Indian enymy may be in a swamp called Momattanick, about 3 mile off Paquayag, between Hadley and Squakeake; it is a pitty, but they should be disresteil ; and yor Indians will be ye most likely to doe some- thing. I pray give further orders about Capt Wats, & if Major Tallcot might be wyth ym, I hope it wid turne to good.

[Directed] "These For Mr. John Allyn, Hartford.

" Hast, Pust Hast."

On the 25th of August the first engagement oeeurred in the valley. At Hatfield was a little stockaded fort garrisoned by some friendly Indians. These Indians were suspected of being unfaithful, and Capts. Beers and Lothrop were sent to disarm them. The Indians had left the fort the night before the arrival of the English. The English pursued, and overtook them in a swamp near the foot of Sugar-Loaf Mountain. In the battle which then occurred ten of the whites and twenty- six of the Indians were killed.

An attack was made on Deerfield on the Ist day of Septem- ber; several houses and barns were burned, and two men killed. On the 1st day of September also occurred, it is said, the attack on Hadley, during which it is a tradition that the Regieide, Col. Goffe, mysteriously appeared amid the confu- sion occasioned by the outeries of the furious savages, and, throwing himself at the head of the frightened populace, re- stored order and expelled the foe. The authenticity of this story is questioned by Mr. Sheldon, the historian of Deerfield. The details of this affair will be found by the reader in the history of the town of Hadley, farther on in this volume.

On the 2d of September, at Northfield, a small party ven- tured out of the fort, and on their return were intercepted by the savages and nine of their number killed.

On the 4th of September, Capt. Beers, with thirty-six men, was sent up from Hadley with wagons, to bring off the re- mainder of the garrison at Northfield, with its stores. When within three miles of the fort the English fell into an am- buscade, and fought bravely till their ammunition was ex- hausted. Capt. Beers, with twenty of his men, was slain, as well as twenty-six of the enemy.

Two days after, Maj. Treat went up the river with one hun- dred men, to repeat the attempt to bring off the Northfield garrison. Although attacked by the Indians, he fought his way through, succeeded in bringing away the people from Northfield, and that settlement was abandoned to the enemy.

After Northfield was abandoned, Deerfield beeame the fron- tier-town in that direction. It was deemed to be so insecure, that about the 9th of September its inhabitants left it and sought shelter in the towns below. The Deerfield people left behind them a large quantity of wheat, which it was thought desirable to seeure. Capt. Lothrop, with a company of ninety men, was sent with eighteen wagons and their teamsters to bring this wheat away. The wheat was thrashed, the wagons loaded, and Capt. Lothrop, on his return on the 18th of Sep- Member, fell into the ambuscade of Bloody Brook. Lothrop was soon shot dead. llis company, known as " The Flower of Essex,"-having been " all culled out of the towns of that county, "-were all slain save seven or right at the utmost. " The day," says Ifubbard, " was the saddest that ever befell New England." The details of this fight will be found farther on, in the history of Deerfield.

A few days after the affair at Bloody Brook, Deerfield was

abandoned by its little garrison, under Capt. Mosely. And now that Northfield and Deerfield were both deserted by their white inhabitants, the Squak-heags and Pu-comp-tucks recov- ered for a time the possession of their ancient hunting- grounds. This was an important aequisition to the Indians. The most famous fishing-ground on the river, the Pas-quam- scut,-now Turner's Falls,-was again theirs, as well as the ex- tensive eorn-planting meadows on the Deerfield River. This region now beeame the headquarters of the savages, and in its secure fastnesses King Philip lurked.

THE BURNING OF SPRINGFIELD.

The next blow fell upon Springfield. On the morning of the 5th of October following, Springfield was attacked by the Indians, and, save two or three buildings, laid in ashes. The most of the inhabitants, however, having received timely warning, had assembled at the fortified house of Mr. John Pynchon, and saved their lives. Only Ensign Thomas Cooper and two or three others were killed. For the details of the sacking of Springfield the reader is referred to the history of Springfield, farther on in these pages.

On the first page of Vol. III. of the Town Records of Springfield is pasted a sheet of paper on which is written the following pathetie memorandum of this event:

"On the 5th day of October, in the year 1675, a day to be kept in memory by posterity, when the Barbarus heathen made an attack on this poore towne, killed two men and a woman and wounded severall, one of which dyed. Soon after Burned down 29 dwelling-houses and Barns, much Corne and Hay ; but God did wonderfully preserve us, or we had been a prey to there teeth. God in his good providence so ordered it, an Indian gave intelligence of the enemies' designs to fall on this Towne, whereby we escaped with our lives, for which we should give God the glory.

" JONATHAN BURT being an eye-witness of the same."

The day before Springfield was destroyed Maj. Pynehon, with the Springfield troops, had marehed to Hadley, leaving his home defenseless. The inhabitants of Springfield con- trived to send a messenger to Hadley, and Maj. Pynchon hastened back with his troops for the relief of his be- leaguered home, arriving about three o'clock in the after- noon. Maj. Treat, with his Connecticut troops, had reached the opposite side of the river, in West Springfield, in the fore- noon of that day, but the Indians, being in overwhelming numbers, succeeded in preventing him from erossing the stream. The Indians, therefore, were not driven away from Springfield until the timely arrival of Maj. Pynchon with the Springfieldl troops.

SITUATION OF THE VALLEY IN THE AUTUMN OF 1675.

