USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 20
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CHAPTER XII.
1675-1700.
Philip's War. - Indian Invasion; Date. - Number of the Enemy. - Philip's Preparation. - Indian Powwow. - Movements of the Eng- lish. - General Attack on the Town. - Assault on the Haynes Garri- son. - Hostilities on the East Side. - Resistance of the English. - Arrival of Reinforcements ; Concord Company, Watertown Company. - The Indians Driven Over the Causeway and Bridge. - Attempt to Reinforce Captain Wadsworth. - Description Given in " The Old Petition."
Up the hillside, down the glen, Rouse the sleeping citizen ; Summon out the might of men ! It is coming, - it is nigh ! Stand your homes and altars by ; On your own free thresholds die. WHITTIER.
HAVING noticed the course of hostilities in and about Sudbury by scattered detachments and skulking squads of Indians, we will now consider a more prominent event of the war, - namely, the attack upon the town by King Philip, with one of the most formidable forces that he ever led along the New England frontier. We have found no cvi- dence that, up to April, 1676, Philip himself ever visited the place ; but in the final assault the great chieftain directed his warriors in person. At the time of the invasion there was nothing west of Sudbury to obstruct his course. The last town was Marlboro, and this was devastated as by a close gleaner in the great field of war. The people had almost wholly abandoned the place ; the dwellings were reduced to ash-heaps, and a few soldiers only were quartered there to guard the road to Brookfield and the Connecticut. Sudbury at this time was the objective point of King Philip. That
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he had a special purpose in assailing the place, other than what led him to conduct the war elsewhere, is implied in " The Old Petition," in the words before quoted, where the object of revenge is mentioned. Certain it is, he had a strong force, and fought hard and long to destroy the place.
DATE OF PHILIP'S ATTACK ON THE TOWN.
Before entering, however, on the details of the conflict, we will notice the time at which it occurred. Previous to the dis- covery of "The Old Petition," two dates had been assigned, namely, the 18th and the 21st of April. Various authorities were quoted in support of each. So important was the mat- ter considered, that a committee was appointed to examine evidence on the subject. The committee reported in favor of the 21st. (Report of Kidder and Underwood. ) Notwith- standing this decision, opinions still differed; but the dis- covery of "The Old Petition " has fully settled this matter, and established beyond question that the date of Philip's attack on the town and the garrisons, and the "Sudbury Fight," was the 21st. We can understand how, before the discovery of this paper, opinions might vary; how an histo- rian might mistake as to a date, and a monument might per- petuate the error. When President Wadsworth erected a slate-stone at the grave of Captain Wadsworth, the date in- scribed might have been taken from the historian Hubbard, who might have received it from an unreliable source. But we can hardly suppose that a mistake could occur in the paper above referred to concerning the date of this event. This paper is a calm, deliberate document, signed by inhabitants of Sudbury, and sent to the Colonial Court less than six months after the invasion by Philip. It gives the date of the invasion in the following words: "An Account of Losse Sustained by Severall Inhabitants of ye towne of Sudbury by ye Indian Enemy 21st April 1676."
NUMBER OF THE ENEMY.
Philip arrived with his force at Marlboro on or about the 18th of April, and soon started for Sudbury. The number of his warriors has been variously estimated. In the " Old
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Indian Chronicle " it is given as " about a thousand strong." Gookin states, in his history of the Christian Indians, " that upon the 21st of April about mid-day tidings came by many messengers that a great body of the enemy not less as was judged than fifteen hundred, for the enemy to make their force seem very large there were many women among them whom they had fitted with pieces of wood cut in the forms of guns, which these carried, and were placed in the centre, they had assaulted a place called Sudbury that morning, and set fire of sundry houses and barns of that town . . . giving an account that the people of the place were greatly dis- tressed and earnestly desired succor."
Besides Gookin's statement as to the presence of squaws in the company, we have the authority of Mrs. Rowlandson, who mentions an Indian that went to the Sudbury fight accompanied by his squaw with her pappoose upon her back. Mrs. Rowlandson was the wife of Rev. Mr. Rowlandson of Lancaster, and was made captive in the attack on that town. She went with Philip to Sudbury, and became a witness to some of the sad scenes there, which were published in a book entitled " Mrs. Rowlandson's Removes."
