History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 19

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 19

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V. QUEEN ANNE'S WAR.

The accession of Queen Anne to the throne of England, like that of William and Mary, brought war between France and England, the consequences of which were a severe visita- tion upon the colonies. One of the first places to suffer in Massachusetts was Deerfield.

The Burning of Deerfield. - On the old Indian hunting- ground called Pa-comp-tuck was planted the town of Deer- field, the richest of all the valley-towns in heroic historie memories. Many a page of her eventful story speaks of the blood of fair women and brave men, of the burning dwelling and ruined home, and is filled with piteous tales of captive children marching through the frozen wilderness, with touch- ing stories of self-sacrifice and deeds of daring valor.

In the winter of 1704, Hertel de Rouville, with four brothers,

HISTORY OF THIE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

led a party of French and Indians from Montreal, numbering two hundred and fifty, to the valley of the Connecticut in Massachusetts. The blow fell upon devoted Deerfield, hardly yet recovered from the devastating effects of Philip's war. De Rouville and his band approached the sleeping hamlet in the night, killed sixty of the inhabitants, and carried off a hundred prisoners. Among the prisoners was the minister of the place, Mr. John Williams. A full account of this dis- tressing affair will be found in the history of Deerfield, farther on in this work, contributed by George Sheldon.

The Deerfield Bell .- The little Indian village of Caugh-na- waga is situate on the south bank of the St. Lawrence River, opposite the village of Lachine, at the head of the Saut St. Louis, nine miles ahove Montreal.

In the little mission church in Caughnawaga, it is believed, still hangs the bell taken from Deerfield by the French and Indians on the 29th day of February, 1704.

This bell has been called the bell of St. Regis. It has been celebrated in song by Mrs. Sigourney, in her poem with that title :

" The red men came in their pride and wrath, Deep vengeance fired their eye ; And the blood of the white was in their path, And the flame from his roof rose high.

" Then down from the burning church they tore The bell of trumpet sound, And on with their captive train they bore That wonderful thing toward their native shore, The rude Canadian bound."

But says Dr. Hough : "That the Deerfield bell could not have been taken directly to St. Regis is evident from the faet that fifty-six years elapsed between its capture and the found- ing of St. Regis."*

In fact, St. Regis was settled by emigrants from Caughna- waga in 1760, the main part remaining behind and doubtless retaining the bell brought from Deerfield, as the mission of the Saut St. Louis continued with no interruption.

While on a visit to Caughnawaga, in October, 1852, Dr. Hough found a small bell that once had an inscription, but was then effaced. Ile also found a direct tradition in con- nection with the bell, and in the hands of the priest a manu- script in French, of which he gives the following translation, which is inserted here for what it is worth :

" LEGEND OF THE BELL OF SAUT ST. LOUIS (CAUGHNAWAGA), NEAR MONTREAL.

" Father Nicolas, having assembled a considerable number of Indians, who had been converted to the Catholic faith, had established them in the village which now bears the name of the Sant St. Louis, upon the River St. Lawrence. The situation of the village is one of the most magnificent which the banks of that noble river presents, and is among the most picturesque which the country contains.

"The church stands upon a point of land which juts into the river, and its bell sends its echoes over the waters with a clearness which forms a striking contrast with the iron bells which were formerly so common in Canada, while the tin- covered spire of the church, glittering in the sunlight, with the dense, gloomy forests which surround it, gives a character of romance to this little church and the legend of its celebrated bell.

" Father Nicolas, having, with the aid of the Indians, erected a church and a belfry, in one of his sermons explained to his humble auditors that a bell was as necessary to a belfry as a priest to a church, and exhorted them to lay aside a portion of the furs which they collected in hunting, until enough was accu- mulated to purchase a bell, which could only be procured by sending to France. The Indians exhibited an inconceivable ardor in performing this religions duty, and the packet of furs was promptly made out and forwarded to Ilavre, where an ecclesiastical personage was delegated to make the purchase. The bell was accordingly ordered, and in due time forwarded on board the ' Grande Monarque,' which way on the point of sailing for Quebec. It so happened that, after her departure, one of the wars which the French and English then so often waged sprung up, and in consequence the 'Grande Monarque' never attained her des- tined port, but was taken by a New England privateer, brought into the port of Salem, where she was condemned as a lawful prize, and sold for the benefit of her captors.

