CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.
1677-1678
End of the war in the Middle States.--Devastation in Maine.--Character
of Squando.--News of the war sent to York.--Attempt to release a
captive.--Unfulfilled promises.--Thomas Purchas.--Dislike of the
Indians.--His house plundered.--Narrow escape of his son.--A captive
child released by Squando.--Proceedings about Brunswick.--Attack upon
Saco.--Long-continued siege.--The assailants retire.--Attack upon
Scarborough.--Repulse of the Indians.--Sagadahock.--Behavior of the
Indians.--Absurdity.--Exertions to obtain a treaty.--Temporary
respite.--Route of the English.--Bravery of Lieutenant
Plaisted.--Sufferings of the Indians.--Atrocious conduct.--Just
complaints of the Indians.--They are refused ammunition.--War
resumed.--Capture of a fortress.--Mr. Lake killed.--Destruction of the
establishment.--Unprotected condition of the settlements.--Outrages on
the islands.--Aid sent from Massachusetts.--Arrival of friendly
Indians.--Perplexity of Major Waldron.--A stratagem.--Was it
right?--Disposition of the prisoners.--Massacre of scouts.--Treaty
concluded.--Expedition to Casco Bay.--Landing at Maquoit.--The party
sail for the Kennebec.--A conference.--Treachery discovered.--A fierce
fight.--Renewed depredations.--Peace implored.--Terms of the
treaty.--Terrible amount of misery created.
The war was now at an end in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut,
as nearly all the hostile Indians were either killed, captured, or had
submitted to the mercy of their victors. A few hundred desperate
warriors, too proud to yield and too feeble to continue the fight,
fled in a body through the wilderness, beyond the Hudson, and were
blended with the tribes along the banks of the Mohawk and the shores
of the great lakes. There were also many bloody wretches, who,
conscious that their crimes were quite unpardonable, fled to the
almost impenetrable forests of the north and the east.
In the remote districts of New Hampshire and Maine the war still raged
with unabated violence. Bands of savages were roving over the whole
territory, carrying conflagration and blood to the homes of the lonely
settlers. There were no large gatherings for battle, but prowling
companies of from two or three to a hundred spread terror and
devastation in all directions.
At this period the towns and plantations in the State of Maine were
but thirteen. The English population was about six thousand; the
Indians, divided into many petty tribes, were probably about eighteen
thousand in number. These Indians had for some time been rather
unfriendly to the English, and an act of gross outrage roused them to
combine in co-operation with King Philip. An illustrious Indian, by
the name of Squando, was sachem of the Sokokis tribe, which occupied
the region in the vicinity of Saco. He was a man of great strength of
mind, elevation of character, and of singular gravity and
impressiveness of address. One day his wife was paddling down the
River Saco in a canoe, with her infant child. Some English sailors,
coming along in a boat, accosted her brutally, and, saying that they
had understood that Indian children could swim as naturally as young
ducks, overset the canoe. The infant sank like lead. The indignant
mother dove to the bottom and brought up her exhausted child alive,
but it soon after died. Squando was so exasperated by this outrage,
that, with his whole soul burning with indignation, he traversed the
wilderness to rouse the scattered tribes to a war of extermination
against the English.
Just then the appalling tidings came of the breaking out of Philip's
war. The Plymouth colony sent a messenger to York to inform the
inhabitants of their danger, and to urge them to disarm the Indians,
and to sell them no more powder or shot. A party of volunteers was
immediately sent from York to ascend the Kennebec River, inform the
settlers along its banks of their impending danger, and ascertain the
disposition of the Indians. With a small vessel they entered the mouth
of the river, then called the Sagadahock, and ascended the stream for
several miles. Here they met twelve Indians, and, strange to relate,
induced them to surrender their guns. One of the Indians, more
spirited than the rest, was not disposed to yield to the demand, and,
becoming enraged, struck at one of the English party with his hatchet,
endeavoring to kill him. He was promptly arrested, bound, and confined
in a cellar.
The Indians plead earnestly for his release, offering many apologies
for his crime. They said that he was subject to fits of insanity, and
that he was intoxicated. They offered to pay forty beavers' skins for
his ransom, and to leave hostages for his good behavior in the hands
of the English. Upon these terms the prisoner was released. They then,
in token of amity, partook of an abundant repast, smoked the pipe of
peace, and the Indians had a grand dance, with shouts and songs which
made the welkin ring. The promises of the Indians, however, were not
fulfilled. The hostages all run away, and not a beaver skin was ever
paid.
