USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume I > Part 9
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"For our danger would have been very great that night, had not the only wise God (blessed forever) been pleased to send to us about an hour within night the worshipful Major Willard with Captain Parker of Groton, and forty-six men more, with five Indians, to relieve us in low estate into which we were brought.
"When they saw their divers designs unsuccessful, and their hopes therein disappointed, the Indians then fired the house and barn (wherein they had before kept to lie in wait to surprise any coming to us) that by the light thereof they might the better direct their shot at us, but no hurt was done thereby, praised be the Lord. And not long after they burnt the meeting house wherein their fortifications were, as also the barn, which belonged to our house. Perceiving more strength come to our assistance, they did, as we suppose, despair of effecting any more mischief against us. And therefore the greatest part of them, towards the breaking of the day, August the fifth, went away and left us, and we were quiet from any further molestations by them.
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"On the morning we went forth of the house without danger, and so daily afterwards. Only one man was wounded about two days later, as he was out to look after horses, by some few of them skulking thereabouts. We cannot tell how many of them were killed in all that time, but one that was after- wards taken, confessed that there were killed and wounded about eighty men or more. Blessed be the Lord God of our salvation, who kept us from being all a prey to their teeth. But before they went away they burnt all the town except the house we kept in, and another that was not then finished. They also made great spoil of the cattle belonging to the inhabitants, and after our entrance into the house, and during the time of our confinement there, they either killed or drove away almost all the horses of our company."
CHAPTER VIII.
Dark Days in the Nipmuck Country --- Lancaster Attacked --- English Victory in Great Swamp Fight
As soon as word of the fighting reached Springfield and Boston strong reinforcements were dispatched to Brookfield, and soon a force of three hun- dred men was in. pursuit of the Indians. They first moved on to Wenimesset, but found the camp deserted. The savages had had no difficulty in eluding them. In fact the English captains seem to have been either wholly ignorant of Indians' methods of warfare, or arrogantly confident of their own impreg- nability. They had learned nothing from the ambush of Captain Wheeler's company, nor did subsequent similarly tragic experiences teach them early in the fighting the wisdom of constant watchfulness and preparedness.
On August 25, Captains Lothrop and Beers were marching from Brook- field in pursuit of the enemy "at a great pace," with neither vanguard nor flankers to give warning of a lurking foe, when ambushing Indians "let fly about forty guns at them" from a swamp by the pathside, and inflicted very serious losses. Ten days later, Captain Beers and his company, again unpro- tected by scouts, walked directly into the fire of one hundred and thirty war- riors under Sagamore Sam. Soon after Captain Lothrop and his men were moving along a narrow path and halted at a little stream to which they gave the enduring name of Bloody Brook. "Many of them were so foolish as to lay down their arms and step aside to gather grapes, which proved dear and costly grapes to them," wrote Mather. The Colonial soldiers were brave men, but as Indian fighters they had much to learn.
Upon the relief of Brookfield most of the settlers departed, some to Marl- boro, some to Springfield, under escort of soldiers. A garrison was estab- lished, and it was planned to maintain a strong military post there, midway
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between Marlboro and Springfield. But following a series of disasters to English companies and because of the imperative need of fighting men to protect the remaining settlements, particularly those of the Connecticut Val- ley, Brookfield was abandoned by both soldiers and settlers, and the Indians soon burned the few remaining buildings.
Lancaster was the next settlement to suffer. Its own tribe, the Nashaways, had been active in the Brookfield affair, led by Sagamore Sam and One- Eyed John, whose Indian names were Monoco and Apequinash. The former was a capable leader. With him at Lancaster, according to Gookin, were a score of Philip's warriors, and there seems to be no reason to doubt it, for the two chiefs had met at Wenimesset, and Monoco was one of those to whom the Poconoket sachem had given a quantity of wampum.