"The bell was purchased by the village of Deerheld, upon the Connecticut River, for a church then abont being erected by the congregation of the cele- brated Rev, John Williams.

* Hongh's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, N. Y., page 115.

" When Father Nicolas received news of the misfortune, he assembled his In- dians, related to them the miserable condition of the bell retained in purgatory in the hands of heretics, and conchudled by saying that it would be a must praise- worthy enterprise to go and recover it.

" This appenl had in it as it were a kind of inspiration, and fell upon its hearers with all the force of the eloquence of Peter the Hermit in preaching the Cru- sades.

" The Indians deplored together the misfortune of their bell, which had not hitherto received the rite of baptism. They had not the slightest idea of a bell, but it was enough for them that Father Nicolas, who preached and said mass for them in their church, said that it had some indispensable use in the service of the church.

" Their eagerness for the chase was in a moment suspended, and they assen- bled together in groups, and, seated on the banks of the river, conversed on tho unhappy captivity of their bell, and each brought forward his plan, which he deemed most likely to succeed in effecting its recovery. Some of their number, who had heard a bell, said it could be heard beyond the murmur of the rapid, and that its voice was more harmonious than that of the sweetest songster of the grove heard in the quiet stillness of evening, when all nature was hushed in repose.

"All were melancholy and inspired with a holy enthusiasm ; many fasted, and others performed severe penances to obtain the deliverance of the hell, or the palliation of its sufferings.

"At length the day of its deliverance approached. The Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, resolved to send an expedition against the British colonies of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, The command of this expedition was given to Major Hertel de Rouville, and one of the friends of the Jesuit college at Quebec was sent to procure the services of Father Nicolas to accompany the expedition.

" The Indians were immediately assembled in the church. The messenger was presented to the congregation, and Father Nicolas, in a solemn discourse, pointed to him as worthy of their veneration, from his being the bearer of glud tidings, who was about departing for his return to Quebec to join the war. At the end of the discourse the whole audience raised with one voice the cry of war, and de- manded to be led to the place where their bell was detained by the heretics.

" The savages immediately began to paint themselves in the most hideous colors, and were animated with a wild enthusiasm to join the expedition.

" It was in the depth of winter when they departed to join the army of M. de Rouville, at Fort Chambly. Father Nicolas marched at their head with a large banner surmounted by a cross, and, as they departed from their village, their wives and little ones, in imitation of women of the crusades, who animated the warriors of Godfrey of Bouillon, they sang a sacred hymn which their ven- erated priest had selected for the occasion. They arrived at Chambly, after a march of great hardship, at the moment the French soldiers were preparing to start on their march up Lake Champlain.

" The Indians followed in their rear with that perseverance peculiar to their character. In this order the Indians remained, following in silence until they reached Lake Champlain, where all the army had been ordered to rendezvous. This lake was then frozen and less covered by snow than the shores, and was taken as a more convenient route for the army. With their thoughts wrapped up in the single contemplation of the unhappy captivity of their bell, the In- dians remained taciturn during this pensive march, exhibiting no symptoms of fatigue or of fear ; no regret for their families or homes ; and they regarded with equal indifference on the one hand the interminable line of forest, sometimes black from dense evergreens and in others white with loads of snow, and on the other the black lines of rocks and deserts of snow and ice, which bordered their path. The French soldiers, who suffered dreadfully from fatigue and cold, regarded with admiration the agility and cheerfulness with which the Indians seemed to glide over the yiekling surface of the snow on their snow-shoes. The great endurance of the proselytes of Father Nicolas formed a striking contrast with the excitability and impatience of the French soldiers.

" When they arrived at the point where now stands the city of Burlington, the order was given for a general halt to make more efficient arrangements for penetrating through the forests to Massachusetts. In leaving this point, De Rouville gave to Father Nicolas the command of his Indian warriors and took the lead of his own himself, with compass in hand, to make the most direct course for Deerheld. Nothing which the troops had thus far suffered could compare with what they now eslured on this march through a wild country, in the midst of deep snow, and with no supplies beyond what they could carry.