A man by the name of Thomas Purchas had built him a hut in the lonely
wilderness, just below the Falls of the Androscoggin, in the present
town of Brunswick. His family dwelt alone in the midst of the
wilderness and the Indians. He purchased furs of the natives, and took
them in his canoe down to the settlements near the mouth of the
Sagadahock, from whence they were transported to England. He is
reputed to have been a hard-hearted, shrewd man, always sure to get
the best end of the bargain. The Indians all disliked him, and he
became the first sufferer in the war.
On the 5th of September, a few months after the commencement of
hostilities in Swanzey, twenty Indians came to the house of Purchas
under the pretense of trading. Finding Purchas and his son both
absent, they robbed the house of every thing upon which they could
lay their hands. They found rum, and soon became frantically drunk.
There was a fine calf in the barn, and a few sheep at the door. The
Indians were adroit butchers. The veal and the mutton were soon
roasting upon their spits. They danced, they shouted, they clashed
their weapons in exultation, and the noise of the Falls was drowned in
the uproar of barbarian wassail. One of their exploits was to rip open
a feather bed for the pleasure of seeing the feathers float away in
the air. They, however, inflicted no violence upon Mrs. Purchas or her
children.
In the midst of the scene, a son of Mr. Purchas was approaching home
upon horseback. Alarmed by the clamor, he cautiously drew near, and
was in consternation in view of the savage spectacle. Conscious that
his interposition could be of no possible avail, he fled for life. The
Indians caught sight of him, and one pursued him for some distance
with his gun, but he escaped. Soon after the Indians left, telling
Mrs. Purchas that others would soon come and treat them worse.
There was an old man by the name of Wakely, who had settled near the
mouth of Presumpscot River, in Falmouth. His family consisted of nine
persons. A week after the robbery of Mr. Purchas's house, a band of
savages made a fierce onset upon this solitary cabin. They burnt the
house and killed all the family, except the youngest daughter, who was
about eleven years of age. This unfortunate child was carried away
captive, and for nine months was led up and down the wilderness, in
the endurance of all the horrors of savage life. At one time she was
led as far south as Narraganset Bay, which led to the supposition that
some of the Narraganset Indians were engaged in the capture. The
celebrated Squando, in whose character humanity and cruelty were most
singularly blended, took pity upon the child, rescued her, and
delivered her to the English at Dover.
A family living several miles distant from Falmouth, at Casco Neck,
saw the smoke of the burning house, and the next day a file of men
repaired to the place. A scene of horror met their eye in the
smouldering ruins and the mangled corpses. The bodies of the slain the
savages had cut up in the most revolting manner. The tidings of these
outrages spread rapidly, and the settlers, in their solitary homes,
were plunged into a state of great dismay.
There were at this time in Brunswick two or three families who had
erected their houses upon the banks of New Meadows. A party of
twenty-five English set out from Casco in a sloop and two boats,
sailed along the bay, and entered the river. The inhabitants had
already fled, and the Indians were there, about thirty in number,
rifling the houses. Seeing the approach of the English, they concealed
themselves in an ambush. When the English had advanced but a few rods
from their boats, the savages rushed upon them with hideous yells,
wounded several, drove them all back to their sloop, and captured two
boat-loads of Indian corn.
Emboldened by their success, a few days after, on the 18th of
September, they made a bold attack upon Saco. A friendly Indian
informed Captain Bonython, who lived on the east side of the river,
about half a mile below the Lower Falls, that a conspiracy was formed
to attack the town. The alarm was immediately communicated to all the
settlers, and in a panic they abandoned their houses, and took refuge
in the garrison house of Major Phillips, which was on the other side
of the river. The Indians, unaware that their plot was discovered,
came the same night and established themselves in ambush. The
assailants were not less than one hundred in number. There were fifty
persons, men, women, and children, in the garrison, of whom but ten
were effective men. At eleven o'clock in the morning they commenced
the assault. The besieged defended themselves with great energy, and
many of the savages fell before their unerring aim. The savages at
length attempted to set fire to the house, after having assailed it
with a storm of shot all the day, and through the night until four in
the morning. They filled a cart with birch bark, straw, and powder,
and, setting this on fire, endeavored to push it against the house
with long poles. They had ingeniously constructed upon the cart a
barricade of planks, which protected those who pushed it against the
fire of the house. When they had got within pistol shot, one wheel
became clogged in a rut, and the other wheel going, whirled the cart
around, so as to expose the whole party to a fatal fire. Six men
almost instantly fell dead, and before the rest could escape, fifteen
of them were wounded. Disheartened by this disaster, the rest sullenly
retired.
