USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Our county and its people : A history of Hampden County, Massachusetts. Volume 1 > Part 6
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On May 18 Captains Turner and Holyoke, with one hundred and eighty men from Springfield, Northampton and Hadley, made a rapid forced march and attacked the Indian encampment on Fall river, causing a loss to the savages of more than three hundred in killed and drowned, besides the destruction of their wigwams and fishing grounds. Soon afterward, however, as the victors were returning to Hatfield, they were set upon and harassed along the entire march by the thoroughly maddened red men. Captain Turner was killed and the command de- volved upon Captain Holyoke, who in fact was the hero of the expedition, and whose coolness and skill alone saved the little body of English from total annihilation. As it was thirty-eight men were lost.
The attack upon the Indians at the Falls, while unfortunate in its final results to the English, was terribly disastrous to the Indians, as it broke up the fisheries which were their chief de- pendence for food. In retaliation Philip invaded Hatfield, but in so doing he encountered a body of twenty-five soldiers, who punished him severely and drove his savages from the town with a loss of twenty-five redskins-one for each man in the Hadley company.
At length the Massachusetts and Connecticut authorities healed their differences and determined to clear the country of the murderous horde of savages who had caused such widespread desolation, and to that end planned a formidable expedition against them. Connecticut agreed to and did send to join the Massachusetts forces an efficient body of two hundred and fifty troops and two hundred Mohegan warriors. Under command of Major Talcott this force swept up the Connecticut valley, clearing the region of every hostile Indian along the line of
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march; and he arrived at Hadley1 just as the garrison had re- pulsed a determined attack by Philip's men. This defeat, to- gether with the timely arrival of Talcott, was the beginning of the end of Indian depredations in this region, either by King Philip's warriors or his Connecticut river allies. The com- bined colonial forces with their Mohegan allies cleared the region of its skulking enemies, and after Talcott's men had pursued a part of them into the Narragansett country and still others into the Housatonic valley, all that lived of the once murderous horde sought refuge with their ancestors in Canada.
Philip struggled on for a time, but at last fell by the hand of one of his own warriors. He was killed August 12, 1676. The victorious English cleared the eastern portion of the colonies of Indians, which work continued until the spring of 1678.
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The most reliable authorities estimate that during King Philip's war the United Colonies lost one-eleventh of their entire militia forces and about the same proportion of all the build- ings. The Indian loss during the same time is estimated at more than 5,000, of both sexes.
1An interesting fact of general history was disclosed in connection with the attack on Hadley. At one time the Indians had pierced the palisades and gained the interior of a house, but were beaten back after a desperate struggle. The defenders showed some sign of weakening and were in a state of confusion, when suddenly there appeared in their midst a stranger, who at once assumed com- mand, encouraged the soldiers and directed efforts which resulted in success for the defenders of the place. Subsequently the fact was disclosed that the stranger was Goffe, one of the judges who condemned to death Charles I, of England, and who, having escaped from England in 1660, afterward lived in exile in America. For twelve years preceding the time of the attack on Hadley, Goffe and his father-in-law, named Whalley, had been members of Mr. Russell's family. Mr. Russell was the minister at Hadley.
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CHAPTER VI
COLONIAL WARS
From the Close of King Philip's War to the End of the French Dominion-Indians Ask to be Restored to their Former Posses- sions in the Connecticut Valley-King William's War-Indian Depredations of the Frontier-Queen Anne's War-Treaty of Utrecht-Trouble with the Abenaquis-Father Rasle and Wor- onoak-War Again Declared Between England and France- Treaty of Aix-la-chapelle-War Resumed-The Hampshire County Regiment at Lake George-Troops Assembled at Springfield-End of the War-Treaty of Paris.
Although the Indians were driven from their former haunts in the valley as the result of their alliance with King Philip, they nevertheless were reluctant to remain permanently away from their favorite fishing grounds. When they left they found refuge in Canada and placed themselves under the protection of the French. Occasionally during the early part of the fol- lowing year, under French instigation, war parties made incur- sions into the regions of Vermont and New Hampshire, and in September a force of about fifty of them attacked Hatfield and Deerfield, and even made a demonstration against the mill at Hadley. In the upper valley country they killed a number of persons and made captives of others, carrying the latter to Can- ada.
