USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the colonial period. 1492-1692 v. I > Part 34
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1 1 M. H. Coll., 6. 198. 3 Hubbard, Narr., 13-14 ; Hutch- ? Hubbard, Narr., 144; Mather, inson, 1. 259 ; Staples, Ann. Prov., Post., 4; Hutchinson, 1. 256-8; 159; Drake's Boston, 398. Plym. Col. Rec's .; N. E. Gen. Reg., 8, 328.
409
MURDER OF SAUSAMAN.
not knowing well what to do;" but eventually, they were CHAP. all mustered under Philip, and continued to aid him until XV. 1675. the war ended.1
The proximate cause of the outbreak of hostilities, was the murder of one Sausaman, of the Massachusetts tribe, who had been converted to Christianity, and employed as a teacher at Natick ; but who subsequently apostatized, joined Philip, and became his principal counsellor and Secretary.2 By the exertions of Mr. Eliot he was reclaimed ; and, while at Middleborough, he learned of the preparations Philip was making, and reported them to Plymouth.3 Soon he was missing ; and search being made, his body was found under the ice 4 in a pond in Middleborough, under such cir- cumstances as to leave no doubt that he had been assassi- nated. Immediate inquiries were made for the perpetrators of the decd ; and upon the representation of an Indian who had witnessed the murder, three of Philip's men were seized, taken to Plymouth, tried by a jury, part of whom were Indians, condemned and executed.5
Both pending, and after this trial, letters were received from Mr. Brown, of Swanzey, and others, stating that Jun. 11. Philip's warriors were in arms; that messengers from dif- ferent tribes had met at Mount Hope, and joined in the war dance; that the young men were "much set against the English ; " and that their families had been sent to the Nar- ragansets for protection ; 6 but the only notice taken of these rumors, was to forbid the loan of arms to the natives,
June.
1 Hubbard, 14; Callender, in 4 R. I. Hist. Coll. ; Belknap's N. H., 1. 240. 1. 130-1.
2 Letters written by him while in the employ of Philip, are said to be in existence. Drake's Boston. His full name was W usausamon.
8 Philip and others were examined after this report was made; but no legal evidence was produced against them. Hubbard, 15.
" Not in a field, as in Grahame,
$ Hubbard, 14-16; Mather, Mag- nalia, b. vii. c. vi. s. 5; Hutchin- son, 1. 260-1.
6 MS. Lett. of Brown to Gov. Winslow, dated June 11, in the Winslow MSS. ; Hubbard, 16; Mather, Post., 5.
35
410
ATTACK ON SWANZEY.
CHAP. and to establish a watch at Swanzey and Rehoboth. Yet XV. an " amicable" letter was sent to Philip, and another to Jun. 15, " Wutamoo and Ben her husband," to dissuade them from 1675. hostilities ; but the messenger, Mr. Brown, who delivered the former communication, was roughly received, and barely escaped with his life.1
Nearly at the same time, Mr. Benjamin Church, the most famous partisan warrior, perhaps, that Massachusetts pro- Jun. 17. duced, arrived at Plymouth, and confirmed former reports of the conduct of Philip.2 The magistrates could no longer Jun. 20. doubt his intentions ; and the very next Sunday, Philip's men made an attack upon Swanzey, about noon, and rifled a few houses ; but no blood was shed by the Indians, as they had been strictly commanded not to fire the first gun, and it was superstitiously believed that the party which Jun. 20. first shed blood would surely be defeated.3 Forthwith a
post was sent to Plymouth for aid, who arrived at " break Jun. 21. of day," and immediately returned through Bridgewater, with an order that twenty horsemen should be raised to accompany him to Swanzey ; information of the attack was sent to Boston, and aid solicited ; orders were issued to the captains of all the companies in the Plymouth colony to march without delay; Capt. Bradford, with his men, accompanied by Mr. Church, set out for Taunton, where they were to rendezvous that night; and the seventeen horsemen raised at Bridgewater, on reaching Swanzey, were sent on to Bourne's garrison, a few miles distant, and near the entrance to Mount Hope Neck.4
1 MS. Lett. of Gov. Winslow, in the Winslow MSS .; Hubbard, 16- 17; Mather, Post., 5; Life Church, 9; Drake's Boston, 399.