In the autumn of 1675 the situation of the valley of the Conneetient in Massachusetts was critical in the extreme. At the north Deerfield and Northfield were both held by the enemy. At the south Springfield, with all its stores of corn and hay, was in ashes. In the centre were the three small towns of Hadley, Northampton, and Hatfield, garrisoned by small bodies of troops. Ten miles west of Springfield was Westfield, also defended by a body of troops.

In the mean time Maj. Pynehon had resigned his eommand of the forces on the Connecticut River, and Capt. Appleton had been appointed in his place.

THIE EFFICIENT AID OF CONNECTICUT.

It should not be forgotten that in this emergency Connecti- ent, with generous hand, did everything in her power to assist her struggling neighbors farther up the river. Her efficient troops, under Maj. Treat, Maj. Taleot, and others, were almost constantly in the field, and her Couneil met almost daily at Hartford for many months to devise means to carry on the war.

CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE SITUATION OF THE VALLEY IN THE FALL OF 1675.

The following letters are of such historical interest, and so well explain how matters stood in the valley at the time, that

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

we copy them here entire. The first is from Rev. John Russell, of lladley, to Governor Leverett, and was written after re- ceiving a letter from Maj. Pynchon, at Springfield, dated the 5th October, acquainting him of the disaster there, and requesting him to inform the governor. The letter of Maj. Pynchon, dated the 5th October, will be found in the history of Springfield, tarther on in this volume.

FROM REV. JOHN RUSSELL TO GOV. LEVERETT.

" Right Worpfl,-The light of another day hath turnd or yesterday fears int ) certainties and bitter lamentati ms for yo calamities and distresses of or brotheren and friends at Springfield, whose habitations are now become an heape. Such increase of judgmts shows ye greatnesse of ye wrath yt is kindled against us and ye greatnesse of ye provocations yt have caused it. We have nothinge to say Imit that the Lord is righteous and we have rebelled, greatly rebelled, against him.

" The inclosed from the Honord Major will give you such account of it as is wth us to make. We have little more to adde, only that the houses standing are about thirteene. Two men and one woman slain, viz., Leift. Cooper, who was going toward the fort to treate wth the Indians yt the day before prtended great freindship, being wib three or four more gott about a quarter of a mile out of Town, was shott so as he fell off his horse ; but got up again and rode to the end of yo Town, when he was shott again and dyed. The other was one Miller, of Springfield. There appeared not (according to their estimate) above 100 In- dians, of whom their own were the cheife. Their old Sachem Wequogan (in whom as much confidence was putt as in any of their Indians) was ringleader in worde and deede. Another of their principall men eryed ont to them, and told them he was one yt barut Qualning, and now would make them like to it.

"They were gone ere Major Pynchon came in with his forces, woh was about two or three of ye clocke. They signifyed their sence of his approch by their hoops or watchwords, & were prsently gone, Major Treate was gote down some hours sooner on ye west side of the River; whose coming being perceived, five men went out of Town, and, altho pursued by twenty Indians, carried over a boat weh was filled with mien ; but the Indians, standing on River's banke, shott at thetn, & shott one through the necke (who is not likely to recover); they durst not adventure to passe ye River, till Major Pynchon was come in & the Indians gone.

" It was but the day before, viz., on ye 4th of October, yt ye garrison soulliers, about 45 in number, left them; to their mutuall sorrow, as looking they should quickly after In in hazard of yt ruine web is now come upon them.

"Our Army had jørpared all things in readinesse to goe forth on Munday at night (weh was ye occasion of calling forth these from Springfield) against a con- siderable party discovered about five or six miles from Hadley, But the three nlarms we mett wtb, & yo tydings from Springfield], wholly disappointed it. Or men in their Towns, who before trembled at the order, That none should be left in the garrison when the Army went out, are now much more distressed at the thoughts of it, as looking at ymselves thereby expose I to inevitable ruine upon ye enemies' assault web we must then expect ; especially or Town of Hadley is now likely to drinke next (if mercy prvent not) of this bitter cup. We are hut about 50 families, & now left solitary.

" The neerest Town now left up on the river on this side, being (as I guesse) about 70 miles distant, And those on ye other side the River being so unable to come at as wib any help had they it to afford, Experience shews us that an hundred men on the other side ye River can lend little reliefe. We desire to repose or confidence in the eternal & living Gal, who is the refuge of his people, a jursent one in the time of trouble ; and to stand ready to doe and suffer his will in all things, acquainting yrselves wth or prsent state, yt so if there be anythinge yt yor wisedomes see it to call for, & yourselves in a capacity to apply it, we may not faile thereof. Perhaps the empowring of some man or men as the Honrd Major or Capt. Appleton, or both, to direct & order us io of fortifications, might not be unusefull. We are in the Lord's hands, and then we would be in keeping his way & doing his will wthont any amazemt. Yet the Lord's now delivering his own as well as of houses int , ye enemie's hand is more amazing & threatening to us. His will is done. To his grace I commend you. And rest, Yor Worps humbly in all service.

"JNO. RUSSELL.

" Or wounded men are greatly distressed for want of Medicines. Those by sea not yet come at us; those expected hy Capt, Waite left at Roxbury."

FROM MAJ. PYNCHON TO GOV. LEVERETT.

The second letter is from Maj. Pynchon himself to the Gov- ernor, and was written before he knew that his resignation had been accepted. The messenger was then on his way to inform him of that fact.

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 16

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 700

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700