Notwithstanding these atrocities, the uncivilized vagabonds soon afterward presented themselves to the English and asked that they again might occupy their possessions along the Con- necticut. Only three years before they had formed an alliance
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with a falling power (King Philip) and by their unpardonable treachery they had forfeited all claims to consideration at the hands of the English, yet now they asked to be admitted to the benefits of peace. The English treated them with a far greater moderation than they deserved, and sent Major Treat to nego- tiate terms with them, or, rather, to tell them what they might do and what would be expected of them. First, they must sub- ject themselves to English laws as did the English people; they must restore to the English any captives they had taken to Can- ada or elsewhere. Then they were at liberty to reoccupy the land formerly possessed by them, with the privileges accorded to the whites.
In a way the Indians accepted the terms imposed upon them (Major Treat was entirely fair but was very firm with them) and did return a part of the captives (the others were ransomed by a party of whites who went to Canada and purchased their re- lease), but the idea of living strictly in accordance with the laws of order which bound the white man was so repugnant to the sav- ages that they soon left the region and took up their abode near the Canada border.
After the withdrawal of the Indians the settlers in the val- ley returned to their lands, restored the buildings and devoted themselves to the peaceful arts of agriculture and trade. For a period of ten years they thus lived in undisturbed quiet, and during that time they prospered as never before. Hampshire county now had become one of the important civil divisions of Massachusetts, and in population, resources and productions it ranked with the best regions of New England.
In 1688, upon the abdication of James II., and the accession of William and Mary to the British throne, England and France almost at once engaged in what has been known in history as King William's war, a struggle that re-echoed throughout the American colonies. The French in Canada now were aided by the Indians who had been driven from New England, and the savages themselves required but little persuasion to induce them to wage war against their recent conquerors, especially as the French officers offered a bounty for each English scalp and each English captive.
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Once more therefore the New Englanders were called upon to defend their northern frontier against a wily foe. New York then had become a thoroughly English province, and shared with her sister colonies on the east the vicissitudes of war with com- bined French and Indian enemies; but New York, unlike New England, had the assistance of the powerful Iroquois confeder- acy, whose warriors hated not only the French but also the In- dians who were their allies. On the other hand, the New Eng- landers relied for the defense of their frontier upon the sturdy planters, and it was a confidence worthily bestowed.
In Massachusetts the upper Connecticut valley was the most exposed region, and one that required the strongest defensive force. For this purpose the southern towns of Hampshire county were called upon to contribute almost the entire strength of their militia. Brookfield was invaded in 1692, and in the next year Deerfield and Northfield again were scenes of strife and bloodshed. The depredations in these and other localities, while of small importance in general warfare, had the effect to keep the frontier in a state of constant disorder, and the lower towns were more or less affected by the events. In December, 1697, the treaty of Ryswick put an end to the war between France and England, but in the colonies the Indians persevered in their depredations for several months.
In 1702, after five years of peace, King William died and Queen Anne entered upon her reign. In the very same year what is known as "Queen Anne's war" was begun, involving alike the mother countries and their colonies on this side of the Atlantic; and again the bloodhounds of death were let loose on the Massachusetts border. In February, 1704, a party of French and Indians under Hertel de Rouville surprised Deer- field, killed forty-seven persons and made prisoners of more than one hundred others. Having plundered the town and burned the buildings, the French returned to Canada with the captives. Determined to allow the frontier no respite, the French and Indians harassed the eastern quarter of New Eng- land throughout the entire summer. In 1705 and 1706, while nearly all the militiamen were away on duty, the savages ven-
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tured down the valley to their old resorts in the vicinity of North- ampton and Hadley, where they committed small depredations. They even went over into Westfield, and in the north part of Springfield they wounded Samuel Chapin. In July, 1708, they attacked the house of Lieutenant Wright at Skipmuck, in Spring- field, and killed three persons-Mr. Wright, the senior, and two soldiers, Aaron Parsons and Barijah Hubbard. Two children were wounded, one of them dying soon afterward; and Henry Wright's wife was carried away captive.