" The French soldiers became impatient, and wasted their breath in curses and complaints at the hardships they suffered ; but the Indians, animated by a zcal which sustained them above the sense of hardships, remained steadfast in the midst of fatigue which increased with the severity of their sufferings.

" Their custom of travelling in the forest had qualified them for these hard- ships, which elicited the curses and execrations of their not less brave but more irritable companions, Some time before the expedition arrived at its destination the priest, Nicolas, fell sick from over-exertion. His feet were worn by the labor of travelling, and his face torn by the branches which he neglected to watch in his eagerness to follow the troops,

" He felt that he was engaged in a holy expedition, and recalling to mind the martyrdom of the saints and the persecutions which they endured, he looked forward to the glory reserved for his reward for the sufferings which he might encounter in recovering the hell.

"On the evening of February 20th, 1704, the expedition arrived within two miles of Deerfieldl without being discovered.

" De Ronville here ordered his men to rest and refresh themselves a short time, and he here issned his orders for attacking the town.

"The surface of the snow was frozen anl cracked under their feet, hnt De

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Rouville, with a remarkable sagacity, adopted a stratagem to deceive the inhab- itants and the garrison.

" He gave orders that in advancing to the assault the troops should make fre- quent pauses and then rush forward with rapidity, thus imitating the noise made in the forest by the irregular blowing of the wind among branches laden with ice.

" The alarm was at length given, and a severe combat ensued, which resulted in the capture of the town and the slaughter or dispersion of the inhabitants and the garrison,

" This occurred in the night, and at daybreak the Indians, who had been ex- hausted by the labors of the night, presented themselves before Father Nicolas in a body and begged to be led to the bell, that they might by their homage prove their veneration for it. Their priest was greatly affected by this earnest request, and De Rouville and others of the French laughed immoderately at it ; but the priest wished not to discourage them in their wishes, and he obtained of the French chief permission to send one of his soldiers tor ring it in the hearing of the Indians.

" The sound of the bell in the stillness of the cold morning, and in the midst of the calmness of the forest, echoed clear and far, and fell njwmn the ears of the simple Indians like the voice of an oracle. They trembled, and were filled with fear and wonder.

" The bell was taken from the belfry, and attached to a pole in such a manner that four men conld carry it, and in this way it was borne off with their plunder in triumph, the Indians glorying in the deliverance of this miraculous wonder.

" But they shortly perceived it was too heavy a burden for the rugged route they pursued aud the yielding nature of the snows over which they traveled. Accordingly, upon arriving at the point on the lake where they had left it, they buried their cherished treasure, with many benedictions of Father Nicolas, notil the period should arrive when they could transport it with more convenience.

" As soon as the ice had disappeared, and the bland air of spring had returned, giving foliage to the trees and the fragrance and beauty of flowers to the forest, Father Nicolas again assembled at the church his Indian converts to select a certain number of the tribe, who, with the assistance of a yoke of oxen, should go and bring in the dearly-prized hell.

" During the interval all the women and children of the Indian village, having been informed of the wonderful qualities of the bell, awaited its arrival with eagerness and impatience, and regarded its advent as one of those events which but rarely mark the progress of ages. As the time approached when the curious object should arrive, they were assembled on the bank of the river, and dis- coursing upon the subject, when far off in the stillness of the twilight there was heard from the depths of the forest a sound which, from being feeble and scarcely audible, became every moment louder. Every one listened, when presently the cry arose 'It is the bell ! it is the bell !! ' and in a moment after the oxen were seen emerging from the wood surrounded by a group of Indians, and bearing the precious burden on a pole between them. They had hung upon the beam and around the bell clusters of wild-flowers and leaves, and the oxen were adorned with garlands of flowers. Thus marching iu triumph, Father Nicolas entered his village more proud of his success and received with more heartfelt joy than a Roman general returning in trinmph from the conquest of nations.

" From this triumphal march in the midst of the quiet of the evening, which was broken only by the murmur of the rapid softened by the distance, arose the shouts of rejoicing as the cortege entered the village and the idol bell was de- posited iu the church. Every one gratified his cager curiosity by examining the strange musical metal, and the crusade had been crowned with unqualified success.