Soon after this, Phillips abandoned his exposed situation, and his
house was burned down by the savages. On the 20th the Indians attacked
Scarborough, destroyed twenty-seven houses, and killed several of the
inhabitants. The principal settlement in Saco was at Winter Harbor.
Many families in the vicinity had fled to that place for refuge. They
were all in great danger of being cut off by the savages. A party of
sixteen volunteers from South Berwick took a sloop and hastened to
their rescue. As they were landing upon the beach, they were assailed
by one hundred and fifty of their fierce foes. The English,
overpowered by numbers, were in great danger of being cut off to a
man, when they succeeded in gaining a shelter behind a pile of logs.
From this breastwork they opened such a deadly fire upon their
thronging foes that the Indians were compelled to retire with a loss
of many of their number. The inhabitants of the garrison, hearing the
report of the guns, sent a party of nine to aid their friends. These
men unfortunately fell into an ambush, and by a single discharge every
one was cut down. This same band then ravaged the settlements in
Wells, Hampton, Exeter, and South Berwick.
Great exertions had been made to prevent the Indians upon the Kennebec
from engaging in these hostilities. About ten miles from the mouth of
the Sagadahock is the beautiful island of Arrowsic. It is so called
from an Indian who formerly lived upon it. Two Boston merchants,
Messrs. Clark and Lake, had purchased this island, which contains many
thousand acres of fertile land. They had erected several large
dwellings, with a warehouse, a fort, and many other edifices near the
water-side. It was a very important place for trade, being equally
accessible by canoes to all the Indians on the Androscoggin, Kennebec,
and Sheepscot. Captain Davis was the general agent for the proprietors
upon this island.
The Indians in all this region were daily becoming more cold and
sullen. Captain Davis, to conciliate them, sent a messenger up all
these rivers to invite the Indians to come down and live near him,
assuring them that he would protect them from all mischief, and would
sell them every needed supply at the fairest prices. The messenger,
thinking to add to the force of the invitation, overstepping his
instructions, threatened them that if they did not accede to his
request the English would come and kill them all. This so alarmed the
Indians that they fled to the banks of the Penobscot, which was then
in possession of the French. Here they held a general council.
Mr. Abraham Shurte was chief magistrate of the flourishing plantation
of Pemaquid. He was a man of integrity, of humanity, and of great good
sense. By indefatigable exertions, he succeeded in obtaining an
interview with the sachems, and entered into a treaty of peace with
them. In consequence of this treaty, the general court of Boston
ordered considerable sums of money to be disbursed to those Indians
who would become the subjects or allies of the colony. There was thus
a temporary respite of hostilities in this section of the country.
Upon the banks of the Piscataquis, however, the warfare still
continued unabated. On the 16th of October, one hundred Indians
assailed a house in South Berwick, burned it to the ground, killed the
master of the house, and carried his son into captivity. Lieutenant
Plaisted, commander of the garrison, viewing the massacre from a
distance, dispatched nine men to reconnoitre the movements of the
enemy. They fell into an ambuscade, and three were shot down, and the
others with difficulty escaped.
The next day Lieutenant Plaisted ordered out a team to bring in the
bodies for interment. He himself led twenty men as a guard. As they
were placing the bodies in a cart, a party of one hundred and fifty
savages rushed upon them from a thicket, showering a volley of bullets
upon the soldiers. The wounded oxen took fright and ran. A fierce
fight ensued. Most of the soldiers retreated and regained the
garrison. Lieutenant Plaisted, too proud to fly or to surrender,
fought till he was literally hewn in pieces by the hatchets of the
Indians. His two sons also, worthy of their father, fought till one
was slain, and the other, covered with wounds of which he soon died,
escaped. The Indians then ravaged the regions around, plundering,
burning, and killing.
The storms of winter now came with intense cold, and the snow covered
the ground four feet deep upon a level. The weather compelled a truce.
Though the Indians, during this short campaign, had killed eighty of
the English, had burned many houses, and had committed depredations to
an incalculable amount, still they themselves were suffering perhaps
even more severely. They had no provisions, and no means of purchasing
any. There was but little game in these northern forests, and the snow
was too deep for hunting. Their ammunition was consumed, and they knew
not how to obtain any more. Thus they were starving and almost
helpless. Under these circumstances, they manifested a strong desire
for peace. There were, however, individuals of the English who, by the
commission of the most infamous outrages, fanned anew the flames of
war.