Other evidence of the size of Philip's force is found in the " Old Petition," which says, "Let ye Most High have ye high praise due unto him, but let not ye unworthy Instru- ments be forgotten. Was there with vs any towne so beset since ye ware begun, with twelve or fourteen hundred fight- ing men, warriors, sagamores, from all Parts with their men of Arms ?"
THE PREPARATION.
Before the Indians went to Sudbury they made careful preparation. Says Mrs. Rowlandson, " They got a company together to pow-wow." The manner as she describes it is as follows : -
There was one that kneeled upon a deer skin with a company round him in a ring, who kneeled striking upon the ground with their hands and with sticks, and muttering or humming with their mouths. Beside him who kneeled in the ring there also stood one with a gun in his hand. Then he on the deer skin made a speech, and all manifest an assent to
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it, and so they did many times together. Then they bid him with a gun, go out of the ring, which he did, but when he was out they called him in again, but he seemed to make a stand. Then they called the more ear- nestly till he turned again. Then they all sang. Then they gave him two guns, in each hand one, and so he on the deer skin began again, and at the end of every sentence in his speaking they all assented, and hum- ming or muttering with their mouths, and striking upon the ground with their hands. Then they bid him with the two guns go out of the ring again, which he did a little way. Then they called him again, but he made a stand. So they called him with greater earnestness. But he stood reeling and wavering as if he knew not whether he should stand or fall, or which way to go. Then they called him with exceeding great vehemence, all of them, one and another. After a little while he turned in, staggering as he went, with his arms stretched out, in each hand a gun. As soon as he came in they all sang, and rejoiced exceeding awhile, and then he upon the deer skin made another speech, unto which they all assented in a rejoicing manner, and so they ended their business and forthwith went to Sudbury fight.
The foregoing statements plainly show that a large force was being led to Sudbury. The great chieftain doubtless felt sure of his prey. Mrs. Rowlandson says, "To my thinking they went without any scruple but that they should prosper and gain the victory." Philip was not aware of the strong reinforcements which were to be sent to the town's relief. The tramp of Wadsworth and his company had not as yet reached his ears. For aught he knew, the forest resounded with only the tramp of his own stalwart men.
But, while the Indians were preparing for the attack, the English were by no means idle. Things were fast being put in readiness to meet the worst. The blow received was to be returned, and the spoils of conquest were to be dearly obtained. Notwithstanding the customary cunning of the Indians, and their usual sly way, the attack in this instance was not an entire surprise. Their coming was announced by several acts of hostility on the day previous to the general assault. According to tradition, they began their marauding by burning several houses and killing several inhabitants. Among the slain were a Mr. Boone and son, and Mr. Thomas Plympton, who was endeavoring to conduct them, with some of their goods, to a place of safety. This skir- mishing on the outskirts put the people on their guard, and
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warned them to flee for their lives. It showed the hostile intent of the enemy, and the necessity of making haste if they would escape capture or death. Adequately to describe the state of affairs in Sudbury on the eve of this Indian inva- sion would be a difficult task. We may, however, conjec- ture that the scene was a thrilling one, and that it was a time of uncertainty and anxious suspense to the inhabitants. What had come upon others was about to come upon them. The dismal intelligence of disaster to far-off settlements was to be made more vivid by the same dread foe in their midst. It was their dwellings that were soon to be ash-heaps, their hierds that were to be spoils of war, their fields that were to suffer invasion. The wild omens were to bring presaged wrath to their doors; and the warm homes once smiling with comfort were to be forsaken and left to the foe. With but a partial realization of what was to come, we may conclude that Sudbury was never before or since so astir. There were men struggling for life; families hurrying together to the shelter of garrisons, with whatever of household goods they could snatch; loving ones bearing the feeble and sick in their arms, and all rushing to a place of safety. From hither and yon flocked the company. Again and again the latch- string was flung loose from the garrison, as one by one new arrivals came in. None knew when they abandoned their homes that they would see them again, nor that they them- selves would ever reach a safe place. The Indian invader was hard by their track. He might spring any moment upon them. Each object might be his place of concealment. He lurked by the woody wayside, he crept along the margin of the open lands ; and on the outskirt of the woodland he peered to get a sight at some late refugee whom he might bear away as his prey.
