USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 11
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2 "We would say something respecting our lands. When the white people purchased from time to time of us, they said they only wanted the low lands : they told us the hilly land was good for nothing, and that it was full of woods and stones. But now we see people living all about the hills and woods, although they have not purchased the lands. When we inquire of the people who live on these lands what right they have to them, they reply to us, that we are not to be re- garded, and that these lands belong to the King. But we were the first possessors of them; and, when the King has paid us for them, then they may say they are his." - Speech of the Stockbridge Chiefs to the Commissioners of the Six Provinces, at Albany, July 8, 1754, N. Y. Doc. Hist., Vol. ii. p. 599.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
The means thus offered for fomenting distrust and ill-will in the jealous minds of the savages were not neglected by the agents of France, who contrived to inspire in many of them the belief "that the English were on a design of exterminating the Indians within their reach." 1
In the spring of 1753, an unhappy event occurred, which was used with surprising effect to increase the ferment, and strengthen in the minds of the natives the belief that the English designed their destruction. It appears that one Wampaumcorse, a Schagliti- coke Indian, domiciled at Stockbridge, being in Sugar Camp at Hop Brook in Tyringham, saw two men, Cook by name, passing by with horses which he suspected to be stolen. Pursuing them, and an altercation arising, he was shot dead. The Cooks were thereupon arrested, and tried at Springfield. One was convicted of manslaughter, and the other acquitted; which seems to have been what the law and the evidence required. But in the minds of the Schaghticokes, as in those of the exiled Pequots, murderous resent- ment against the English was always ready to be aroused ; and this affair was used with the utmost success to exasperate the Indians. Its effect was soon apparent "in the surly behavior of several in whom it had not before been observed ;" in the stealing of guns; in more frequent intercourse with distant tribes, and the consorting together of the worst-tempered and worst-behaved fellows, who had a drunken pow-wow, which was kept up, in the woods some six miles west of Stockbridge, with fresh supplies of rum from Kinderhook ; and finally some negro slaves reported a plot, in which they had been invited to join, for the massacre of as many of the whites as possible, and flight to Canada.
Upon this, the wildest excitement prevailed at Stockbridge, and not less, of course, in the more exposed outpost of Poontoosuck. The people of the former place wisely determined to call the Indians together, let them know their apprehensions, and endeavor to ascertain what foundation there was for them.
It appeared, as had been anticipated, that "the great body of the tribe were entirely unacquainted with the secret plot, but that the thing was real with regard to so many that the authorities looked upon themselves as in a worse state than in an open war. " 2
' Jona. Edwards to Prov. See. Willard, May, 1754, Mass. Ar., vol. xxxii.
2 Gen. Dwight and Capt. Woodbridge to Gov. Shirley, March 26, 1754, Mass., Ar., vol. xxxii, p. 483.
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Gen. Dwight and Timo. Woodbridge, Esq., therefore repre- sented this condition of the frontier to Gov. Shirley, adding that there seemed to be no pique against any person in particular, but against the English in general for the killing of Wampaumcorse; and, in order that the people " might not be exposed to the mur- derous strokes of savage resentment," they earnestly begged his Excellency to recommend to the General Court an increase of the sum of £6 which had been granted " to wipe away blood," 1 and that it might be sent by a special embassy ; which would add to its efficiency as a peace-offering.
This request was so far granted, on the 22d of April, as to vote £20, to be placed in the hands of Gen. Dwight, to be distributed among the relatives of Wampaumcorse.
But, on the 22d of May, Jonathan Edwards, apparently in the greatest anxiety, found it necessary to write to Secretary Willard, · requesting his influence that " the money which had been granted to Wanaubaugus, the uncle of the man that was killed, might be speedily delivered." "It was manifest," he said, "that it was a matter of the greatest importance, not only to the people in Stock- bridge, but to all New England, that the Indians should be speedily quieted in that matter. It was evident that the ill- influence of that affair had a wide extent, reaching to tribes at a great distance, - that it would be a handle of which the French at that juncture would make the utmost improvement." It " seemed to affect the Mohawks, no less than the other In- dians."
