BURNING OF DEERFIELD IN MASSACHUSETTS, AND MASSACRE OF ITS INHABITANTS,
&c.
“The history of the world,” said one, “is a history of crime and
calamity.” And if we may put a commentary on this, it doubtless means,
that its most notable features are of this description. The peaceful
and even tenor of a particular community, or of the grand community of
nations, makes brief chapters of history;--and for this reason:--that
the interest of the record is in the inverse proportion to the
comfort, which the facts narrated have brought to mankind. However
libellous the charge, the human mind loves excitement, and delights
more in the review of deeds of blood and of the disasters occasioned
by the conflict of the physical elements of the universe, than of the
achievements of benevolence and the security and happiness of society.
The detail of the actual misery, inflicted by the strifes of nations,
is always private; and imposes itself upon public observation, only by
the swelling of its frightful aggregate. The most remarkable incidents
of private life, and the most affecting features of private calamity,
are almost entirely excluded from the notice of the general historian,
by the very design and necessities of his task. These make the wide
and various field, and constitute the exhaustless materials of the
dramatist, the tragedian, and the writer of romance. This is, indeed,
the grand monopoly of this class of writers--the province of authentic
biography excepted.
In the old French war, as it is called in America, (for every country
has its own annals, the common allusions of which are best understood
at home) the town of Deerfield in Massachusetts, which was then a
frontier settlement, became a prey to Indian pillage and massacre. It
is understood, that this event happened in the early history of what
were then called the British colonies of North America. The awful
night, when the Indian war-whoop broke the repose of the peaceful
inhabitants of that village, consigned its humble tenements to the
blaze of the firebrand, and its fathers and mothers, and brothers
and sisters, and helpless infancy, to indiscriminate massacre, or to
painful captivity, is still fresh in the recollections of traditionary
narrative, and stands recorded on the authentic pages of the early
history of New England. The place itself is indeed at present one of
the most secure abodes, and one of the pleasantest and sweetest towns
in the Vale of the Connecticut, the long line of the grateful territory
of which, has been celebrated by a native poet, whose verse offers to
my recollection the following couplet:--
“No rays of sun on happier vallies shine,
Nor drinks the sea a lovelier wave than thine.”
But the burning and massacre of Deerfield will never be forgotten. An
Indian assault, when victorious, and Indian vengeance, are terrible
beyond imagination to conceive. In war mercy is no attribute of
the Indian’s breast. One of the solemn and sacramental acts of his
enlistment, is publicly to absolve himself from all clemency towards
his enemies; and the more merciless the inflictions of his cruelty on
man, woman, and child, the greater his glory, and the more sure his
reward. The implorings of helpless age, the cries of the tender female,
the beseechings of the mother, and the sudden terror of her wakened
infant, are music to his ear;--and all the scene, of his burning and
carnage, a provocation to his appetite for blood. The captive he leads
away he doats upon, as the future and more public victim of his dire
revenge; and if perchance the tender object of his future sacrifice
sinks under the fatigues of the way, he lifts his hatchet, and brings
the victim to the earth, and snatches and bears away the scalp, as his
trophy.
Among the families, which fell victims to the massacre of Deerfield,
was that of the Rev. Mr. Williams, the pious and exemplary pastor
of the flock, consigned to his spiritual charge, in that frontier
settlement. His youngest child, an infant daughter, was snatched from
the cradle, and borne away a captive; and by accident falling in
charge of an Indian woman, the child became the favourite of her new
protectress--was cherished and brought up in the St. Regis Tribe, of
Lower Canada; and in process of time, was married to an Indian chief.