2 Life of Church, 6-10, cd. 1772. 3 Callender, in R. I. HI. Coll., 4. 127; Hutchinson, 1. 261.
4 Life Church, 10; I. Mather, Post .. 6; Present State of N. E .; Hubbard, 69. Gov. Winslow, in a MS. letter of June 21, Military
Doc'ts., vol. 1. fol. 202, Mass. Ar., says : " I have ordered seventy men to march this day from Taun- ton and Bridgewater, for the first relief, and hope to have one hun- dred and fifty more on a march to-morrow;" and in another letter, ibid., fol. ¡ 205, dated June 22, he says the Council at Plymouth had agreed to send one hundred foot and fifty horse to Swanzey.
411
SECOND ATTACK.
Philip, in the meantime, finding his strength constantly CHAP increasing, and taking advantage of the fact that, in the recent attack upon Swanzey, an Englishman had been pro- 1675. voked to fire upon the assailants, - thus shedding the first blood, -made a second attack upon that town four days after, which was observed, by appointment, as a day of fasting and prayer,1 and, as the people were returning from Jun. º1 meeting in the afternoon, one was killed, and others were wounded ; two men were killed who were sent for a sur- geon ; and near Bourne's garrison, six more were mur- dered, upon whose bodies the savages "exercised more than brutish barbarities, beheading, dismembering, and mangling them, and exposing them in the most inhuman manner ; which gashed and ghastly objects struck a damp on all beholders."2
The forces from Plymouth, under Major Cudworth, had by this time reached Swanzey ; and here, a few days after, Jun. 28. they were joined by the troops from Massachusetts, under Capt. Daniel Henchman, the commander of a foot company, and Capt. Thomas Prentice, the commander of a troop of horse, who left Boston late in the afternoon of the 26th, and reached Woodcock's on the morning of the 27th. Here they were reinforced by a company of volunteers under Capt. Moseley, and marched on to Swanzey, where they were stationed principally at Miles's garrison. Imme- diately upon their arrival, a scouting party of twelve horsemen, eager for action, and disregarding the advice of their companions, set out to reconnoitre ; but at a short distance from the garrison, they were ambushed, and in the skirmish which ensued, William Hammond was killed,
1 Proclamation in Bliss's Rcho- both, 79.
2 Military Doc'ts., Mass. Ar., vol. 1. fols. 203, 209, 210; Life Church,
11; Hubbard, 69, with 16, and 132; I. Mather, Post., 6; C. Mather, Mag- nalia, b. vii. c. vi. s. 6; 1. M. H. Coll., 6. 86-7.
412
ANTICIPATED HORRORS OF THE WAR.
CHAP. XV. Quarter Master Gill was struck by a spent ball, and Col. Belcher was wounded, and his horse shot under him.1
1675.
For some time the minds of the people had been appalled by the anticipated horrors of this war; and the prevailing and general superstition of the age lent its powerful aid to deepen the gloomy impressions excited. As the troops Jun. 26. from Boston marched on to Woodcock's, an eclipse of the moon occurred ; and imagination painted distinctly upon its obscured disc an Indian scalp.2 Others had seen the form of an Indian bow in the clouds.3 And others remem- bered that some years before, in a still, clear day, the report of a gun had been heard in the air, followed by a volley of musketry, and the noise of bullets whistling over their heads ; and that troops of horses had been heard coursing in the sky.4 Upon such "prodigies " great stress was laid ; and it would probably have been deemed blas- phemy to have suggested, that these sounds were but the sighing of the winds, or the howling of wolves, or perhaps some electrical phenomena equally natural. Yet there were actual dangers encompassing their path. The ambus- cade of the 28th, was a lesson to the troops, teaching them that the war, on the part of the Indians, was to be con- ducted chiefly by surprises, cutting off stragglers, falling upon the unprotected, and overpowering small parties in
1 Hubbard, 18; Life of Church, 11; Mather, Mag., b. vii. c. vi. s. 6 ; Hutchinson, 1. 262; Bliss, 85; MS. Lett. of Gov. Winslow to Capt. Freeman, dated June 28, in the Winslow MSS .- Maj. Cudworth, in a MS. Lett., Mass. Ar., Military Doc'ts., vol. 1. fol. 203, says he reached Seekonk about the middle of the day, June 24, with eighty men; and understanding the great preparations of the Indians, who were said to number six or seven hundred, he asks two hundred men
from Mass. to assist him. For the proceedings of the Council of Mass., sec ibid., 204, 206, 207, 208. In the letters of Mass. to Ct., ibid., 209, 210, an account is given of attacks of the Indians on the 24th, 25th, and 26th ; and they say : " We have sent about three hundred foot, and eighty horse to help."