On the evening of August 15, Captain Moseley with a company of sixty dragoons arrived at Lancaster, having been sent there by Major Willard to pursue a band of Indians which had been reported skulking in the forest in the vicinity of the village. The troop started out the next morning to search for the enemy, which was what the wiley Sagamore Sam was hoping for. The Nashaways had no difficulty in getting in the rear of the dragoons, for Sam knew every foot of the country thereabouts, and as soon as they were at a safe distance, fell upon the village.
The attack was made on a Sunday afternoon, August 22. The Indians gave no quarter. Mordecai McLeod and his wife and two children lived in the northernmost house of the village, and they were killed, as were three other men the same day, and another a day or two later. All were frightfully man- gled. Two of them, George Bennett and Jacob Farrar, Jr., were heads of families. The others were soldiers detailed from Concord or Watertown for garrison duty. But the settlers were not yet discouraged. That came later, following one of the great tragedies of the war.
The Scalp in the Moon-The Colonial authorities were not slow in carrying the war to the Indians. Expeditions were sent against them, and one of most skillful and daring of the commanders was Captain Daniel Hench- man, who was among the first permanent settlers of Worcester and promi- nent in town affairs. It was he who commanded a foot company dispatched out of Boston, toward Mt. Hope, which figured in the incident of the eclipse of the moon in Capricorn and filled the people with superstitious dread. The soldiers had come to the Neponset River in the evening when the light of the moon began to fade as the shadow of the earth bit into its surface. "Some melancholy fancies would not be persuaded, but that the eclipse falling out at that instant of time was ominous, conceiving also that in the center of the moon they discerned an unusual black spot, not a little resembling the scalp of an Indian." Others thought it the form of a bow, and there was talk among
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the Colonists of hearing the whistling of bullets through the air. It was an orgy of shivery fancies.
Captain Henchman was operating in the Nipmuck country. November I, 1675, we find him marching from Boston to visit the Indians of Hassanemesco (Grafton). The third day they saw some Indian fires but no Indians. On the fourth day they arrived in Hassaneamesco. "The Captain would have taken up his quarters a mile on this (east) side, but some of his officers over- ruled him, to whose importunity he gave way, and marched a mile further toward the enemy, and by that means saved a youth, taken the week before at Marlborough. For in the morning very early, as the scouts were looking out, they spied a wigwam where some Indians who had carried away the youth had lodged all night. When the Indians saw our soldiers they hastened away and left the Marlborough youth behind them, who by that means escaped their hands.
"Our men under Capt. Henchman marched on to the Pappachuog, and find- ing the Indians all fled (although they perceived by a messenger sent back, that the Indians followed them on the way as they marched) they came back to Mendon to settle things in that town. Some of the inhabitants informed them of Indian wigwams about ten miles off. The captain with Philip Cur- tice, his lieutenant, resolved to give them a Camisado in their wigwams that night. To that end they mounted two and twenty upon horses, and riding up ten miles into the woods, when they came near the wigwams (on Keith Hill, Grafton) they dismounted, and intended presently to march up and give an assault upon them after they had first made a shout to fright the enemy.
"They ordered one half to follow the lieutenant, the other to follow the captain. When they came within a quarter of a mile of the place, their dogs began to bark, at which they stopped, and by and by marched again, intending presently to fire in upon them, but the Captain's foot slipping he could hardly recover himself. When suddenly looking behind him, he saw no man follow- ing him. The lieutenant had five behind him, who with those five resolutely fired on that side he was appointed make the assault upon.
"But they were repulsed by the Indians, who firing out of their dens shot down the lieutenant and another. The rest presently ran away to a fence. The captain with all vehemency urged them to stay. They replied they went back only to charge, yet went clear away. By which cowardice so sad a loss befell the company, which could not easily be repaired. However, the enemy presently deserted the wigwam, and gave our men the next day the opportunity to fetch off their two dead men, and so with grief and shame were constrained to return to their quarters at Mendon." Gookin wrote of the incident : "Philip Curtice of Roxbury, a stout man. His hands they cut off and placed upon a crotched pole at the Wigwam Door faced against each other, which were seen a few days after."
