Captain John Lovewell, of Dunstable, raised a volunteer company and
met with great success. At one time he fell in with an Indian trail
and pursued it till he discovered them asleep on the bank of a pond.
They were all killed, and their scalps, stretched upon hoops, served to
decorate their triumphal return. They, of course, received the bounty,
which amounted to ten pounds.
(1725.) Lovewell, having augmented his company to 46 men, again set out
with the intention of attacking an Indian town on the Saco. They built
a fort on the Great Ossapy pond, and then proceeded, leaving one of
their number sick, and eight men to guard the fort.
When about 22 miles from the fort they rested on the banks of a pond,
where they discovered a single Indian at a distance, on a point of
land, and rightly judging that he was attached to a large party of
Indians, Lovewell determined to advance and attack them. Accordingly
the whole company threw off their packs in one place among the brakes;
and, to gain the advantage, the men were spread so as partially to
surround the water. Lovewell had, however, mistaken the position of
the Indians, who were already on his track, and coming to the place
where the packs were deposited, by counting them discovered the number
of English to be less than their own. They, therefore, marched to
assault the English in the rear, and actually hemmed them in between
the mouth of a brook, a rocky point, a deep bog, and the pond. The
company, completely surrounded, fought desperately till nightfall,
when the Indians, tired of the conflict, moved off. The number of
killed and wounded amounted to 23, Lovewell being among the former. The
remainder of the party returned to the fort which had been deserted,
in consequence of the arrival of one of Lovewell’s men who fled at
the beginning of the fight, and reported all the rest killed. After
resting, they started for home, where they arrived, to the great joy
of their friends, after enduring the severest hardships. The survivors
were liberally compensated, and the widows and families of the slain
were provided for by the government of the province.