The money was accordingly paid, and the excitement among the natives in some degree subsided. The delegates of the Stock- bridge Mohegans, as vassals of the Iroquois, attended the confer- ence of that confederacy with the commissioners of the Provinces at Albany, in July, and joined in the league formed, very much through the influence of Sir William Johnson. The Stockbridge chiefs seized the opportunity to make the complaints given in the note on page 99; but alliance with the English was traditional with them, and doubtless their disposition was more favorable to it since the intimate relations created by the mission settlement. The influence of the French emissaries appears to have had effect
1 In accordance with the Indian custom of compounding for homicide by a fine to the relatives of the slain.
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only upon the baser sort, and perhaps chiefly upon those (not of Mohegan blood) who had been attracted to the mission. At this time, the relation of the Mohegans to the Iroquois, although still of a feudal character, approached nearer to equality than at earlier periods, and, in token of its amicable nature, had assumed the typical form of kinship. And the two nations, both of which, in spite of exceptional cases, had experienced kindness and protection from their respective Provinces, mutually influenced each other in favor of English alliance.
Although the storm of war, which had been lowering all through the clouded peace of« Aix-la-chapelle, seemed now about to burst upon the Colonies, apprehensions of immediate danger to Western Massachusetts, from the Indians of its own vicinity, were thus in some measure allayed.
But on the evening of Thursday, the 29th of August, some Stockbridge Indians, who had been northward on a hunting- excursion, returned in haste with the startling report, that, on the previous day, they had, in concealment, witnessed the total destruction of Dutch Hoosack by a band of six hundred strange savages.1
The excitement immediately became intense, and messengers were sent to spread the alarm in every direction. On Saturday, an express, bearing information of the troubles, reached Col. Worthington at Springfield, where Gen. Dwight, with Capts. Ashley and Ingersol, as well as other leading citizens of the Housatonic Valley, were attending court. The latter gentlemen at once hastened to take charge of the defence of their homes ; and Col. Worthington only waited to raise a company of seventy men, with whom he set out on Monday evening to the aid of the threatened settlements.
In the mean time, by Saturday night, several hundred men were under arms at Stockbridge, some of them from Connecticut. The
A settlement of Dutch farmers in the Province of New York, north-west of the present site of Williamstown. Seven houses, fourteen barns, and a large quantity of wheat, were burned ; many cattle and hogs slaughtered, and the latter thrown into heaps to rot. The damage was estimated at "£50,000, York cur- reney." One man, Samuel Bowen, was killed, and another "captivated." The number of the enemy was greatly exaggerated by the fears of the settlers, as well as by the Stockbridge witnesses of the affair.
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same neighborly colony also sent a large number of horses to bring off the women and children from Poontoosuck.1
Even yet, however, there appears to have been no apprehension, at Stockbridge, of danger from any of the Indians then in the town ; and timely notice was expected, from the scouts who were scouring the woods, of the approach of any others. The people attended church as usual; and, in the absence of their neighbors for that purpose, the family of one Chamberlain, who lived in the retired locality of " The Hill," appear to have considered them- selves in perfect safety, until they were suddenly attacked at about three o'clock in the afternoon. Col. Worthington, on the au- thority of a despatch from Capts. Ashley and Ingersol, describes the murderous scenes which ensued, as follows : 2-
" There was in the house Chamberlain, his wife, three children, 7 and another man, named Owen. Two Indians only attacked the house, - fired immediately upon entering, one at Chamberlain's wife, and missed her; the other at Owen, and shot him in the arm. One immediately attacked Owen; and the other, Chamberlain's wife. As Owen was more than equal to the Indian who engaged him, the Indian called his fellow to his help, and both beset Owen ; so that Chamberlain's wife escaped, as did her husband coming out of an inner room, and left the two Indians (as we have the account) combating with Owen, who fought them like a man for a considerable time, but was so cut and wounded by them that he was obliged to yield, and he died soon after. He was scalped
1 The following bill was presented to the next General Court : - PROV. OF MASS. BAY,
To ABNER DEWEY, of Poontoonsuck, Dr.
To keeping 130 horses in his field of corn and grass, one night, which came from Connecticut to fetch off the women and children belonging to said place, at 4s.
£26 00
To entertaining 15 men three days, each at 3s. 6 15
Old tenor, £32 15 0
Lawful money, 4 74
Charles Goodrich presented a similar bill for keeping sixty horses one night at five shillings. each; for one hundred and fifty meals of victuals " to Connecticut men when they came to our relief to carry us off; " together with " sundry of the Province men at fourpence a meal, and for keeping ten men left by Capt. Ashley for our protection, for four days, at five shillings fourpence per week."