Wor .- 6
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Narragansetts Driven Into Worcester County-After Moseley's defeat of King Philip's forces, the Colonial Federation determined to come to a settlement with the Narragansetts, for "there was no small ground for suspicion that they might join with the enemy." So ambassadors under the protection of a strong military force proceeded into their country, and demanded of the sachems not only the neutrality of their people, but their active assistance against the Poconokets. The chiefs were placed in a most unpleasant quandary. It is beyond question that they had made a solemn compact with Philip, and in their villages were many of his non-combatants, and probably some of his fighting men, seeking safety for the time being, or being healed of their wounds. On the other hand the English companies were there, standing back of the English messengers.
They had no option but to sign a treaty, under which "they would care- fully seize and, living or dead, deliver to the English every one of Sachem Philip's subjects whatsoever, that shall be found within the precincts of any of the sachems' lands," and that they would "use all acts of hostility against the said Philip and his subjects, entering his lands or other lands of the Eng- lish to kill and destroy the said enemy, and that all acts of hostility on the part of the sachems shall forever cease." Then, at the insistence of the English, no doubt, they delivered up four of their near kinsmen as hostages, to bind the fulfillment of these impossible conditions. It is not recorded what happened to the unfortunate kinsmen. The sachems may have planned to play fair with them, but subsequent events would indicate that they were offered up as a sacrifice to save their people from immediate attack.
When winter came conditions in the Colonies were desperate. The attacks of the Indians had continued, and none but those in the old settled communi- ties felt safe. The future was one of menace. The Narragansetts had shown in various ways that they had no intention of doing anything to injure the cause of King Philip.
"As for the late League," wrote Hubbard, "made or renewed with the Narragansetts, it was sufficiently evident and known that they had all along from the first day when it was confirmed, broken every article of it, specially in not delivering up the Enemies which had sheltered themselves with them all this while, which though they did not positively deny, yet did nothing but find excuses, to defer it one week after another, till at the last they would be excused till the next spring, upon pretence that they could not before the time get them together. And besides the favoring of those who fled to them and supplying the whole body of the enemy with victuals upon all occasions, it was likewise strongly suspected that in all the late proceedings of the enemy, many of their young men were known to be actually in arms against us, many of whom were found wounded amongst them in their wigwams, or else were seen occasionally turning back after exploits abroad, to be healed of their wounds at home."
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Then information reached the authorities that the Narragansetts had assem- bled practically their whole tribe in winter quarters, in a fortified camp in the midst of a great swamp. It was fully realized that a winter campaign would be a desperate venture. There could be no shelter for an army. It might be caught in a blizzard or a spell of zero weather. "The sharpness of winter of these parts might hazard the loss of a thousand men in one night, if they were forced to lodge in the open field," and it would be impossible to "send any relief to them at any distance, the depth of snow usually making the ways impassible for divers months at a time."
On the other hand it was argued that "there was every reason to fear if they were let alone till the next spring, they might all rise together as one man round us, and that one town after another might easily be destroyed before any help could be dispatched to them."
It was not the way of these Colonists to hesitate in the face of danger. The decision was soon reached by the consent of all to assemble an army of a thousand men from the three colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth and Con- necticut, "to cast themselves upon the Providence of a merciful and gracious God, rather than by delays to expose themselves to the treachery and cruelty of a perfidious enemy." With the Massachusetts companies was a small force of friendly Indians, and the Connecticut forces were augmented by a large body of Mohegans. Governor Winslow, of Plymouth, was in command.
The suffering of the soldiers may be imaigned. Not a house had been left standing to give them shelter. On the march they were harassed by small war parties, which now and then cut down some imprudent straggler. On December 18, they started on the final stage of their march, under the guidance of a Narragansett renegade, who offered to take them to the fort where his people were living in fancied security. It was stormy and very cold. They could find "no other defence save the open air, nor other covering than a cold and moist fleece of snow." There was no fire to warm them, and no food except what they might eat on the way. They had proceeded fourteen miles when they arrived in the vicinity of the Kingston Swamp.