These, however, were only the minor incidents of the war, the heavier contests being waged in other parts of the colonies or in the Canadas. In 1701 the Iroquois made a treaty of peace with the French and their Indian allies, and in their territory they proved an impenetrable barrier between Queen Anne's army and the English in New York. Therefore the French di- rected their entire force against New England. Expeditions followed one another in quick succession, and as the English had no savage allies, they suffered most. The contest was waged with varying results, the greater disasters falling upon the Eng- lish through the failure of their elaborately planned expeditions against the Canadas. No less than four attempts at mobiliza- tion of troops were made for the subjugation of the French strongholds, but through some misfortune each proved a failure. In the meantime the French and Indians were flitting from place to place along the frontier, frequently making an incursion into the Connecticut valley, killing, burning and plundering as they went. They kept the English on the defensive, but would not give battle without an advantage on their side. However, in 1713, the treaty of Utrecht1 ended the war in the old country and soon afterward hostilities ceased in America.
After the end of Queen Anne's war the Connecticut valley in Massachusetts was virtually exempted from serious disturb- ances until about the beginning of the final struggle for suprem-
1This treaty "secured the Protestant succession to the throne; also the sep- aration of the French and Spanish crowns, the destruction of Dunkirk, the enlargement of British colonies in America, and a full satisfaction from France of the claims of the allied kingdoms, Britain, Holland and Germany."
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acy in America between Great Britain and France. Yet on the northern frontier all was not peace and quiet during this com- paratively long period. In 1722 troubles arose between the Massachusetts and New Hampshire colonists on the one side, and the Abenaquis Indians on the other side. The latter, as is men- tioned in an earlier chapter, were of Canadian ancestry, and were allied to the French throughout the dominion of that power in America ; and from their country east and north of the Merri- mac river, they were a constant source of annoyance to the Eng- lish towns in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Treaty provisions had no binding effect on the Indians, and if they chose to make war against the English it was not a matter of much con- cern to the French king, even if one of his missionary represent- atives was the force that instigated the savages against the Eng- lish. This priest was Father Sebastian Rasle, whose principal mission was on the Kennebec river, although in the journeyings of the Jesuit fathers in the province of New York the surname is found among the missionaries in the Iroquois country.
While Father Rasle was chiefly instrumental in opposing the Indians against the English colonists during the troublous period from 1722 to 1726, the real leader of the savages was the chief Woronoak, who formerly dwelt on the Agawam branch of Westfield1 river and probably within the limits of the present town of Westfield, the Indian name of which is Woronoco. When the supposedly friendly Connecticut river Indians joined them- selves to King Philip, the red men living at Woronoco were of the recreant number, and they afterward took part in all the dis- tressing events enacted in the valley in later years; and it is be- lieved that the chief Woronoco, or Woronoak, had a hand in the burning of Springfield and in the subsequent attacks upon West-
1Many writers and map makers have given to this stream the name "Aga- wam" river, in allusion to the early Indian occupants of the locality. Agawam in the Indian tongue means lowland or marshland, and is descriptive of the char- acter of the land near the mouth of the stream. The Indian village in the locality also was called Agawam, and from this combination of incidents the river has mistakenly been called by that name. The stream in fact is Westfield river and is so known outside of West Springfield. It is proper, however, to refer to that portion of the stream in the town of West Springfield as the Agawam part of the river.
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field. On being driven from the valley his people occupied lands on the Missisquoi bay and river, on the Canada border and well under the protection of the French, yet sufficiently near the Eng- lish frontier to cause the colonists constant trouble.