Within the garrisons the scenes were also, doubtless, of a stirring character. These places were soon to be isolated. Communication with them was to be cut off. They were to be surrounded by a fierce horde of beleaguering savages ; and before help could arrive the doors might be battered by tomahawks, or the torch be applied to the wall. Anxiously might those who had entered these places watch and await
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coming events ; eagerly may they have looked to catch a glimpse of their belated townsmen who might be coming from the more exposed outskirts, or who, like the brave Thomas Plympton, had gone forth to bring to the garrison the dwellers on lonely homesteads. The sound of firing over the distant woodlands ; the smoke rising in clouds upon the far-off horizon ; occasional new arrivals from different locali- ties, bringing evidence of the near approach of the Indians, - all these would present a scene of a startling character ; and as the night shadows of April 20 crept about the lonely gar- risons, those within had no assurance but that it was as the darkness of the shadow of death.
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But, though the scene was thrilling and one of anxious sus- pense, it was nevertheless one of courage and hope. From what we know of the character of the Sudbury inhabitants, and of their conduct when the attack was begun, we con- clude that in those hours of ingathering there were hearts full of determination, and that plans were laid for a success- ful defense. Doubtless the ammunition was carefully looked to and put in a convenient place, the flints scraped, the priming-wire used, and every aperture in the garrison walls closed and secured, except such as were left to fire from.
Beside the regular force of the town's militia who were to assist in defense of the garrisons, it is supposed some militia were present from other places. Some men from the force of Captain Brocklebank, the garrison commander at Marl- boro, are supposed to have been there. Of twelve soldiers who went from Rowley, and did service in Sudbury, seven returned to their homes ; and it is hardly supposable that so many should have escaped if in the Wadsworth fight. We presume, therefore, with the historian of Rowley, that they helped man these garrisons.
THE ATTACK.
During the night of the 20th of April, Philip advanced his forces, and took positions for the coming day. The Indians possessed such a knowledge of the country as enabled him to do this to advantage. Every path through the woodland had been trod by the moccasined foot; every log crossing or
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rude bridge, from the Connecticut to the river at Sudbury, were on old and well-worn trails. Among the invaders were some who had lived thereabouts for years, or had ranged the forest for game, or frequented the Musquetahquid (Sudbury River) for fish. From these Philip might obtain information of the country, and thus be enabled to lay his plans. This doubtless was what he did. Probably every homestead, how- ever humble, was noted ; every highway guarded, and every wood-path carefully watched. No lone haystack in secluded meadow nook, no rude shelter for cattle, no rough shed for the sheep, escaped the vigilance of his roving marauders as in night's stillness they ranged through the town. As they reconnoitred about the garrisons, they doubtless noticed each object from which they could direct their fire, and each way of approach and retreat.
Of the movements of the Indians the English probably knew but little as the night wore on. The soft tread of the moccasin, as the dusky squad stole silently about these strongholds, was too gentle for even the ears of such anxious listeners in the ominous stillness of that solitude. Even the slow-moving bush which may have hidden from view some adventurous savage, as he approached a little nearer to recon- noitre the place and discover its weak or strong points, though it aroused suspicion of a lurking foe, yet revealed nothing of his number or strength, nor of the squad in concealment near by, who awaited the whispered report of their comrade. No night-fires lit the heavens with their lurid glow, disclos- ing the foe's intent. His dark encampment was doubtless within the dense pines, where he lay on his evergreen conch until called forth by the signal of daybreak. The stillness of nature and of man were both there. It was the calm that foreboded a storm which was to burst upon man and his dwelling, the herd and its stall.
