USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > The history of Springfield in Massachusetts for the young; being also in some part the history of other towns and cities in the county of Hampden > Part 5
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ancient fires were uncovered and discolorations of the soil showed where the posts had been.
It was into this fort on Long Hill that some of Philip's warriors secretly entered on a night in early October, 1675. There were among our local Indians only about forty fighting men. They were probably so peaceably disposed, by reason of their weakness, their familiar intercourse in the village, and the fair treatment which they had always had, that had it not been for the incitements of Philip, they might have taken no part in the war. They were nearer to Connecticut than the Indians of the upper valley and in the Pequot war the Connecticut Indians had been taught a severe lesson. But to destroy Springfield was part of Philip's plan; he needed the help of our Indians and his clever arts prevailed.
On Monday, October 4th, Major Pynchon set out for Hadley with his men. His object was to locate the Indians harboring around there and bring on a decisive battle at once. Meantime, Indian braves who had fired Brookfield and other places. were secretly got into the Long Hill fort. The terrible disaster and slaughter of women and children that impended was only saved from making a bloody page of history by a single circumstance. The Agawam hostages were still in Hartford and their relatives probably insisted on their relief from certain death by getting them out of the hands of the whites before the expected attack. Had this not been done some Indian would have betrayed the whole plot. Accordingly some messengers were sent to Hartford, who in some way effected the escape of the hostages. In passing through Windsor, either going or coming, the messengers or the hostages happened to come across Toto, an Indian who lived in a white family. Toto became aware of the plot and as he
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showed great excitement about something, he revealed it, on being questioned.
No time was to be lost. The fate of Springfield now hung on a family in Windsor, whose name we would be glad to know. A swift messenger was dispatched to the doomed town. Leaving his horse, probably, in West Springfield, and rousing the citizens there, he crossed on the ferry, with some of them, at dead of night. The alarm was given all down the street. The people fled at once to the fortified houses and a messenger was sent to Hadley after Major Pynchon.
It is probable that the Indians intended to make the attack at night. The betrayal of their plot and the sudden rush of the people for safety may have disconcerted their plans At all events the morning broke with no sign of danger and some of the people went back to their homes. It was hard for them to believe that the Agawams had become their enemies.
At this time the town was in command of Thomas Cooper, then known as Lieutenant Cooper. He no longer lived in his old place on Main street but fifteen years before had removed to that part of the town now known as Agawam and had a sawmill on Three Mile brook. He was an old man, but yet hale and hearty. He was not only a carpenter and farmer; he was something of a surgeon and in the absence of regular physicians, went far and near to set a broken bone. This he did in kindness and with no charge. In the absence of lawyers he also practiced before the courts. He was so often called to serve as selectman that he sought to avoid the office. He was particularly successful in dealing with the Indians and was probably personally acquainted with each one. Green, in his history, says that his descendants, of whom some still remain, may well place him beside Deacon Chapin as one of the pillars of the town.
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Another man besides Cooper, Chapin and the minister, who remained when the militia went to Hadley, was Thomas Miller. He was the constable and perhaps for that reason was left behind. Unlike Lieutenant Cooper, he was probably not on particularly good terms with the Indians. In his younger days he had, for some reason, struck old Reippumsick with the butt of his gun and the old man brought the younger one before Judge William Pynchon. As the matter was liable to lead to difficulties with the Indians, the judge called in several men, including the minister and Thomas Cooper, to sit with him as advisers. The result was that Miller was sentenced to be whipped at the public whipping post fifteen lashes, which, rather than undergo, he finally made his peace with the Indians by the payment of four fathoms of wampum. Perhaps unpleasant feelings remained on both sides, for ten years afterwards Miller complained to the court of Kolla- baugamitt, Mallamaug and other Indians for striking his wife and throwing sticks at his children; whereupon ten men riding hard on five horses were sent in pursuit of the fleeing Kollabaugamitt, Mallamaug and other assailants into the country of the Nipmucks. Kollabaugamitt and Mallamaug were caught and fined by the Court in fourteen fathoms of wampum. Although the Indians did not like Thomas Miller, yet, as he was constable and had been fence viewer, pound- keeper and committee on the allotment of new lands, he was evidently reckoned a worthy citizen.