Woronoco also was known as "Gray Lock,"1 so called, it is claimed, in allusion to his hoary head, but we are not aware that the bloodthirsty old savage is entitled to special veneration on that account. During the period referred to, the Indians under Gray Lock, or Woronoak, made frequent raids along the northern frontier and on one or two occasions stole down the Connecticut valley to the region of their former abode in Springfield and Westfield. To oppose their incursions Fort Dummer was built in 1724, on the site of Brattleboro, Vt., and strong garrisons were posted at Deerfield and Northfield. In December, 1725, a treaty was made with the eastern Indians, the same being ratified in August, 1726.
In 1744, after twenty years of actual peace, war again was declared between England and France. In the years following the treaty of Ryswick, notwithstanding the troubles incident to the so-called "Father Rasle" uprising, all the colonies rapidly increased in population and industrial importance, and settle- ments had been extended to the extreme western part of Massa- chusetts. It is estimated that during the thirty years following Queen Anne's war the inhabitants in western Massachusetts in- creased more than threefold. In 1748 the English colonies in America contained more than a million inhabitants, and the French had only about sixty thousand.
When the powers again had recourse to arms the eastern colonies were compelled to extend their line of defenses west- ward to the west boundary of Massachusetts. Accordingly, Fort Massachusetts was built at Hoosac (now Adams) ; Fort Shirley was built in the town of Heath, and Fort Pelham was built in Rowe, both in Hampshire county. Another small fort was built about the same time in Blandford, both for the protec-
1This name, more frequently rendered "Greylock," is still preserved in Massa- chusett's history, and is applied to the highest mountain peak in the state, Grey- lock in northwestern Berkshire county.
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tion of the settlers and as a convenient resting place for troops and travelers journeying between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. These forts, in addition to Fort Dummer, were designed to afford ample protection to the frontier. Five hundred addi- tional men were raised to garrison them, of which number two hundred were assigned to the western part of the colony. Cap- tain Williams had command of the garrisons, and Col. John Stod- dard, of Northampton, had command of the Hampshire county regiment, whose duty was to guard the frontier against the enemy in general, and especially against the Indians who swarmed in the regions of Vermont. In the early part of the war the sav- ages made many threatening demonstrations on the borders but were careful to avoid open conflict with the colonial troops, for evidently they had become aware that the latter were hunting them with trained dogs, and also that a bounty of thirty pounds was offered by the province for every Indian scalp.
In 1744 and '45 the war waged most bitterly in the pro- vinces of New York and Pennsylvania and the west, and at first the French were generally victorious. In 1746 the strife ex- tended into New England, and on August 20 Fort Massachusetts fell before the attack of Marquis de Vaudreuil. It was bravely defended by Sergeant John Hawks and twenty-three men, who held out twenty-eight hours awaiting expected reinforcements. Soon afterward another raid was made in the vicinity of Deer- field by a party of Vaudreuil's Indians, who could not resist the temptation to attack and injure their former friends in the val- ley. In 1747 Fort Massachusetts was rebuilt. In 1748 Cap- tain Humphrey Hobbs, with a number of Springfield men, and Lieutenant Alexander, with men from Northfield, were sent to garrison Fort Shirley, and while en route the party (forty-two men all told) was attacked by three hundred Indians, command- ed by a half-breed chief named Sackett (supposed to be the son of a white man captured at Westfield), but after a battle of four hours the savages retired with considerable loss.
In 1748 the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle temporarily put an end to hostilities, but left unsettled all questions in dispute between the contending powers, while the fortresses of Louisburg and
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Crown Point were returned to the French without a protest. The treaty, however, did not immediately stop Indian depredations, but before the end of the summer peace again reigned along the frontier.
The contest from 1744 to 1748 had for its important object the possession of the Mississippi valley, which the English claimed as an extension of their coast discoveries and settlements, and the French by right of occupancy, their forts already ex- tending from Canada to Louisiana, and forming "a bow, of which the English colonies were the string".
The war was resumed in 1755, although the formal declara- tion was not made until the following year. The necessity for united action on the part of the English colonies was now too ap- parent to be overlooked, but old differences tended to prevent harmony in action. Under the advice of the British ministry a convention of delegates from all the colonial assemblies was held in Albany, June 14, 1754. One object of the convention was to secure a continued alliance with the powerful Six Na- tions (who now began to show decided leanings toward the French), and the other and equally important object was to per- fect plans for a decisive campaign against the French in their own strongholds.