But the silence soon broke. With the morning the mys- tery cleared. It was early discovered by the inhabitants that during the night-time the Indians had gotten possession of everything in the west part of the town but the garrisons, and that they had become so scattered about in squads, and had so occupied various localities, that at a given signal they
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could strike a concerted blow. Says the " Old Indian Chron- icle," " The houses were built very scatteringly, and the en- emy divided themselves into small parties, which executed their design of firing at once." The smoke of dwellings curled upward on the morning air, the warwhoop rang out from the forest, and from the town's westerly limit to the Watertown boundary the destructive work was begun. It is said by tradition that the Indians even entered the Water- town territory, and set fire to a barn in what is now Weston.
About the time of firing the deserted houses, the Indians made their attack on the garrisons. The detachments for . this work were probably as specifically set apart as were those for burning the dwelling-places ; and doubtless hours before daybreak the foe lay concealed in their picked places ready to pour their shot on the wall. The attack on the Haynes house was of great severity. The position of the building favored the near and concealed approach of the enemy. The small hill at the north afforded a natural ram- part from which to direct his fire ; behind it he could skulk to close range of the house, and drive his shot with terrible force on the walls. There is a tradition, that, by means of this hill, the Indians tried to set the building on fire. They filled a cart with flax, ignited, and started it down the hill towards the house ; but before it reached its destination it upset, and the building was saved. Tradition also states that near the house was a barn, which the Indians burned ; but that this proved advantageous to the inmates of the gar- rison, as it had afforded a shelter for the Indians to fire from. Probably this barn was burned with the expectation of set- ting fire to the house.
But it was not long that the Indians were to fight at close range. The bold defenders soon sallied forth, and commenced aggressive warfare. They fell on the foe, forced them back, and drove them from their "skulking approaches." Could Philip have spared reinforcements at this critical time, he doubtless would have readily done so, rather than suffered defeat at this garrison. But his main force was lying in wait at Green Hill for Captain Wads- worth, other detachments were plundering on the east side,
OUTOFANT & BOFF ON
THE HAYNES GARRISON HOUSE. From original painting by A. S. Hudson.
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and some were besieging other garrisons. The force needed at different localities prevented a concentration at any one point. Thus the day was won at the Haynes house. In the skirmish the Indians suffered considerably, while the English lost but two, and that through their own indiscre- tion.
While the conflict was going on, the inmates of the garri- son showed stout hearts and commendable coolness and cour- age; even the women manifested but little, if any, timidity. Perhaps they served in opening and closing the apertures to the garrison, when the musket was thrust out and with- drawn; they may have swabbed the foul guns, wiped the priming-pan, and scraped the flints ; they may have stood, powder-horn in hand, with the powder all poured for the charge, and the tow wadding all torn for the ramrod's ready work. Such was the work at the old Haynes Garrison, - the noble work of a noble company.
The service at the other garrisons was probably all that was needed. That none of these houses were captured is enough to indicate a stout and manly defense. They were all coveted objects of the enemy, and plans for the capture of each had been carefully laid. That all the garrisons did both defensive and aggressive work is shown by "The Old Petition," which says, "Our Garrison men kept not within their Garrisons, but issued forth to fight ye Enemy within their skulking approaches." Thus manly was the defense of the garrisons during the long morning hours of that eventful day. From the dawning till noon the clouds gathered and broke over those frail, scattered fortresses. All about them was confusion and turmoil; in various directions the dense smoke-cloud drooped its dismal drapery over smouldering homesteads ; and on the ears of the beleaguered inhabitants frequently broke the wild yell of the foe. But still they fought on, with none near to assist them. No drum-beat announced the approach of reinforcements. They might not have known that relief parties had started. The tramp of Wadsworth and his company, as they passed through to Marlboro the preceding night, might have been mistaken for
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the tramp of the foe; and nothing, for aught they knew, awaited the garrisons but to win the victory alone.
HOSTILITIES ON THE EAST SIDE.