Early in the spring, one Laughton had obtained a warrant from the
court in Massachusetts to seize any of the Eastern Indians who had
robbed or murdered any of the English. This Laughton, a vile
kidnapper, under cover of this warrant, lured a number of Indians at
Pemaquid on board his vessel. None of them were accused of any crime,
and it is not known that they had committed any. He enticed them
below, fastened the hatches upon them, and carried them to the West
Indies, where they were sold as slaves. This fact was notorious; and,
though the government condemned the deed, and did what it could to
punish the offender, still the unenlightened Indians considered the
whole white race responsible for the crimes of the individual
miscreant.
Some of the Indian chiefs went to Pemaquid to confer with Mr. Shurte,
in whom they reposed much confidence. Their complaint was truly
touching.
"Our brothers," said they, "are treacherously caught, carried into
foreign parts, and sold as slaves. Last fall you frightened us from
our corn-fields on the Kennebec. You have withholden powder and shot
from us, so that we can not kill any game; and thus, during the
winter, many have died of starvation."
Mr. Shurte did what he could to conciliate them, and proposed a
council. It was soon convened. The Indians appeared fair and
honorable, but they said they must have powder and shot; that, without
those articles, they could have no success in the chase, and they must
starve.
"Where," exclaimed Madockawando, earnestly and impatiently, "shall we
buy powder and shot for our winter's hunting when we have eaten up all
our corn? Shall we leave Englishmen and apply to the French, or shall
we let our Indians die? We have waited long to have you tell us, and
now we want yes or no."
To this the English could only reply, "You admit that the Western
Indians do not wish for peace. Should you let them have the powder we
sell you, what do we better than to cut our own throats? This is the
best answer we can return to you, though you should wait ten years."
At this the chiefs took umbrage, declined any farther talk, and the
conference was broken up angrily. War was soon resumed in all its
horrors.
Early in August a numerous band of savages made an incursion upon
Casco Neck and swept it of its inhabitants. Thirty-four of the
colonists were either killed or carried into captivity. On the 14th of
August, two days after King Philip was slain in the swamp at Mount
Hope, a party of Indians landed from their canoes upon the southeast
corner of the island of Arrowsic, near the spot where the fort stood.
They concealed themselves behind a great rock, and, with true Indian
cunning, notwithstanding the sentinels, succeeded in creeping within
the spacious inclosure which constituted the fortress. They then
opened a sudden and simultaneous fire upon all who were within sight.
The garrison, thus taken by midnight surprise, were in a state of
terrible consternation. A hand to hand fight ensued of the utmost
ferocity. The Indians, however, soon overpowered their opponents and
applied the torch. Captain Davis, who was in command of the fort, with
Mr. Lake, who was one of the owners of the island, escaped with two
others from the massacre by a back passage, and, rushing to the
water's edge, sprang into a canoe and endeavored to reach another
island. The savages, however, pursued them, and, taking deliberate aim
as they were paddling to the opposite shore, killed Mr. Lake, and
wounded Mr. Davis, so as to render him helpless, just as he was
stepping upon the shore. The savages then took a canoe and crossed in
pursuit of their victims. Captain Davis succeeded in hiding himself in
the cleft of a rock, and eluded their search. Here he remained for two
days, until after the savages had left, and then, finding an old canoe
upon the beach, he succeeded in paddling himself across the water to
the main land, where he was rescued. The other two who were not
wounded, plunging into the forest, also effected their escape.
The exultant savages rioted in the destruction of the beautiful
establishment upon Arrowsic. The spacious mansion house, the
fortifications, the mills, and all the out-buildings, were burned to
the ground. Works which had cost the labor of years, and the
expenditure of thousands of pounds, were in an hour destroyed, and the
whole island was laid desolate. Thirty-five persons were either killed
or carried into captivity. The dismay which now pervaded the
plantations in Maine was terrible. The settlers were very much
scattered; there was no place of safety, and it was impossible, under
the circumstances, for the court in Massachusetts to send them any
effectual relief. Most of the inhabitants upon the Sheepscot River
sought refuge in the fort at Newagen. The people at Pemaquid fled on
board their vessels; some sailed for Boston; others crossed over to
the island of Monhegan, where they strongly fortified themselves. They
had hardly left their flourishing little village of Pemaquid ere dark
columns of smoke informed them that the savages were there, and that
their homes were in a blaze. In one month, fifty miles east of Casco
Bay were laid utterly desolate. The inhabitants were either massacred,
carried into captivity, or had fled by water to the settlements in
Massachusetts.