Four expeditions were planned : the first to effect the reduc- tion of Nova Scotia ; the second, to recover the Ohio valley ; the third, to expel the French from Fort Niagara and then form a junction with the Ohio expedition, and the fourth, to capture Crown Point. The first of these expeditions was entirely suc- cessful; the second, under Braddock, was (chiefly through his own folly) disastrous in the extreme; the third, under General Shirley, was also unsuccessful; and the fourth, while successful in the main, was a dearly bought victory for the Hampshire county troops.
The command of the army designed for the reduction of Crown Point and the invasion of Canada was entrusted to Brig. Gen. William Johnson, who was raised from the rank of colonel for that purpose. The strength of the force was 5,000 men, of whom about one-fifth comprised the Hampshire county regiment
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under Colonel Williams.1 In the latter part of August the army reached Fort Edward and Lake George, and there en- camped to await reinforcements and also to construct boats to carry them to Crown Point by water. On September 8, having learned that the enemy were in the vicinity and approaching in force under Baron Dieskau, Colonel Williams' Hampshire county regiment and about two hundred Mohawk warriors were sent out to intercept him; but the wily Frenchman, having dis- covered the hosts of the English, hastily formed an ambuscade, into which the latter unsuspectingly walked at a point within three and one-half miles from Johnson's camp. The English and Mohawks were attacked so suddenly and fiercely that they were thrown into the greatest confusion and fled back to the main army. Their position was of the worst possible character, and precipitate retreat alone saved them from utter destruction. The French attempted to follow up this temporary advantage by attacking the main army, but the result was disastrous to the
1Colonial Ephraim Williams was one of the bravest and most capable officers in the colonial service during the later French and English wars. In the year- preceding he had been appointed to command the line of fortifications stretching across the frontier of Massachusetts, and in 1754 he was commissioned by Gover- nor Shirley to command the Hampshire county troops in the campaign against Crown Point and the Canadas. Holland says: "Before he left Albany, in the. campaign that proved fatal to him, he made his will, in which, after assigning to several of his relatives and friends appropriate bequests, he directed 'that the remainder of his land should be sold, at the discretion of his executors, within five years after an established peace; and that the interest of moneys arising from the sale, and also the interest on his notes and bonds, should be applied to the support of a free school in a township west of Fort Massachusetts (the local- ity of his old command) forever ; providing that said township fall within Massa- chusetts, upon running the line between Massachusetts and New York, and pro- vided the said township when incorporated, shall be called Williamstown.' On this basis arose Williams college, one of the noblest and most useful literary insti- tutions of New England."
Col. Israel Williams, of Hatfield, had previously commanded the northern regiment of Hampshire county, and it was he who proposed to the Massachusetts council the abandonment of some of the old forts on the frontier and the estab- lishment of a new and complete line of smaller fortifications, stretching across the northern and western frontiers. With slight changes his plans were adopted, and when the works were completed Hampshire county was well protected against Indian incursions. Capt. Ephraim Williams had command of the old line of forts and also was commissioned, with the rank of major, to command the new series ; but he was subsequently relieved by Governor Shirley and commis- sioned colonel of the Hampshire county regiment that took part in the cam- paign against Crown Point and Canada.
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brave Dieskau, who was wounded and taken prisoner, while his army in turn was seriously beaten. But of all the troops en- gaged in this battle the Hampshire county contingent suffered most heavily, having lost forty-six men killed and twenty-four wounded. The entire English loss was 216 killed and twenty- four wounded. The Hampshire officers killed were Colonel Williams, Major Noah Ashley, Capts. Moses Porter, Jonathan Ingersol and Elisha Hawley, Lieuts. Daniel Pomeroy, Simon Cobb and Nathaniel Burt (of Longmeadow), and Ensigns John Stratton and Reuben Wait.
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