2 Hubbard, 17-18.
8 Ilubbard, 18; Mather, 34.
4 I. Mather, 34, and C. Mather, Magnalia, b. vii. c. vi. s. 6.
418
PRAYING INDIANS ENLISTED.
their unguarded marches. But, undaunted by these perils, CHAP. a second sortie was made, in which the gallant Savage, a XV. n youth of twenty, received a flesh wound in his thigh as he Jun. 220; " boldly held up his colors in the front of his company." 1675. The pursuit was fruitless. The Indians fled to a swamp, skulking behind rocks, and lurking in the bushes, and from these retreats firing upon their assailants. The inclemency of the weather hastened the retreat ; and the same evening Maj. Savage arrived from Boston, with sixty horse and as many foot.1
The next day the whole army marched to the head quar- Jun. 30 ters of Philip, passing, on their way, smoking ruins, scat- tered Bibles, and mangled corpses ; but on reaching their place of destination, the wigwams of the savages were found deserted. Even that of the chieftain was no longer occupied. Not one of the enemy was visible. They had crossed Taunton river, and were now upon its eastern banks, in the swamps of Pocasset. The Plymouth forces accordingly passed over to Rhode Island, and those from Massachusetts, after a night spent in the rain, returned to July 1. Swanzey.2
Meanwhile orders were given to Major Gookin, of Cam- July 2.] bridge, to raise a company of Praying Indians for the war ; and despatching messengers to all the towns, in a few days fifty-two men were mustered, placed under Capt. Johnson, of Roxbury, and marched to Swanzey.3 Previous to their arrival, a new search was made for Philip and his tribe, July 4. and the Massachusetts troops scoured, unsuccessfully, the country around Swanzey. At their return, Capt. Edward Hutchinson arrived, bearing orders from the General Court to proceed to Narraganset, to detach the tribes in that region from the service of Philip.
1 Hubbard, 18-19; Life of Church, dated July 6, in the Winslow MSS. 12. 3 MS. Lett. of Jno. Freeman to 2 Hubbard, 19, 20 ; MS. Lett. of Gov. Winslow ; Drake's Boston, 404. Gov. Winslow to Capt. Cudworth,
35*
414
NARRAGANSET TREATY.
CHAP. XV. The Plymouth troops, under Maj. Cudworth, had by this
time returned to Swanzey, after leaving a garrison at
1675. Mount Hope to fortify the place ; and the Massachusetts troops, under Major Savage, marched to the Narraganset country, and being joined there by Commissioners from July 15. Connecticut, a treaty was concluded at the point of the sword, signed by four persons as attorneys for the six prin- cipal sachems, and hostages were delivered as a pledge of July 17. fidelity.1 The troops then returned to Taunton ; and, hear- ing that Philip was in a swamp at Pocasset, and that a portion of the Plymouth troops, under the gallant Church, July 19. had been sent to search for him, on the following Monday2 the whole army marched, and reaching the swamp in which he was concealed, they resolutely entered, and commenced the attack. Above a hundred wigwams, of green bark, covering about four acres of ground, were found deserted by all save one old man. The Indians had withdrawn deeper into the swamp. The English followed, but in dis- order, and firing at random at the quaking of every bush, many of their own men were shot. What number of the
1 Hubbard, 20-3 ; Hutchinson, 1. Gov. Winslow to Capt. Cudworth, 263-4; Drake's Boston, 405. Among the Winslow MSS., deposited with Chas. Deane, Esq., are several let- ters relating to this treaty. One, from Gov. Leverett to Gov. Wins- low, dated Boston, July 17, speaks of the return of the troops to Swan- zey, and of Capt. Hutchinson to Boston the night previous, with two
of the hostages. Another, from John Freeman to Gov. Winslow, dated July 18, speaks of the return of Maj. Savage, Capt. Prentice, and Capt. Page, with their troops, to Taunton the evening before. A third, from Gov. Winslow to Gov. Leverett, dated July 18, advises that one hundred men from Mass. be sent to range towards Po- casset, and alludes to the attack upon Dartmouth. A fourth, from
of the same date, speaks of the treaty, and of quitting the garrison at Mt. Hope, and sending home part of his men. And a fifth, from Capt. Cudworth to Gov. Winslow, previous to the negotiation, speaks of the intention of prosecuting it, and of the arrival of Roger Williams, with news from that quarter. All these letters are valuable, and are worthy of publication.