The fort was a formidable affair. It occupied the raised land of an island covering four or five acres, and the whole was enclosed with high palisades outside of which was piled an impenetrable mass of felled trees and brush, their branches intertwining in impassable confusion. Through it were open- ings familiar to the defenders. But for the English forces there was but one entrance and that could be reached only by passing single file the length of a long tree-trunk. It was guarded by a sort of blockhouse in which were posted Indian marksmen.
It was a gallant attack. The English captains led the way, and some of them were the first to die. As Hubbard vividly described it :
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"Some were shot dead upon the tree, as Capt. Johnson, and some as soon as they entered, as was Capt. Davenport, so they that first entered were forced presently to retire and fall upon their bellies till the fury of the enemies' shot was pretty well spent. Some companies that did not discern the danger, not observing, lost sundry of their men. But at the last, two companies being brought up besides the four that first marched up, they animated one another to make another assault, one of the commanders crying 'They run, they run!' Which did so encourage the soldiers, that they presently entered amain.
"After a considerable number had entered, they presently beat the enemy out of a flanker on the left hand, which did a little shelter our men from the enemies' shot till more companies came up, and so by degrees made up higher, first into the middle of the fort, till at last they made the enemy all retire from their sconces and fortified places, leaving multitudes of their dead bodies upon the place.
"The brunt of the battle or danger that day lay most upon the commanders whose part it was to lead on their several companies in the very face of death, or else all had been lost. No less than six brave captains fell that day in the assault, vis., Capt. Davenport, Capt. Gardner, Capt. Johnson of the Massa- chusetts, besides Lieut. Upham, who died some months after of his wounds received at the time. Capt. Gallop, also, and Capt. Siely and Capt. Marshal were slain of those who belonged to the Connecticut Colony. The soldiers were rather enraged than discouraged by the loss of their commanders, which made them double their courage and not give back after they were entered a second time, till they had driven out their enemies. So after much blood and many wounds dealt on both sides, the English seeing their advantage, began to fire the wigwams, where was supposed to be many of the enemies' women and children destroyed by the firing of at least five or six of those smoky cells.
"Most of their provisions as well as their huts were then consumed with fire, and those that were left alive were forced to hide themselves in a cedar swamp, not far off, where they had nothing to defend them from the cold but the boughs of spruce and pine trees. For after two or three hours' fight, the English became masters of the place, but not judging it tenable, after they had burned all they could set fire upon, they were forced to retreat, after the daylight was almost quite spent, and were necessitated to retire to their quar- ters, full fifteen or sixteen miles off, some say more, whither with their dead and wounded men, they were to march, a difficulty scarce to be believed, as not to be paralleled almost in any former age."
It was a bloody and awful battle. Eighty Englishmen were killed and one hundred fifty wounded, to be borne through the snowbound wilderness, their wounds untended. The dead included some who died on this dreadful journey. The slaughter of the Indians was beyond description. Hubbard's estimate of seven hundred warriors slain and an even greater number of
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women and children and old men perished in the hundreds of burning wig- wams is not considered an exaggeration. These wigwams were formidable in the fighting, for they were lined with baskets and tubs of corn and other win- ter provisions and were practically bullet proof. They had to be burned. The loss to the Narragansetts of their food was a great disaster in itself, for they had no means of replenishing their supplies.
The Great Swamp Fight was the turning point of the war. It made cer- tain that it could not continue for long. But it proved most unfortunate for the settlers of the Nipmuck Country, for it added to the horde of Nipmucks and Poconokets, hundreds of Narragansetts, their hearts burning for revenge.
As the winter advanced the Indians in the Nipmuck Country were in extreme straits. Food was extremely scarce. The Narragansetts, following the Poconokets, had thrown themselves upon the hospitality of the Nipmuck tribes, whose cornfields had been destroyed the previous summer. The Eng- lish troops had been in pursuit, and there had been several engagements in which the savages had been defeated and had suffered losses. The last encoun- ter was on February I. But the English were also short of supplies and had been reduced to killing some of their horses for food for their Indian allies. Therefore, on February 3, it was decided to return to headquarters at Wick- ford, Rhode Island, six days' march distant.