It is true that with the coming of the morning of the eventful day the people had returned to their homes. Most of them, of course, were women and children and the distress and anxiety must have been great. The defenders of the town had gone, and, although sent for, they might be unable to return. There may have been reports of strange Indians
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seen about the fort, and with another night death and destruc- tion might be upon the village. At some hazard Lieutenant Cooper determined to resolve these doubts. Taking Thomas Miller with him, both mounted, they rode down the street in the direction of the fort. Arrived at some point not far from the bridge at Mill river, probably just across the stream where the road passes alongside the natural bank at the foot
MY
THE AMBUSH OF LIEUTENANT COOPER AND CONSTABLE MILLER.
of Long Hill, a shot was heard and then another. Miller was instantly killed. Cooper fell from his horse, but remounting, started up the street. Another shot made a mortal wound. He reached the nearest garrisoned house and gave the alarm, but immediately died.
Much as Thomas Cooper had done for the town in his life, in his death he really saved it from a great slaughter, for the
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alarm was none too soon. The people had no sooner got into the fortified houses than the Indians, whooping and yelling, broke from the fort and were upon the town.
"Alas, that direful yell, So loud, so wild, so shrill, so clear, As if the very fiends of hell, Burst from the wildwood depths, were here."
As compared with an Indian warwhoop, the howling of a wolf or the cry of a panther had no terrors to the forefathers. At the head of the savage band were Philip's chosen braves, close followed by the more timid Agawams, armed with fire- arms and bows and arrows. Some carried blazing pine knots, prepared to burn the houses, barns and haystacks. Thanks to the Windsor Indian, Lieutenant Cooper and the palisades, no one was killed in the mad rush up the street except Pente- cost Matthews, wife of the old town drummer, and Edmund Pringrydays, who was wounded and died a few days after. Some thirty houses were burned as were about twenty-five barns stored with fodder for the winter. Crossing the marsh, the enemy burned the house of correction, near the present corner of State and Maple streets. In a short time the whole town, from the mills on Mill river to upper Ferry Lane (Cypress street) was a burning, smoking ruin. Nothing escaped but the garrisoned houses, the meeting-house and one or two houses near it. Before being fired, the houses were plundered of their valuables. One Indian got a pewter platter, which holding up before his person, either in defence or defiance, an enraged townsman sent a bullet through both platter and Indian. The platter remained in the town for nearly two centuries.
While the Indians were still in the village plundering and burning and looking for an opportunity to kill the besieged,
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Major Treat of Connecticut arrived on the West Springfield side of the river with a company of soldiers. Could they have got across, the Indians would have fled, but the latter kept them back. Major Pynchon, however, having got the message sent the night before, had set out in great haste with the Spring- field men, whose wives and children, mothers and sisters, were in the "sacked and burning village." Perspiring with exertion and anxiety, they at last arrived on the scene. Their approach was the signal for the retreat of the Indians. These hurried eastward across the plain and encamped for the night about six miles away, tradition says at Indian Orchard. The next day they plunged into the forest to the north. The Agawams, afterwards uniting themselves with other tribes to the west of the Hudson, became, as a separate tribe, forever lost to sight. Although now and then a wanderer appeared about the home of his childhood, never again did Springfield have a tribe of Indian neighbors.
One old squaw was left in the hasty flight. Perhaps she tried to follow the tribe and fell behind because of her age. Captain Moseley of Boston, who was engaged in the army of the valley, but not in Springfield, declared that she was torn in pieces by dogs. If true, this heinous act requires explana- tion and apology. Perhaps only a few were responsible. The shocking barbarities of the Indians were beginning to arouse the colonists to a fearful revenge. Captive Indians, including Philip's wife and little son, were sold into slavery in the West Indies, and even in Plymouth the heads of slain Indians were exposed on poles. There is nothing, however, on the part of the whites as barbarous as an act of the Indians in roasting a captive and eating slices of his flesh while yet alive.