The Court allowed Dewey £2 10s. 6d. lawful money (silver); and Goodrich, £3 8s. 6d. (Mass. Ar., vol. Ixxiv. pp. 337-343.)
2 Report to Prov. Sec. Willard, dated Springfield, Sept. 8, 1754 : Mass. Ar. vol. liv. p. 323.
4
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
by them, as was also one of the children whom they killed. A second child they carried out a quarter of a mile; and there, being discovered by a party of English coming from Poontoosuck, they knocked it on the head, and, mortally wounding it, left it in the woods, where it was picked up by these people."
The party from Poontoosuck was a portion of the whole popu- lation of that place, who, mounted on the Connecticut horses, were flying to the stronger settlements of the south. On their way, tradition says (and there is no reason to doubt) that they were repeatedly fired upon from the woods : and some of the fugitives, - particularly the heroic first female settler, who 'had perhaps specially provoked the vengeance of some of the rascals whose attacks upon her larder she had repelled, - narrowly escaped the bullets of the hidden foe. But the only person who was killed was one Stevens, or Stearns, - the accounts give the name in both forms, -said to have been a laboring man from Canaan, Conn., who had been at work in Poontoosuck during the summer. On the pillion behind him was a daughter of Sylvanus Piercey, whom he had perhaps married, as some of the reports speak of her as his wife. Stevens was shot while passing through Lenox ; but his companion was rescued by the first settler of that town, Jonathan Hinsdale. The settlements above Stockbridge were completely abandoned.
It is a prevalent opinion that only the two Indians who made the attack upon Chamberlain's house were engaged in firing upon the fugitives from Poontoosuck; but the weight of evidence is opposed to this theory. The woods were full of prowlers. A scout sent out from Fort Massachusetts towards Albany ascertained, that, " on the 25th or 26th of August, forty-two canoes of Indians, of five, six, or seven in a canoe, crossed the lake " (either Lake George or Lake Champlain), "with a design to make a descent on our frontier." On the 6th of September, a man who had ventured to return to Poontoosuck was " shot at by three Indians, and the bullets penetrated his clothes in several places." He returned the fire and " shot one down, but did not get him." 1
The reliable local tradition is, that the white combatant, having procured a re-enforcement, traced his opponent by his blood to the shore of Lake Onota, and found a pebble wrapped in cloth, which had evidently been used to stanch the wound. But the injured
' Col. Worthington to Willard.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
man had disappeared ; whether carried off by his friends, or plunged into the lake to save his scalp from his pursuers, is uncer- tain. The latter was the belief of the time.
On the same day, two men were fired upon, west of Sheffield, and another north of that town. All these events, occurring in the week ending on the 7th of September, were amply sufficient to rouse suspicion of the complicity of the resident Indians, especially in the minds of the soldiers who came from a distance to the relief of the settlers; although the latter were not entirely free from the injustice.1
Gen. Dwight, after careful investigation, warmly defended the Mission Indians ; showed them to be innocent of all blame in the matter, and, if properly treated, ready to join with their white neighbors in the war. The guilty parties proved to be Schaghti- cokes, of whom a few were domiciled at Stockbridge. And doubt- less some of the rascal red population which hung round the place also participated in the mischief done.
The Schaghticokes had, like the Mohegans, pledged themselves to the league formed at Albany in July ; but they had hardly returned home before they proved faithless to their obligations. In October, Col. Timothy Woodbridge held "a talk " with the Canadian sachems, whose bands had perpetrated the outrages at Hoosac, Stockbridge, and Poontoosnek, and drew from them that they had acted under the joint instigation of the French and the Schaghticokes. He asked them, "Why they had made war upon the settlements, while the princes under which they respectively lived were at peace ?" They replied, that " The Sehaghticokes had sent to the Orondocks and the Onuhgungoes, to come and revenge themselves for the death of several of their men who had been killed by the English, and to help them - the Schaghticokes - to Canada."
Others reported that the Onuhgungoes waited upon the Gover- nor of Canada, and said, " Father, the English have abused us in driving us from our lands and taking them from us." 2
1 The worst of the outrages mentioned by Gen. Dwight, in his letter of Oct. 4, - quoted in the note on page 99, - were the results of this suspicion ; although treatment of the natives of a similar character, however less gross in degree, had prevailed, as stated in the text, long before the date in connection with which the letter is first quoted.