2 Life of Church, 14-21; MS. Lett. of Jno, Freeman to Gov. Winslow, of July 18; Cudworth's Lett. to Gov. Winslow, in 1 M. II. Coll., 6. 84. - Hubbard, 23-6, and most others say this attack was made on the 18th ; but the 18th was Sunday. The dates in Hubbard all through this month are confused, and often erroneous.
415
FLIGHT OF PHILIP.
savages were slain is uncertain. Probably but few, as their CHAP. position was secure. Night coming on, the besiegers ~ XV. 1675.
retreated. The attempt was a failure, and the more unfor- tunate, because, as they afterwards learned, Philip was in such distress that, had they followed him half an hour longer, he would have been compelled to surrender, and the war would have ended.1
The tactics of the English were now changed ; and a garrison being left at Mount Hope, a fort was built and manned at Pocasset; and with a few troops concentrated upon the most exposed places, the rest, after the departure of the Massachusetts troops, save those under Capt. Hench- man, were resolved into a flying army, ready at a moment's warning to march wherever required, to hold the enemy in check, and prevent further depredations.2
A few days later, a party of Mohegans, under Uncas, July 26. came to Boston to fight against Philip ; and a few English and Praying Indians being added to the company, they were sent by the way of Plymouth to the enemy's country. Had it not been for this circuitous route, they would proba- bly have reached Seekonk in season to meet Philip on his retreat from Pocasset, whence he fled on the night of the · last of July, and a complete victory might have ensued. Some time, therefore, was lost in sending for aid, and in rallying, after Philip was discovered on Seekonk Plain; but an engagement took place, in which the people of Aug. 1 Rehoboth, headed by their minister, Mr. Newman, rendered efficient aid. Many of the best of the Mount Hope war-
1 Hubbard, 26; Hutchinson, 1. 265, and 267, note.
2 MS. Lett. of Gov. Winslow to Capt. Cudworth, dated July 6, in the Winslow MSS. ; Cudworth, in 1. M. HI. Coll., 6. 85 ; Life of Church, 13; Hubbard, 27. Another MS. Lett. of Capt. Thomas to Gov. Wins- low, dated Mt. Hope Neck, Aug.
11, speaks of the erection of a fort at that place seventy feet square, by Capt. Ilenchman, and advises main- taining a flying army. This fort was probably called Fort Leverett, as I find a letter from Capt. Henchman dated July 31, "from Fort Lev- erett." Military Papers, 1. 232.
1
.
416
THE WAR IN THE OLD COLONY.
CHAP. XV. riors were slain, and all might have been taken had it not been for the Mohegans, whose eagerness for plunder was 1675. such that the body of Philip's men escaped, after a short pursuit, and directed their flight to the country of the Nip- mucks.1
Previous to this, other places in the Old Colony had suf- fered ; and attacks had been made upon Middleborough, Taunton, and Dartmouth.2 Nor were the ravages of the July 14. Indians confined to this quarter ; for Mendon, in the Massa- chusetts colony, was attacked in the evening, shortly after sunset, and five or six persons were killed.3 The body of the Nipmucks had not joined Philip; and the Praying Indians were still friendly to the English. Yet the friend- ship of the former was wavering. Their young men were ripe for war ; the emissaries of Philip were among them ; the chieftain himself was hastening to them for succor ; and to prevent an alliance, an agent was despatched to negotiate a treaty at Quaboag, now Brookfield.4
Capt. Hutchinson, of Boston, was the person chosen to effect this treaty ; Capt. Wheeler, of Concord, with a few of his troops were to join him ; and three Praying Indians July 28. served as guides. Marching from Cambridge to Sudbury, and thence into the Nipmuck country, they arrived at.