Many of the beautiful islands in Casco Bay had a few English settlers
upon them. The Indians paddled from one to another in their canoes,
and the inhabitants generally fell easy victims to their fury. A few
families were gathered upon Jewell's Island, in a fortified house. On
the 2d of September a party of Indians landed upon the island for
their destruction. Several of the men were absent from the island in
search of Indian corn, and few were left in the garrison excepting
women and children. A man was in his boat at a short distance from the
shore fishing, while his wife was washing clothes by the river side,
surrounded by her children. Suddenly the savages sprang upon them, and
took them all captives before the eyes of the husband and father, who
could render no assistance. One of the little boys, shrieking with
terror, ran into the water, calling upon his father for help. An
Indian grasped him, and, as the distracted father presented his gun,
the savage held up the child as a shield, and thus prevented the
father from firing. A brave boy in the garrison shot three of the
Indians from the loop-holes. Soon assistance came from one of the
neighboring islands, and the Indians were driven to their canoes,
after having killed two of the inhabitants and taken five captives.
In this state of things, Massachusetts sent two hundred men, with
forty Natick Indians, to Dover, then called Cocheco, from whence they
were to march into Maine and New Hampshire, wherever they could be
most serviceable. Here they met unexpectedly about four hundred
Indians, who had come from friendly tribes professedly to join them
in friendly coalition. The English had offered to receive all who in
good faith would become their allies. Many, however, of these men were
atrocious wretches, whose hands were red with the blood of the
English. Others were desperate fellows, who had ravaged Plymouth,
Connecticut, and Massachusetts under King Philip, and, upon his
discomfiture, had fled to continue their barbarities in the remote
districts of New Hampshire and Maine.
Major Waldron, who had command of the English troops, was in great
perplexity. Many of the Indians of this heterogeneous band had come
together in good faith, relying upon his honor and fidelity. But the
English soldiers, remembering the savage cruelties of perhaps the
majority, were impatient to fall upon them indiscriminately with gun
and bayonet. In this dilemma, Major Waldron adopted the following
stratagem, which was by some applauded, and by others censured.
He proposed a sham fight, in which the Indians were to be upon one
side and the English upon the other. In the course of the
manoeuvres, he so contrived it that the Indians gave a grand
discharge. At that moment, his troops surrounded and seized their
unsuspecting victims, and took them all prisoners, without the loss of
a man on either side. He then divided them into classes with as much
care as, under the circumstances, could be practiced, though doubtless
some mistakes were made. All the fugitives from King Philip's band,
and all the Indians in the vicinity who had been recently guilty of
bloodshed or outrage, were sent as prisoners to Boston. Here they were
tried; seven or eight were executed; the rest, one hundred and
ninety-two in number, were transported to the West Indies and sold as
slaves.
This measure excited very earnest discussion in the colony. Many
condemned it as atrocious, others defended it as a necessity; but the
Indians universally were indignant. Even those, two hundred in number,
who were set at liberty as acting in good faith, declared that it was
an act of infamy which they would never forget nor forgive. The next
day these troops proceeded by water to Falmouth, touching at important
points by the way.
On the 23d of September, a scouting party of seven visited Mountjoy's
Island. An Indian party fell upon them, and all were massacred. These
men were all heads of families, and their deaths occasioned
wide-spread woe. Two days after this, on the 25th, a large party of
Indians ravaged Cape Neddock, in the town of York, and killed or
carried into captivity forty persons. The cruelties they practiced
upon the inhabitants are too revolting to be described.
Winter now set in again with tremendous severity. All parties
experienced unheard-of sufferings. An Indian chieftain by the name of
Mugg, notorious for his sagacity and his mercilessness, now came to
the Piscataqua River and proposed peace. The English were eager to
accept any reasonable terms. On the 6th of November the treaty was
concluded. Its terms were these:
1. All acts of hostility shall cease.
2. English captives and property shall be restored.
3. Full satisfaction shall be rendered to the English for
damages received.
4. The Indians shall purchase ammunition only of those whom
the governor shall appoint.
5. Certain notorious murderers were to be surrendered to the
English.
6. The sachems included in the treaty engaged to take arms
against Indians who should still persist in the war.