2 Col. Woodbridge explains in parenthesis, that "the Onuhgungoes were in- habitants of the Connecticut Valley driven away in former wars, the same as the
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
The Governor replied, "Children, the land is not mine, but yours : you must assert your right."
Upon this hint they acted, and sent out an expedition, which, as they confessed, numbered one hundred and twenty men.1
To the people who, driven out from the homes, which, after one cruel interruption, they had just begun to build up, were collected, in doubt and confusion in the lower towns, it was a momentous question, whether the murderous outbreak which had visited them was only a sudden freak of savage fury, which would soon pass away, or one more of the accumulating proofs that France had secured the alliance of the Indians in another bitter, and probably prolonged contest, for the extension of her dominion in America. The conference of the St. François chiefs with Col. Woodbridge was considered conclusive against the French, who were then still keeping up treacherous professions of peaceful purposes. But the Government could have previously had no doubt upon the subject : the conference is only mentioned here, as showing the conjunction of causes which produced so serious an interruption to the settle- ment of Berkshire.
'The alarm on the border was pitiable. Every hour brought rumors of outrage, which, although oftenest false, served to keep alive the public excitement. "I never knew," wrote Israel Williams on the 6th of September, "in all ye last war, the people under so great surprise and fear." But Col. William Williams, probably after consultation with Gen. Dwight and Col. Worthing- ton, returned with some of his neighbors and a detachment of Connecticut troops to his house on Unkamet Street, which at once was stockaded. On the 9th, Col. Israel Williams, who commanded the Hampshire militia, wrote from Hatfield to the Provincial Seere- tary, that he "hoped they would maintain their guard at Poontoo- suck, and be some protection to the towns and places within."
As soon as communication could be had with head-quarters, Col. William Williams received orders from Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts, and a request from Gov. Fitch of Connecticut, to make a stand at Poontoosuck: the former sending him a sergeant and eight men; the latter, twenty-eight men, under command of Capt. Hinman. 2
Schaghticokes." The ghosts of murdered nations were rising it seems, to plague their destroyers.
1 Lieut .- Col. Woodbridge, Oct. 9, 1754
2 T. C. C. p. 217.
FORT ANSON.
H
E
M
L
=
K
1
K
B
A
N
H
H
L
N
KI
H
H
G
L
D
GROUND PLAN.
X
X
SOUTII PROSPECT,
A
F
B
K
E
K
3
C
D
H
G
PROFILE FROM THE CENTRE.
FORT ANSON,
BUILT BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS, AT POONTOOSUCK, SEPTEMBER, 1754.
EXPLANATION OF GROUND PLAN.
A, The House, 40 by 24 fect, nine-feet posts, with a gambrel roof, the walls filled with four-inch white-ash plank.
B, The Storehouse, 35 by 10 feet ; the outside, M, M, 14 feet high; the inside, at N, 7 feet ; double-covered with boards up and down, salt-box fashion, drooping inwards.
C, The Well.
D, A Flanker, to defend the dead-wall F.
E, G, Dead-Walls, scoured from the upper works.
1I, II, Large Sills, let into the ground, to support the pillars I, K.
I, I, Large Pillars, let into the sills, just eight inches from the house, in every part, that reach as high as the eaves, and support plates that go all around the house, and are locked at the corners.
K, K, Large Pillars, 16 inches square, 7 feet higher than the top of the plate, sup- ported by the pillars. Each girted to his fellow, and cross-girted to the plate. L, L, The Yard, floored all over.
A SOUTH PROSPECT OF FORT AT POONTOOSUCK. XX, XX, the ends of the House.
A PROFILE FROM THE CENTRE OF THE HOUSE, EAST AND WEST. EXPLANATION.
A, A, Pillars filled with square timber, let in with a groove from the girt, I, to the top; being 7 feet all round ye house.
B, B, A Platform, 8 feet wide, round the house.
C, C, Pillars that support the plates that support one side of the platform ; the other side being supported by the girts that pass from ye pillars A, A, side- ways.
D, The lower part of the house.
E, The Chamber. or soldiers' lodging-room.
F, The space of the Gambo.
G, The Yard.
HI, The Storeroom.