1 Military Papers, 1. 229-31; Hubbard, 27-8; Baylies, 3. 54; Bliss, 87 ; Drake's Indians, B. 3. 28. 2 Winslow, MISS., before quoted ; 1 M. H. Coll., 6. 91; Life of Church, 23; Baylies, 3. 41, 47-8.
8 MS. Lett. of Gov. Leverett to Gov. Winslow, dated July 17, in the Winslow MSS .; Hubbard, 26, 31; Hutchinson, 1. 265; Baylies, 3. 57. The day preceding the at- tack on Mendon, for securing the frontier towns in Suffolk Co., an or- der was passed for twelve men to be sent for a week, to join with five or six Indians and friends, to be pro- cured by Capt. Gookin, who were
to scout and range in the woods from Mendon to Hingham. Military Pa- pers, 1. 213.
+ Hubbard, 31 ; Baylies, 3.57. A tribe of Indians, known as the Qua- boags, lived in this town after its settlement by the English. 1 M. H. Coll .. , 1. 258. The order for Capt. Wheeler and twenty of his troops to be sent for to come to Bos- ton, &c., was passed at Chas'n., Ju- ly 16; and there are letters of that and a subsequent date, from Ephraim Curtis, who had been sent by the magistrates to negotiate with the Nipmucks. Military Papers, 1. 214-17, 223, 225, 254.
417
ATTACK ON BROOKFIELD.
Brookfield on the following Sunday ; and finding the Indi- CHAP. ans were not there, messengers were sent to seek them, n XV. and the chiefs promised to meet the English the next morn- Aug. 1, ing at Wickabaug Pond, near Brookfield. Thither the Aug. 2. troops marched, accompanied by a few from Brookfield ; but finding no Indians, the company kept on, and at the distance of four or five miles, at a place called Momini- misset, where on one side a high hill arose almost perpen- dicularly from the road, and the other was skirted by a hideous swamp, they were attacked by two or three hun- dred savages, eight were killed, and Capts. Hutchinson and Wheeler, and three others were wounded. The son of Capt. Wheeler was one of the wounded ; but instantly dismounting, and placing his father upon his own horse, and seizing another, whose rider had been slain, the party escaped to the town, which they had scarcely entered when it was fired in different places, and all the houses were con- sumed, save a few outbuildings, reserved by the Indians for shelter, and one principal building, to which the inhabitants and the soldiers fled for safety.
This building was besieged ; and for two days the Indi- ans poured in upon its seventy occupants an incessant vol- ley of musketry. Twice a large heap of combustibles was piled against it ; but the flames were extinguished by extra- ordinary efforts. Pieces of cloth, dipped in sulphur, were fastened to arrow heads, and shot at the roof, to set it on fire. Foiled in these attempts, a cart filled with burning flax, hay, and other materials, was pushed up to the walls ; but this too, it is said, was quenched by a shower of rain. The scene was terrific. Without were the savages, shout- ing, and yelling, and " roaring like wild bulls," brandish- ing their weapons, and furiously assaulting the garrison from every quarter. Within were the English, a compara- tive handful, cooped up in narrow limits, with women and children hanging around them. But their courage never
418
CONDUCT OF THE WESTERN INDIANS.
CHAP. quailed. No quarter was offered : no quarter was asked. XV. The besieged and the besiegers were equally resolute ; 1675. and against fearful odds the former held out.