The saintly Eliot, who had been a successful missionary to the Indians, tried, with others, to lessen the brutalities of
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war, so far as the whites were concerned, but without success. The Indians, however, had not so much feeling about this matter, even as concerned their own people, as one might expect. They looked upon death with a sort of indifference and probably felt that scalping and being scalped, burning alive and being burnt alive were a part of the glory of war. When Toto, mentioned in the fourth chapter (page 60), having himself killed nineteen whites, at last fell into the hands of
INDIANS KILLING A WHITE CAPTIVE. From Noah Webster's "Little Reader's Assistant."
Captain Church, he was told to prepare to die. He admitted that the sentence was just and said he was ashamed to live. He asked only the favor of being allowed to smoke a few whiffs of tobacco, which having done, he said he was ready. Then one of Captain Church's Indians sank a hatchet in his brains.
At last winter began to set in, a time when even the Indians could not accomplish much in the way of active warfare. Philip and his Wampanoags retired from this region and intrenched themselves in a swamp in the castern part of the
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State, where they were attacked with great slaughter. But it was a sad state of things here in the valley, with Deerfield, Northfield and Springfield destroyed and only Hadley and Northampton remaining. Springfield was in great straits. The people huddled together in the few houses and barns that were left and some probably found shelter on the west side where there were some houses. Major Pynchon was much inconvenienced by the crowding of his own house and dis- tressed by his great loss of property,-his grist mills and saw mills destroyed and the people who owed him unable to pay. It seemed like the ruin of his fortune, yet this is the way he wrote to one of his children, then in London:
"DEAR SON: I would not have you troubled at these sad losses which I have met with. There is no reason for a child to be troubled when his father calls in that which he lent him. It was the Lord that lent it to me, and he that gave it hath taken it away, and blessed be the name of the Lord. He hath done very well for me, and I acknowledge his goodness, and desire to trust in Him and to submit to Him forever. And do you, with me, acknowledge and justify Him."
There was some talk of abandoning Springfield. Major Pynchon himself thought he would be better off to remove to Boston, where he had some property left. But, strong in the sense of duty, which was a family trait, he wrote to Gov- ernor Leverett in language of manliness and fortitude : John Lynchon "I resolve to attend what God calls me to do and to stick to it as long as I can, and, though I have such great AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN PYNCHON. loss of the creature comforts, yet to do what I can in defending this place." Thus he furnished a good motto for all the sons and
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daughters of Springfield in times of stress and difficulty : "STICK TO IT!"
At last the dreadful winter passed into an early spring, so that the crops were got early into the ground. The hopes of the people began to revive. They had not much more to lose and if the war might only be successfully ended in the campaign of the advancing year, all might yet be well. But the Indians had been greatly encouraged by the successes of 1675, and their dreams of sweeping the white men out of New England seemed nearer to becoming true. They started early on the war path.
On a day in March a small party of Longmeadow people, who, out of fear, had been deprived of all church services since the memorable fifth of October, were on their way to the meeting-house at the center. They were protected by a few mounted soldiers, men from the eastern part of the state, who had been garrisoned in Springfield since the disaster. The company had got as far as the brook at Pecowsic, just where it comes out from Forest Park, when they were set upon by Indians. John Keep of Longmeadow was killed, his wife captured and his children either killed or captured. The Indians escaped into the region of the park and made for the north. As soon as Major Pynchon was notified he set off with others in pursuit, and overtaking the band, rescued a woman. It was learned from her that some, at least, of the attacking party were our own Agawams.
Still bolder moves than this were made. Connecticut, after the Pequot war, seemed to be reasonably safe, but now an invasion into that colony was made; and Simsbury, only a few miles from Hartford, was attacked. Town after town in the eastern part of the colony was attacked or destroyed and the colonists were almost in despair. It seemed as if
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savagery were indeed winning the day against civilization; as if a great continent were to have no better use than as a hunting ground for wild Indians.
But when it seemed darkest, it was really just before a decisive blow that shattered the Indians' hopes in a day. To show how this came about it is necessary to go back a little. Early in March the Indians, in one of their marauding expeditions down the valley, had captured a Springfield boy,
MRS. ROWLANDSON AND JOHN GILBERT AT TURNERS FALLS.