" In due time it was raised to its place in the belfry, and has ever since, at the accustomed hours, sent its clear tones over the broad bosom of the St. Lawrence to announce the hour of prayer and lapse of time; and although its tones are shrill and feeble beside its modern companion, they possess a music and call up an association which will long give an interest to the church of the Saut St. Louis, at the Indian village of Cuugh-nu-wa-ga,"

Further Depredations .- After the sacking of Deerfield, in the month of February, the Indians hung around the devoted settlement during all the spring months, killing several per- sons.

In July, 1706, Samuel Chapin, of Springfield, was shot by the Indians, and severely wounded.

During the same year Samuel and Joseph Parsons, of Northampton, sons of Captain John Parsons, were killed in the woods. On the 26th of July that year, seven or eight In- dians attacked the house of Lieut. Wright, and killed " old Mr. Wright" and two soldiers named Aaron Parsons and Barijah Hubbard. They also knocked two children on the head, one of whom died, and took Henry Wright's wife captive.

Expeditions of 1709 and 1711 .- In the year 1709 an under- taking on a large scale, for the capture of Canada, was planned by England.

A squadron of ships from England was to be sent to Boston with five regiments of regular troops, numbering in all three thousand men. Massachusetts and Rhode Island were to raise twelve hundred men, and Connecticut, New York, and New

Jersey fifteen hundred men. This last-mentioned body of troops was to proceed up the Hudson to attack Montreal. The former, under Col. Vetch, were to join the fleet against it at Quebec.

The expedition against Montreal was intrusted to the com- mand of Maj .- Gen. Nicholson. Like that under Gen. Fitz- John Winthrop, of nineteen years before, it took the route of the valley of the Hudson. On his way up the Hudson, Gen. Nicholson built Fort Ingoldsby at Stillwater, Fort Saratoga at the mouth of the Battenkill, Fort Nicholson at what is now Fort Edward, and Fort Anne on Wood Creek. Like that under Fitz-John Winthrop, it returned with nothing accom- plished. In this expedition the troops suffered greatly from sickness,-notably at Fort Anne, on Wood Creek, near Lake Champlain, where many of them died. The English fleet sailed for Portugal instead of New England, and of course the expedition by sea against Quebec was abandoned.

In 1710 an expedition was dispatched against Port Royal. This met with better snecess. On the 29th of September the garrison capitulated.

In the year 17II another attempt was made by England to conquer Canada. Again an expedition by land went up the valley of the Hudson as far as Fort Anne, on Wood Creek. This time the fleet sailed from England, but before reaching Quebec encountered a storm, and a thousand men perished. Hearing of the disaster by sea, the land-forces again retired from the valley of the Upper Hudson. While these move- ments were going on the Indians still lurked in the Connecti- cut Valley, killing persons at Northampton and other places. At length, on the 3tst day of March, 1713, the peace of Utrecht was concluded between England and France, and French-and-Indian hostilities soon ceased in the colonies.

VI. WAR WITH EASTERN INDIANS-1722-26.

Father Sebastian Rasle .- In the year 1722, while France and England were still at peace, war broke ont between the people of Massachusetts and New Hampshire and the Aben-a- quis, an important Indian tribe dwelling to the east and north of the Merrimack River, who were the allies of the French. The French had before this established a mission among the Aben-a-quis at Norridgewock, on the upper waters of the Kennebeek River, which was at the beginning of the war in charge of the JJesuit Father Sebastian Rasle. Father Rasle had been in charge of this mission on the Kennebeck since the year 1695, and as Norridgewock was the principal station from whence war-parties were sent against the English; this has sometimes been called Father Rasle's War.

Gray-Lock, of Wo-ro-noak .- But the real leader of the In- dians in this war was a sachem called Gray-Lock. Before King Philip's war Gray-Lock,-so called from the color of his hair,-had lived on the Agawam or Westfield River. After the death of King Philip, Gray-Lock fled to the Mohawk country. In the year 1723 he lived at his fort on Missisquoi Bay, at the northerly end of Lake Champlain. Here Gray- Lock had collected a band of trusty warriors, doubtless from among his own people, who had fled from the valley of the Agawam, whose squaws planted their corn on the meadows near his fort. From this secure retreat Gray-Lock made numerous hostile excursions against his old neighbors, the English settlers of the Connecticut Valley,-an account of which will appear in the history of the towns, farther on,- the most noted of which were his raids on Northfield on the 13th of August, 1723, and on the 18th of June, 1724.

