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O event is oftener mentioned in New England story than the memorable
fight between the English and Indians, at Saco Pond. The cruel and
barbarous murders almost daily committed upon the inhabitants of the
frontier settlements, caused the general court of Massachusetts to offer
a bounty of £100 for every Indian’s scalp. This reward induced Captain
John Lovewell to raise a volunteer company, and make excursions into the
Indian country for scalps. He was very successful and returned to Boston
with scalps for which he received £1000.
The Indians, however continued their depredations, and the Pequawkets,
under the terrible chief, Paugus, especially distinguished themselves
for their frequent predatory incursions. About the middle of April,
1725, Captain Lovewell, with forty-six men, marched on an expedition
against Paugus. The party arrived near the place where they expected
to find the Indians, on the 7th of May; and and early the next morning,
while at prayers, heard a gun, supposed to be fired by one of the
Indians, and immediately prepared for the encounter. Divesting
themselves of their packs, they marched forward, but in an opposite
direction from where the Indians were posted.
This mistake gave Paugus an advantage. He followed the track of the
English, fell in with their packs, and learned their numbers. Encouraged
by superiority, he having eighty men with him, he pursued the English,
and courted a contest. Lovewell, after marching a considerable distance,
during which time he took one scalp, and was mortally wounded by the
last fire of the Indian who had been scalped, ordered his men to return
for their packs. The wary Paugus expected this, and lay in ambush to cut
them off. When the English were completely encircled, the Indians rose
from the coverts, and advanced towards them with arms presented.
They expected the English to surrender to their superior force, and
accordingly threw away their first fire. But Lovewell, though wounded,
led on his men to the attack. The Indians were driven back several rods,
and many killed and wounded. But they soon returned and attacked their
white foes vigorously; killed Lovewell and eight men, and wounded three
others. The English then retreated to the shore of Saco Pond, so as to
prevent their being surrounded. The banks afforded a kind of breastwork,
behind which they maintained the contest until night, when the Indians
drew off and they saw no more of them. Only nine of the English escaped
unhurt, though several that were wounded lived to return to Dunstable.
Paugus was killed in the course of the fight by one John Chamberlain, a
noted hunter. It is said that they both came to the shore of the pond to
quench their thirst, when the encounter took place, in which Paugus was
shot through the heart.
A son of the chief, after peace was restored, came to Dunstable, to
revenge his father’s death, by killing Chamberlain; but not going
directly to him his design was suspected by some one, and communicated
to the intended victim, who kept himself upon his guard, and had a hole
cut through the door of his house. Through this hole, Chamberlain
one morning discovered an Indian, behind a pile of wood, with his gun
pointed toward the door. Making use of his advantage, he fired upon and
killed the son of Paugus.
In the ballad, in which the events of Love-well’s fight are
commemorated, we find some singular details of the escape of the wounded
white men. Solomon Keyes, having received three wounds, said he would
hide himself and die secretly, so that the Indians could not get his
scalp? As he crawled upon the shore of the pond, a short distance from
the battle-ground, he found a canoe, into which he rolled himself, and
was drifted away by the wind. To his astonishment, he was cast ashore
near Fort Ossippee, to which he crawled, and there found several of his
companions, with whom he returned home. The most of those who escaped
did not leave the battle-ground till near midnight. When they arrived
at the fort, they expected to find refreshment, and the few men they had
left in reserve. But a deserter had so frightened the men left in the
fort, that they fled in dismay towards Dunstable.
Fifty New Hampshire volunteers afterwards marched to the scene of
action, and buried the dead. They found but three Indians, one of whom
was Paugus. The remainder were supposed to have been taken away when
they retreated. The pond, on the banks of which the battle was fought,
has ever since received the name of Lovewell’s Pond. Some rural Homer,
the author of the ballad to which we have alluded, thus pathetically
concludes his narrative:
``Ah, many a wife shall rend her hair,
``And many a child cry, “Woe is me,”
``When messengers the news shall hear,
``Of Lovewell’s dear-bought victory.=
``With footsteps slow shall travellers go,
``Where Love well’s pond shines clear and bright
``And mark the place where those are laid,
``Who fell in Love well’s bloody fight.=
``Old men shall shake their heads, and say,
``Sad was the hour and terrible,
``When Lovewell, brave, ‘gainst Paugus went,
``With fifty men from Dunstable.=
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