K, K, Doors, out of which the soldiers may run and cover any or every part of the house.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
The home-lots being too widely scattered for defence, the settlers who returned with Col. Williams repaired to his house,1 and en- tered into a compact to work together on the lands protected by its defences, holding the produce in common, and "cheerfully agree- ing, that, if any thing remained beyond what was necessary for their own support, to give it for the soldiers which might be allowed them." The petition to the General Court, in which they stated this plan, asked only that the same protection might be granted them which was accorded their brethren of the Province, " consid- ering their situation," and that allowance might be made them for the expense incurred in fortifying, in case their scheme should be approved. 2
Correspondence ensued, of which the following letter formed a part : -
COL. ISRAEL WILLIAMS TO COL. WM. WILLIAMS.
HATFIELD, Sept. 28, 1754.
Sir, - Major Williams is returned from Boston, by whom I have my orders renewed for ye strengthening ye frontiers and raising a greater nuni- ber of forces for that purpose and scouting, if I judge needful, but no orders for building forts anywhere. The Governor will report that matter to ye General Court : but yet he is desirous of having ye people maintain their ground, and has given me sufficient orders to defend the garrisons they build ; and, as I wrote to you heretofore, so I would again press your people to fortify somewhere in ye westerly part of Poontoosuck. By what I have been in- formed, Ashley's house is well situate : but, if they incline to fortify further west, I like it well; and, if they go cheerfully and do it, there is reason to think they will meet with ye favor of the Government ; and, if they do, the
1 No man appearing to provide for the forces aforesaid but Col. Williams, we repaired to his house, who, at his own expense, had fortified the same. - Poontoo- suck Petition, T. C. C. p. 98.
2 The following memoranda, made by Col. Williams two years afterwards, gave these transactions more in detail, and with a little different coloring : -
" MEMORANDUM. - That, upon the mischief, protection was sent us both from this Pro- vince and Connecticut. Upon their arrival, I offered to join them with all my strength, in fortifying wherever they should choose; but none of them would undertake, either to billet or build. Upon which, rather than no stand should be made, I proposed, if they would fortify with me, I would billet them, the inhabitants and soldiers, pay the broad-axe men three shillings and narrow-axe two shillings per diem : which they accepted, and I performed, and built a handsome, strong, and very tenable fort [Anson] ; and, if I had not thus done, the soldiers would have all returned, and no one soul would now be at P. And now, since they find the war is like to last longer than they expected, and that the Bryars and Bushes will get up too high, they want the Province to pay them and support them, while they cut them down [alluding to the custom of alternate mustering in as soldiers]. It can be nothing else. Behold their situation. The ingenuity, gratitude, and requital."- Lancton Coll.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
men that are now there must, some of 'em, guard whilst they are about ye work ; and, if the inhabitants can supply themselves with provisions, Col. Partridge will supply ye soldiers with necessaries.
We have no news of ye enemy.
I suppose Col. Partridge will send to you to come in, when I shall confer with you about some other matters. The Governor has given ye command of the men at Fort Massachusetts and Poontoosuck to Major Williams 1 for ye present.
With proper salutations, Your affectionate friend and servant, ISRAEL WILLIAMS.
But Col. Williams, at Poontoosuck, had already begun to strengthen the defences on his own Unkamet-street grounds, by the erection of a formidable fort, in accordance with the plans here reproduced from the original copies, which are still preserved in the State archives. And instead of abandoning this site, which had no natural advantages, for the fine and commanding eminence on the south-west shore of Lake Onota, which was the location of " Ashley's House," he persisted in his first intention, and built the work which he christened Fort Anson, probably in honor of the admiral with whom he sailed on his first military campaign under Oglethorpe, but which is known in the Provincial records, sometimes as the fort at Poontoosuck, and sometimes as Williams's Garrison."
The refusal to adopt the district-commander's suggestion in re- gard to the location of the fort did not prevent its acceptance by the General Court as one of the Province garrisons ; but its builder was allowed only £63 for it, although it cost him, as he alleged, £91. During its erection, apprehensions of a lurking enemy rendered it necessary to keep up a vigilant scont of the neighbor- hood ; and there were other difficulties to encounter. The uncer- tain state of affairs will appear by the following letter from Col. Oliver Patridge to Col. Williams,1 which also is of interest as illus- trating the scarcity of certain articles of merchandise, as well as the writer's distrust of Col. Williams's business capacity : -
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