Notwithstanding this treaty, the aspect of affairs still seemed very
gloomy. The Indians were sullen, the conduct of Mugg was very
suspicious, threats of the renewal of hostilities were continually
reaching the English, and but few captives were restored. Appearances
continued so alarming that, on the 7th of February, 1677, a party of
one hundred and fifty English and sixty Natick Indians sailed for
Casco Bay and the mouth of the Kennebec, to overawe the Indians and to
rescue the English captives who might be in their hands. On the 18th
of February, Captain Waldron, who commanded this expedition, landed
upon Mair Point, about three miles below Maquoit, in Brunswick. They
had hardly landed ere they were hailed by a party of Indians. After a
few words of parley, in which the Indians appeared far from friendly,
they retired, and the English sought for them in vain. About noon the
next day a flotilla of fourteen canoes was discovered out in the bay
pulling for the shore. The savages landed, and in a few moments a
house was seen in flames. The English party hastened to the rescue,
fell upon the savages from an unexpected quarter, and killed or
wounded several. A flag of truce was presented, which produced another
parley.
"Why," inquired Captain Waldron, "do you not bring in the English
captives as you promised, and why do you set fire to our houses, and
begin again the war?"
"The captives," the Indians replied, "are a great way off, and we can
not bring them through the snow; and your soldiers fired upon us
first; the house took fire by accident. These are our answers to you."
Captain Waldron, unwilling to exasperate the Indians by useless
bloodshed, and finding that no captives could be recovered, sailed to
the mouth of the Kennebec, then the Sagadahock. Here he established a
garrison on the eastern bank of the river, opposite the foot of
Arrowsic Island. With the remainder of his force he proceeded in two
vessels to Pemaquid. Here he met a band of Indians, and sending to
them a flag of truce, which they respected, the two parties entered
into a conference. The Indians, under the guise of peace, were
plotting a general massacre. Though both parties had agreed to meet
without arms, the savages had concealed a number of weapons, which at
a given signal they could grasp.
Captain Waldron, suspecting treachery, was looking around with an
eagle eye, when he saw peering from the leaves the head of a lance.
Going directly to the spot, he saw a large number of weapons
concealed. He immediately brandished one in the air, exclaiming,
"Perfidious wretches! You intended to massacre us all."
A stout Indian sprang forward and endeavored to wrest the weapon from
Waldron's hand. Immediately a scene of terrible confusion ensued. All
engaged in a hand to hand fight, with any weapons which could be
grasped. The Indians were soon overcome, and fled, some to the woods
and others to their canoes. Eleven Indians were killed in this fray,
and five were taken captive. The expedition then returned to Arrowsic,
where they put on board their vessels some guns, anchors, and other
articles which had escaped the flames, and then set sail for Boston.
As soon as the snow melted, the savages renewed their depredations,
but Maine was now nearly depopulated. With the exception of the
garrison opposite Arrowsic, there was no settlement east of Portland.
There was a small fort at Casco, and a few people in garrison at Black
Point and Winter Harbor. A few intrepid settlers still remained in the
towns of York, Wells, Kittery, and South Berwick. The Indians
harassed them during the whole summer with robberies, conflagrations,
and murders. Winter again came with its storms and its intensity of
cold. The united sagamores now, with apparent sincerity, implored
peace. On the 12th of February, 1678, Squando, with all the sachems of
the tribes upon the Androscoggin and the Kennebec, met the
commissioners from Massachusetts at the fort at Casco. The English
were so anxious for peace that they agreed to the following terms,
which many considered very humiliating, but which were nevertheless
vastly preferable to the longer continuance of this horrible warfare.
1. The captives were to be immediately released, without
ransom.
2. All offenses on both sides, of every kind, were to be
forgiven and forgotten.
3. The English were to pay the Indians, as rent for the
land, a peck of corn for every English family, and for Major
Phillips, of Saco, who was a great proprietor, a bushel of
corn.
Thus this dreadful war was brought to a close. It is estimated that
during its continuance six hundred men lost their lives, twelve
hundred houses were burned, and eight thousand cattle destroyed. But
the amount of misery created can never be told or imagined. The
midnight assault, the awful conflagration, the slaughter of women and
children, the horrors of captivity in the wilderness, the
impoverishment and moaning of widows and orphans, the diabolical
torture, piercing the wilderness with the shrill shriek of mortal
agony, the terror, universal and uninterrupted by day or by
night--all, all combined in composing a scene in the awful tragedy of
human life which the mind of Deity alone can comprehend.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors and to
ensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise,
every effort has been made to remain true to the original book.
2. The sidenotes used in this text were originally published as
banners in the page headers, and have been moved to the relevant
paragraph for the reader's convenience.