Immediately the Indians discovered the departure of their pursuers their thoughts turned to replenishing their larder. Lancaster offered the oppor- tunity for food and loot and the killing of the English. On February 10, a force of fifteen hundred savages descended upon the settlement. Philip was present, but, not, it is believed, in command. Sagamore Sam and others among the Nipmuck chiefs are given the credit for the bloody exploit. After killing a number of persons in different parts of the village, they concentrated upon the garrison house of Rev. Mr. Rowlandson, which was occupied by soldiers and inhabitants to the number of fifty, more or less. Only one man escaped. The remainder of the men were killed, together with some of the women and children. The clergyman himself was in Boston, soliciting military protection for his people. His wife and children were carried into captivity. The swarm of redskins was attacking other parts of the settlement when a relief force of forty English soldiers arrived from Marlboro, and they withdrew. Shortly afterwards Lancaster was abandoned. Let Mrs. Rowlandson herself tell of what befell her garrison and of her captivity.
CHAPTER IX.
Mary Rowlandson's Narrative
The dramatic narrative of the experiences of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, wife of the minister of the frontier village of Lancaster, which she wrote imme- diately upon her return from her three months' captivity among the Indians, is one of extraordinary interest, not only as a thrilling story, vividly told, but in the insight it affords of the customs and character of the savages of that period. Her master was Quennapin, an important Narragansett chief. She was the servant of Weetamoo, recently become his third wife, a squaw sachem and widow of Alexander and sister-in-law of Philip. Philip enters into the nar- rative in its closing "removals," as Mrs. Rowlandson divided her experiences, indicating the journeys from one camping place to another. Her opinion of the sagamore does not make him the heroic, romantic figure which many picture him at this late day.
After the Lancaster massacre, her captors and the rest of the band drifted from camp to camp through Princeton, to Menamesit in New Braintree, Nichewaug in Petersham, Orange, Northfield, and up the Connecticut into the Ashuelot Valley of New Hampshire, and finally by easy stages back again, over much the same route, to Wachusett Lake at the eastern base of Mt. Wachusett. Preliminary negotiations had been proceeding between the Gov- ernor and the Indian sagamores for the ransom of Mrs. Rowlandson. The emissaries of the Governor were two Christian Indians, Tom Dublet, whose Indian name was Nepanet, and Peter Conway, otherwise Tataquines.
It was John Hoar, ancestor of the late United States Senator George F. Hoar, of Worcester, who came to the appointed rendezvous, a conspicuous ledge in the shadow of Wachusett, which today is known far and wide as Redemption Rock. He was a brave man, this John Hoar. With only the two Christian Indians as his companions, he entered the camp of a demoralized horde of bitterly hostile savages. He probably knew that King Philip would be present and opposed to the ransoming of prisoners. He was met by a
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fusillade of gunfire. The braves jostled him insultingly. His answer was an invitation to the sagamores to be his guests at dinner. The final gift to Quen- napin of a bottle of rum clinched the case. The ransom was paid, May, 1676, and Mr. Hoar departed with the ransomed captive.
The book of Mrs. Rowlandson's story, a tiny leather bound volume, now a precious treasure of Americana, was published in 1682. On its title page, in the quaint type of the day, is the inscription: "Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Written by Her Own Hand for Her Private Use. And now made public at the earnest desire of some friends, and for the benefit of the afflicted." We have selected a series of episodes from the Narrative, which combine to tell sufficiently the events of this long captivity, as follows :
"On the tenth of February, 1675, came the Indians in great numbers upon Lancaster. Their first coming was about sun-rising. Hearing the noise of some guns we looked out. Several houses were burning, and the smoke ascending to Heaven. At length they came and beset our house, and quickly it was the dolefullest day that mine eyes ever saw. The house stood upon the edge of a hill. Some of the Indians got behind the hill, others into the barn, and others behind anything that could shelter them. From all which places they shot against the house, so that the bullets seem to fly like hail, and quickly they wounded one man amongst us, then another, and then a third.
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