Although no knowledge of her preservation and history could be obtained
for many years, she was at last discovered in a time of peace, and
persuaded with her husband to visit the surviving family-connexions
in Massachusetts. But being entirely Indian in all her feelings, her
language, and manners, she could never be persuaded to desert the
home and the tribe, to which she had become attached. She was even
discontented and manifestly uneasy, under all the tender cares and
anxious attentions, which were in vain exhausted upon her, to induce
her to return, with her family, and take up her abode with the relics
and descendants of her father’s house, and in the bosom of civilized
society. Every possible motive and tempting offer were set before them;
but without success. She and her husband occasionally visited their
family connexions in Massachusetts, and were themselves visited in
turn; and the kindest reciprocities of feeling were exchanged in this
way, from one generation to another. And it may be observed, that the
Indian family, to which she was allied, took the name of _Williams_,
and have borne it to this day;--as is often the case, when connexions
of this sort have been formed. As is quite natural among barbarous
tribes, the natives of America, when on friendly terms, are proud of
European alliances, and are not unwilling to make this change of name,
in honour of the family, from which they have made the acquisitions of
a maternal head among themselves.
From one of the succeeding generations of this Anglo-Indian family, (I
am unable to specify, whether it was the fourth, fifth, or sixth) two
brothers, Eleazer and John, the former perhaps ten years old and the
latter eight, by persuasions used with their parents in Canada, were
brought to Long Meadow, Massachusetts, about fifty miles south of
Deerfield, on Connecticut River, to be educated among the collateral
descendants of their remote ancestor, the Rev. Mr. Williams. The
translation of these boys occurred about the year 1800--perhaps a
little subsequent. Their father, an Indian chief of the tribe before
named, came with them, and stayed long enough to induct his sons into
some acquaintance and custom with their new condition, and then left
them in charge of their solicitous and benevolent relations.
It was in the winter, while the earth was covered with a deep and heavy
fleece of immaculate snow. The father and his boys were dressed in the
Indian costume throughout, but richly ornamented, according to Indian
taste, and in a style befitting the rank and dignity of the family,
as among the chiefs of the tribe. Their blanket was worked into the
forms of a loose great coat with sleeves, and girded about the loins
by a belt of beaded wampum, with a knife pendant in a scabbard. Their
feet were shod with moccasins, and their ancles and legs to the knees,
buttoned up by a species of scarlet gaiters;--the hair of their heads
carelessly stuck with feathers--and the whole person exhibiting a
very grotesque and attractive appearance. In the country retreat of
Long-meadow, where an Indian had rarely shown himself for generations,
and where every novelty is a town talk, this exhibition excited a
wondrous and wondering attention. The whole congregation on Sunday,
instead of looking at the minister and hearing him, as was their duty,
could talk of nothing, and think of little, but the Indians. Their
eyes followed these strange-looking beings into the church, and into
their seats, and scarcely turned away from them, till the services were
closed, and the lions had been withdrawn from public gaze. Except for
the conscientious scruples of their pious host, they might as well,
or better, perhaps, have been kept at home. But although there was a
manifest distraction of the public mind, and although the Indians could
not understand a word of the services, yet there was no knowing what a
blessing there might be in it. The path of duty is the path of safety;
and to the praise of New England be it spoken, that in olden time, the
public conscience would have been greatly disturbed at any unnecessary
neglect of public worship. Every man was the guardian of his neighbour
in this particular, and held a conventional and vested right to call
him to account for delinquencies. Although it must be confessed, that
they have, in some places, and in some degree, fallen off from this
excellent custom of their forefathers. The author of these pages was
for years a school-fellow with these boys, and is well acquainted with
their history; and because of the conspicuous part, which the eldest
of them, Eleazer, is destined to occupy in our story, it is thought
suitable to insert some traces of his biography.
It may be proper to remark, that every town in New England (called
_town_ in the act of incorporation, of which a parish in _Old_ England
is the proper type, whether in the _country_, or otherwise) is divided
into a number of small geographical districts, to perfect the economy
of common education;--that the schools of these districts are supported
by assessments on the real estate within their limits, according to
the valuations of the civil list;--that the children of the poor
have the same advantages, as those of their more wealthy neighbours,
so far as the provisions of these schools are concerned; which are
always sufficient for the purposes of what is called a good _common_
education;--that is, instruction in the reading and grammar of the
English language, chirography, arithmetic, geography, history, and such
other things, as are deemed important for the common business of life.
And this is always the first stage of education, with the children of
the rich as of the poor. Those, who are able, and who choose to extend
the education of their children, having passed them through this common
course--the privileges of which are always near their own doors--send
them abroad to _select_ schools, and to the university, if they are
destined for the learned professions, or the higher conditions of life.