Aug. 3. At this critical juncture, when escape seemed hopeless, timely relief fortunately arrived. Two messengers had been sent to Boston for aid; one only escaped, and on arriving at Marlborough met Maj. Willard, and Capt. Par- ker, of Groton, who, with forty-six men, and five Indians, had been ordered to scout in the neighboring towns. In- formed of the sufferings of the people at Brookfield, they hastened to their aid ; and late on the evening of the 4th, reached the village just in season to save the survivors. The engagement continued through most of that night; and Aug. 5. towards morning, the Indians, having burnt their shelters, retreated with the loss of about eighty, killed and wounded; and in a swamp a few miles distant, were joined by Philip with the remnant of his tribe, both sannops and squaws. 1
The Indians upon the Connecticut next entered the field, prowling about Hadley, Hatfield, and Deerfield; and though the tribes at the North-east, bordering upon New Hamp- shire, took no part in the war at this time, before the end of August the whole Massachusetts colony was involved in as great danger as that to which Plymouth had been pre- viously exposed. Even the Praying Indians were suspected ; Aug 30. and orders were passed to restrain them from hunting, or from travelling, save in the company of the English; and some, of whom the greatest fears were entertained, were confined as prisoners for the public security. A portion of the Praying Indians actually joined Philip; but the larger part were faithful, and many were of signal service as allies and spies. Doubtless much of the credit of preserving
1 Military Papers, 2. 33 ; Wheel- 259-61: Baylie's, 3. 58-61 ; Whit er's Narr., in N. II. ITist. Coll., 2. 6-23 ; Hubbard, 31-5, 133 ; Mather, Mag., b. vii. c. vi ; Hutchinson, 1. 265-7; Fiske, in 1 M. H. Coll., 1,
ney's Worcester, 63-7 ; Shattuck's Concord, 48-9; Drake's Boston, 406, &c., &c.
419
THE WAR ON THE CONNECTICUT.
their friendship is due to Mr. Eliot, and to the labors of his CHAP. indefatigable associate, Gookin. 1 XV.
1675.
The theatre of war being transferred to the Connecticut, the beautiful region watered by that stream, now smiling with villages teeming with plenty, and presenting scenes of gorgeous enchantment to the eye, was dyed with the blood of the wounded and slain. Maj. Willard and Capt. Lathrop were quartered there ; and the Nipmucks, and Philip's Indians, being gradually driven back, lurked in that wide extent of forest which bordered the river from Hadley to Northfield ; and, hanging upon the skirts of the English villages " like lightning on the edge of the clouds," they came down upon them like the rush of a whirlwind, and their track was marked with as signal desolation.
The settlements in those parts were not very numerous. Long Meadow, upon the East bank, adjoined the Con- necticut Colony ; and further to the North stood Springfield, where Pynchon resided. Hatfield had but few families ; and Northfield, or Squaheag, was also a feeble place. At Westfield, on the West bank, a slight village had sprung up; Northampton was in its infancy ; at Hadley there was a more numerous population ; and at the foot of the hill where the broad meadows and fertile intervales of Petum- tuck stretch out between the Deerfield and the Connecti- cut, - the Canaan of the valley, environed with delightful mountain scenery, - a few buildings might be seen, which had grown up as by magic within a decade of years. West of these towns, the outposts of civilization, an almost unbroken wilderness extended to the banks of the Hudson. Not a town in Berkshire county had been incorporated.
The Indians in this region had, for so many years, pre- served an uninterrupted peace with the English, that no doubts were at first entertained of their fidelity. The
1 Hubbard, 9, 30, 31 ; Hutchinson, 1. 269; Baylies, 3. 61; Deane's Scituate, 119; Drake's Boston, 409.
420
ATTACK ON HATFIELD.
CHAP. friendship of the races had been strengthened by long inter- XV. course, and reciprocal kindness. There was land enough 1675. for all ; the bounties of nature were sufficient for all ; and why should they contend, when they had all they required ? Yet treachery lurked there notwithstanding this calm ; and though the Hadley tribe volunteered their aid to fight against Philip, it was soon discovered that they were more ready to betray than to assist the English. The Mohegans were the first to disclose their deceit ; and, when required Aug 25. to surrender their arms, they abandoned their fort, and fled to the camp of the chieftain of Mount Hope. Pursued by à company under Capts. Lathrop and Beers, an engagement ensued near Sugar Loaf Hill, in which the English lost nine men, and the Indians twenty-six.1
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