Early in the year 1724, Fort Deummer was built at what is now Brattleboro', Vt., by Capt. Kellogg, and when completed garrisoned by Capt. Timothy Dwight and fifty-five men .*

The forts at Northfield and Deerfield were garrisoned,

* For a nmister-roll of Capt. Dwight's company, see Temple and Sheldon's History of Northfield, p. 201.

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

and the inhabitants were kept in continual alarm. In the summer of 1724 an expedition was fitted out by the English against the Alben-a-quis, consisting of two hundred and eight men under command of Capts. Moulton, Harmon, Bourne, and Bane! Ascending the Kennebeck River, the English reached Norridgewock on the 23d of August, and, taking the village by surprise, killed a large number of its inhabitants, among whom was Father Rasle.

After prowling around the English settlements all summer, Gray-Lock returned to his fort at Missisquoi in the autumn. Early in 1725, Capt. Benj. Wright raised a company of men, and marched from Northfield to attack Gray-Lock in his stronghold on Lake Champlain, but, failing to reach his des- tination, early abandoned the enterprise, and returned with- out accomplishing his object .*

Among the most notable events of the war was Capt. John Lovewell's expedition to the Indian country in the spring of 1725, and his battle with Paugas on the 8th of May at Frye- burg.

A treaty of peace was signed with the Eastern Indians at Boston, Dec. 15, 1725, which was ratified at Falmouth on the 5th of August, 1726.+ The highest mountain in Massa- chusetts still bears the name of Gray-Lock, the last of the Wo-ro-noaks.

VII. FRENCH-AND-INDIAN WAR OF 1744 48.

On the 20th of March, 1744, war again broke out between England and France.

At this time Louisburg, on Cape Breton, was the strong- hold of the French in the east, and Governor Shirley planned an expedition, sent out by the province of Massachusetts, for its capture. The expedition was commanded by Sir William Pepperell, and he was joined by a British fleet under com- mand of Sir Peter Warren, commodore. On the 16th of June Louisburg surrendered to the combined forces of Pepperell and Warren. Its capture " filled Europe with astonishment and America with joy." In this affair the Massachusetts troops won high honor.

Fort Massachusetts .- Upon the breaking out of this war the Massachusetts General Court resolved upon the erection of a line of forts to protect her northwestern frontier. Ac- cordingly, in the year 1744, a fort was built at Hoosac, now Adams, and named Fort Massachusetts; one in the present town of Heath, called Fort Shirley ; and another in the town of Rowe, which was named Fort Pelham. There was also a small fort erected at Blandford, in the eastern part of what is now Hampden County.

At this time, Col. John Stoddard, of Northampton, of the Hampshire County regiment, was chief in command of the provincial forces in Western Massachusetts, while Capt. Eph- raim Williams had the immediate supervision of the western forts, with his headquarters at Fort Massachusetts.

No attacks of importance took place in Western Massachu- setts until the month of August, in the year 1746. On the 26th of that month, Fort Massachusetts was invested by a French-and-Indian force numbering from eight to nine hun- dred, under command of the Marquis de Vaudreuil. There were but twenty-two men at the time in the fort, under com- mand of Sergt. John Hawks. For twenty-eight hours the brave little garrison held out against the enemy, in hopes of succor. But no help came, and Sergt. Hawks surrendered.

On the 24th, fifty of Vaudreuil's Indians left the main body and paid another hostile visit to the scene of their old depre- dations in Deerfield. During this raid, Samuel Allen, Adon- ijah Gillet, and Oliver Amsden were killed, and a boy, Samuel Allen, Jr., taken prisoner.

In May, 1748, Noah Pixley, of Southampton, was killed by the Indians. At this time Col. Stoddard died, while in attendance at the General Court at Boston, and Col. Israel Williams, of Hatfield, succeeded to the command in Western Massachusetts. On the 2d day of August a body of two hun- dred Indians made an attack upon Fort Massachusetts. At the time the fort was garrisoned by one hundred men, under Capt. (afterward Col.) Ephraim Williams. After a spirited assault of some two hours' duration, the Indians abandoned the attempt upon the fort, and retreated, carrying with them their dead and wounded.

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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 19

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