It happened, that the author, in his school-boy days, fell into the
same _district_ with these Anglo-Indian lads, Eleazer Williams and
his brother John. On the first few days of their appearance in the
school-room, they were as much the objects of curiosity with the
other children, as they and their father were with the congregation
at church. From the wildness of their nature and habits, it was
necessary for the master to humour their eccentricities, until they
might gradually accommodate themselves to discipline; and but for the
benevolent object in view, and the good anticipated, it was no small
sacrifice to endure the disorder, which their manners at first created.
Unused to restraint, and amazed at the orderly scene around them, they
would suddenly jump up, and cry, _Umph!_ or some other characteristic
and guttural exclamation, and then perhaps spring across the room, and
make a true Indian assault upon a child, on whom they had fixed their
eyes, to his no small affright and consternation;--or else dart out of
the house, and take to their heels in such a direction, as their whims
might incline them. Confinement they could ill endure at first; and so
long as they did nothing but create disorder, (and that they did very
effectually) they were indulged--until by degrees, they became used to
discipline, and began to learn. Their first attempts by imitation to
enunciate the names of the letters of the Roman alphabet, were quite
amusing--so difficult was it for them to form their tongue and other
organs to the proper shapes. If the children of the school laughed,
(as there was some apology for doing) these boys would sometimes cast
a contemptuous roll of the eye over the little assembly, and then
leaving an “_Umph!_” behind them, would dart out of the house, in
resentment;--all which was patiently endured by the master. For he
was particularly instructed not to use compulsion. They ultimately
became attentive and good boys, both in school and in the family, where
they were cherished;--the eldest, however, always manifesting more
tractableness and docility of the two. They gradually dropped their
Indian dress and manners, and adopted those of their new society. The
eldest, as he grew up, became a universal favourite, was extensively
introduced into the best society of New England;--was cherished by
every body, as a most promising youth;--and all began to predict that
he would ultimately be of great service to his own nation, and to
the Indian tribes. For this purpose, his love of his own people was
carefully cherished by all his patrons, who were very numerous, and
among the best and most influential men of the country. No pains or
expense were spared to enlarge his mind, cultivate his best feelings,
and fit him for a high destiny. And the gradual and rapid developements
of his intellect and moral virtues, and the improvement of his manners,
abundantly satisfied and rewarded the hopes and pains exhausted upon
him. In addition to all the rest, and as the highest finish of his
character, he was observed to embrace and cherish with great sincerity
and earnestness, the radical and practical principles of Christian
piety. He grew up a gentleman and a Christian.
For a time, during the last war between the United States and Great
Britain, his original and benevolent patrons in New England, were
somewhat disappointed and grieved, in consequence of his having
attached himself, by temptations held out to him, to the staff of the
American army in the north. In consideration of his known abilities
and of his connexion with the Indian tribes in Canada, which were the
auxiliaries and more or less employed in the British army, his services
were deemed important, by the Americans, to counteract the hostile
influence of these tribes on the northern frontier. In the battle of
Plattsburg, himself and his brother John sustained conspicuous and
useful parts--although the engagement did not amount to much besides
skirmishing, in consequence of the decisive action on Lake Champlain,
in the face of Plattsburg, which caused the sudden retreat of the
British forces from before the town into Canada.
Peace being concluded, and the natural excitements of a campaign
subsiding in his mind, Mr. Williams’s feelings settled down again into
their former condition of repose and benevolent regard for the race,
from which he sprung, and to which he was allied, not only by the ties
of nature, but by a long cherished and ever wakeful regard for their
highest and best interests. He felt, that Providence had called him to
consecrate his energies, his influence, and superior advantages, to
their welfare;--and he fondly indulged the hope, that he was destined
to elevate their condition. It was not long before he was introduced
and commended to Bishop Hobart, of New York, and received orders in the
Christian ministry from under his hand, to be employed in that capacity
among the Indian tribes. He commenced his labours in 1815, with the
_Oneidas_, at Oneida Castle, near Utica, in the State of New York.