John Gilbert by name, whose father had lived in Longmeadow, but was now dead. John, who perhaps had wandered too far east of the village in order to snare partridges or something of that sort, was taken as far north as the present town of Hinsdale in New Hampshire. Here he fell very sick and was finally cast out into the cold along with a little Indian child who had lost both its parents and was thrown out to die. They were found by Mrs. Rowlandson, the captive wife of a minister. With great difficulty she got the youth to a
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fire and he grew better. He watched his chance to escape and on his eighteenth birthday he succeeded. On reaching the settlements he was able to give very important informa- tion. It had not been known where the Indians of western Massachusetts were located, whether they had gone over into the Hudson valley or had remained nearer at hand. Could their rendezvous be discovered, and the whole body be surprised by a sudden onslaught their power for evil might be broken.
When John Gilbert reached the settlements he made it clear just where the Indians could be found. It was at some falls on the Connecticut river, near the entrance of a river, now called Miller's river. It was a good place for fishing and here the Indians, by drying fish, were making themselves ready for the summer campaign.
As soon as this information became known to Captain Turner, after whom the falls were eventually named, he decided to attack at once. He was now in command in the valley, Major Pynchon having been allowed to resign at his own request. Pynchon, though a wise counsellor in the war, did not consider himself especially fitted for active military operations. Although he did not go to Turners Falls, Springfield was well represented there by Captain Samuel Holyoke, the son of Mary Pynchon, a young man of brave and ardent temperament. He was second in command. The Indians were encamped directly on the bank of the river. With a sudden and terrible onslaught Captain Turner was among them without warning. Those who were not slain in their wigwams, plunged madly into the river and were carried down the falls to certain death. Such was the pitch of despera- tion to which the English had come in their fight against extinction by the savage that Captain Holyoke slew five old men, women and children with his own hand, as they were
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hiding under a bank. This is horrible to relate, like as it is to the stories of an older time; but when the life of a people is at stake means are not nicely measured. At best, war is terrible.
The noise of the attack had aroused another band of Indians who were not far off and they at once attacked the invaders. It was said that Philip was approaching with a thousand warriors. The victory of the English was now turned into a retreat, and, owing to certain circumstances, a retreat which it was very difficult successfully to manage. To make it worse, Captain Turner was shot and the command devolved on Holyoke. Already he had nearly lost his life with the vanguard. His horse had been shot under him. As several warriors rushed upon him he killed one and his men drove back the rest. It was, nevertheless, his self-possession and courage that saved the day, and he marched into Hadley the surviving victor of the famous "Falls Fight."
But the strain of those hours was too much. He returned to Springfield and in a few short months died from the effects of the exertion, a sacrifice to the cause of civilization in the Connecticut valley, and, indeed, the whole state. It is, perhaps for him, more likely for his father, Elijah Hol- yoke, that the mountain is named which looks down on the scenes of his life and victory.
The Falls Fight, notwithstanding the rout of the English at the end of it, was really a great disaster for the Indians. It broke up the fisheries, on which Philip depended for his supplies during the summer campaign. Many sachems, sagamores and braves were killed, and Philip, almost in despair, left the valley of the great river for his own country. As it turned out, the Falls Fight, in which John Gilbert and Captain Holyoke of Springfield had borne so important a part, was the
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last great event of the war, except the death of Philip himself. The Indian cause seemed all at once to collapse. Bereft of his family, his supporters killed in the Swamp Fight of the preceding winter and the Falls Fight of May 18th, Philip himself was at last corralled by Captain Church in a swamp. Swamps were a favorite place of refuge with Indians. As Philip was jumping from hummock to hummock in his flight, he was shot by an Indian, an ally of the English. Thus ended King Philip's war, so far as he was concerned, in August 1676. It was continued for a time by sachems on the Maine and New Hampshire coast, and then peace was arranged.