While the conflict was raging around the garrisons on the west side, there was by no means inactivity on the east side. The condition of things was critical there also; the circumstances in the two places, however, were different. The east side was so protected by the high water, which at that time covered the meadows, that the savages would nat- urally be more cautious in their mode of attack; with a crossing only at the town bridge and causeway, it would be unsafe to scatter their forces very much, or to venture far from the place of retreat ; nevertheless they invaded the ter- ritory, and commenced their mischievous work by plunder- ing dwelling-houses. They doubtless intended to take what spoils they could carry away, and then burn the place ; but they were effectually checked in their work. The in- habitants fell upon them with fury. They beat them from the very thresholds of their humble homes, and snatched the spoil from their savage clutch; they even forced them to retreat on the run, and seek safety in precipitous flight.
During the progress of the conflict the women and chil- dren were probably at the stockade of Rev. Edmund Brown, at Timber Neck. This stockade was sufficient to shelter all in that neighborhood. It was admirably situated as a place of defense: being at the junction of Mill Brook and the river, at high water it had but two sides of attack, and the Indians could only reach it by a circuitous course. From these circumstances it is hardly probable that it would require many soldiers to man this stockade ; hence more could be spared to defend their homes. But all that could be spared made a very small company at best.
The entire defensive force of the town being but about eighty militia men, with a few added who had come from outside, we may conclude that the fighting was largely done by a few. Says "The Old Petition," " The enemy was by few beaten out of houses which they had entered and by a few hands were forced to a running fight which way they
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could, ye spoil taken by them on ye East side of ye river was in great parte recovered." This gives an outline of the facts, which, like the rest of " The Petition," suggest various pos- sible and probable details of the conflict ; and the conjecture is by no means extravagant, that those morning hours on both sides of the river witnessed scenes of daring by those brave little companies unsurpassed in the annals of King Philip's War.
Before leaving this part of the subject, we will quote from " The Old Petition," which to an extent has furnished the facts from which the foregiven description has been taken : " The Enemy well knowing Our grounds, passes, avenues, and situations, had near surrounded Our town ni ye morning early ( Wee not knowing of it) till discovered by fireing sev- erall disserted houses ; the Enemy with greate force & fury assaulted Deacon Haines' house well fortified yet badly scit- uated as advantagous to ye Enemy's approach & dangerous to ye Repellant yet (by ye help of God) ye Garrison not onely defended ye place fro betweene five or six of ye clock in ye Morning, till about One in ye Afternoon but forced ye Enemy with considerable slaughter to draw off. Many Observables worthy of Record hapened in this assault, vizt : that noe man or woman seemed to be possessed with feare; Our Garrisonmen kept not within their Garrisons, but issued forth to fight ye Enemy in their sculking approaches : We had but two of Our townes men slaine, & yt by indiscretion none wounded."
ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS.
While the town's inhabitants were defending the garri- sons, and at the same time endeavoring to prevent the sav- ages from further plundering their dwellings and making off with the spoils, reinforcements were approaching the town from several directions. Among the principles of action proposed by the authorities at the beginning of the war was, that one town should assist another with what men it could spare, on the giving of a general alarm; so it was in the case before us. Intelligence of the enemy in the neighbor- hood of Sudbury spread rapidly to surrounding places, and
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men hastened from Concord and Watertown, and were sent by the colonial authorities from the vicinity of Boston. As each of these three reinforcements had a history of its own, we will describe them separately.
THE CONCORD COMPANY.
This consisted of "twelve resolute young men," who endeavored to render assistance in the neighborhood of the Haynes Garrison-house. Before they had reached it, how- ever, and formed a junction with the citizens of the town, they met with a melancholy fate in the neighboring meadow. The account of the affair is thus given by Mr. Shattuck in the Concord history, which account, he states, is preserved by tradition : "Arriving near the garrison-house of Walter Haynes, they observed several squaws, who, as they drew near, danced, shouted, powwowed, and used every method to amuse and decoy them. Eleven of the English pursued and attacked them, but found themselves, too late, in an ambuscade, from which a large number of Indians rushed upon and attacked them with great fury. Notwithstanding they made a bold resistance, it was desperate, and ten of them were slain. The other escaped to the garrison, where the neighboring inhabitants had fled for security, which was bravely defended."
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