Henceforth the Indians of New England were a doomed race; doomed to weakness, disease, intemperance and decay. It had been the glory of Massasoit to win by kindness the friendship and good will of a new continental power. It was the fate of his son to destroy that good will and make his people, as a race in New England, first, to be feared and then to be ignored and forgotten. Two centuries were to pass before savage warfare was to cease beyond the Hudson and on the slopes of the Rockies, and the last Indian warrior engaged in conflict with the American people, Geronimo, of the dreadful tribe of Apaches, has died the week that this work goes to press; but for New England its Indians were soon to be as if they had never been.
"Alas for them !- their day is o'er, Their fires are out from hill and shore;
No more for them the wild deer bounds; The plough is on their hunting-grounds;
The pale man's axe rings through their woods;
The pale man's sail skims o'er their floods; Their pleasant springs are dry ;
Their children,-look! by power oppressed.
Beyond the mountains of the west
Their children go-to die!"-Sprague.
CHAPTER VI. SETTLEMENT OF CHICOPEE AND OTHER TOWNS .- THE REVOLUTION.
Hill
CHICOPEE FALLS IN 1838.
S PRINGFIELD had as yet but a very small population ; all told there could not have been more than a few hundred people. But the Springfield of that time, the time of King Philip's war and for many years afterwards, occupies a large place on the map. The Indians having gone, there were none to dispute the English ownership, except the settlements made independent of Springfield and there were none of these in Massachusetts, except Westfield, nearer than Hadley and Northampton. Enfield and Suffield had once been practically a part of Springfield but it was finally decided that
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they lay beyond the Massachusetts line. Although some went from Springfield to help settle Westfield, this town wanted Westfield to be independent. Some went over the river to establish their homes even before the war, like Lieutenant Cooper.
Notwithstanding this scattering and the fact that the cen- tral village might be weakened by it, there was a friendly feeling all around and the dwellers on the west side are spoken of in old records as "our neighbors." Longmeadow was early granted a separate school and although there was a locality named Longmeadow Gate, it did not divide the in- habitants except in the matter of place. John Riley went as far away as the southern part of the present Holyoke and may be considered as the first settler of that city. Riley's brook perpetuates his name. In fact, when we consider the territory included and the settlers who branched out in one direction or another, for the sake of getting good, large farms all to themselves, yet were really inhabitants of Springfield and voted in its town meeting, we would find old Springfield to embrace the present towns or cities of Holyoke, West Springfield, Agawam, Chicopee, Ludlow, Wilbraham, Hamp- (len, Longmeadow and East Longmeadow. The early settle- ment of Longmeadow was of the great meadow itself, down by the river, Chicopee was settled largely by Chapins and there were so many boys in the Chapin families that the name is unusually common hereabouts. So for many years was the name of Bliss; and no wonder, for Luke Bliss had sixteen children and Jedediah Bliss had as many and one over. For the sake of the good land and the river travel, the early settlers kept pretty near the water, but in 1721 Nathaniel Hitchcock decided to go to "the mountains," as they were called, and built for himself and his wife a house within the present limits
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of Wilbraham. Others soon followed him. These Manchonis mountains were the Indian hunting grounds.
When the settlement of Wilbraham commenced there was one squaw remaining nearly half a century after her tribe had been gone. Her wigwam was on a little brook near the hill since called "Wigwam Hill." "Alone," says Stebbins in his history of Wilbraham, "the last of that mysterious race, who had chased the deer over these fields, trapped the beaver in these streams, speared the salmon in these rivers, enjoyed the freedom of these hills, kindled their evening fires by these springs, and, as they smoked their pipes, beheld the western sky lighting up, as the sun went down, as if with the smile of the Great Spirit and of the braves, who had fallen in battle, and buried their kindred under these trees, she lived solitary, the curiosity of the early settlers, harmless, quiet, meditative, seldom entering any dwelling and providing for her own wants. At last she disappeared; of the manner of her death, or of her burial place, no man knoweth. She passed away, as a shadow of the vanished race and joined the company of her fathers." In 1750 Captain Miller went out and settled Ludlow. It thus happened that there were, before the Revo- lution, dwellers within the limits of all the cities and towns which have been made out of the old Springfield.
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