In the early morning of February 29, 1704, a band of French and Indians
stole down upon the little village of Deerfield in Massachusetts.
Hertel de Rouville was the leader of this band. Silently they crept in
upon the unsuspecting town. Most of the settlers were still sleeping
soundly. Suddenly, with a wild whoop, the attack began. Forty-nine men,
women, and children were massacred, the village was burned, and then
with one hundred and eleven captives the cowardly attackers departed.
On the way back to Canada twenty of the captured were cruelly murdered.
This raid has ever since been known as the Deerfield Massacre.
Deerfield was called Pocumtuck until 1764. The territory that
originally constituted the township was a tract of eight thousand
acres, granted in 1654 to the town of Dedham in place of two thousand
acres previously taken from that town and granted to the Rev. John
Eliot to further his mission among the Natick Indians. The Pocumtuck
Indians originally owned this land. Their rights to the Deerfield tract
were purchased for about ten cents an acre.
The settlement was begun in 1669, and the township was incorporated
in 1673. Deerfield was for a great many years the northwest frontier
settlement of New England. At the beginning of King Philip’s War the
English fortified the town. On September 1, 1675, it was attacked
by Indians. A small garrison under the command of Captain Samuel
Appleton was placed in the town after this. A second attack was made on
September 12.
Six days later Captain Thomas Lothrop and his company were acting as
escort to some teams that were hauling wheat from Deerfield to the
English headquarters at Hadley. Suddenly a band of Indians leaped out
of ambush and set upon the train. Lothrop and more than sixty of his
men were killed. The spot where this fight took place has since been
known as “Bloody Brook.” It is in the village of South Deerfield. From
this time until the end of the war Deerfield was abandoned.
In the spring of 1677 a few of the old settlers returned; but on
September 19 some were killed, and the others were captured by a party
of Indians from Canada. Again in 1682 settlement was resumed. Twelve
years later, on September 15, a party of French and Indians attacked
Deerfield, and almost succeeded in capturing the town. Then in 1704
came the Deerfield Massacre.
Among the captives was the Rev. John Williams, the first minister of
Deerfield, who was redeemed in 1706 along with some others. The year
following his return he published an account of his experiences as a
prisoner, called “The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion.” In this same
year a house was built for Williams by the town of Deerfield. The house
has been somewhat changed since then; but the secret staircase is still
to be seen, and also much fine old furniture.
Williams’ wife and one of his children were killed in the raid; but all
his other children returned to Deerfield except Eunice, who married an
Indian. Her great-grandson was the pretended “Lost Dauphin” of France,
about whom there was formerly so much discussion.
Today Deerfield has a population of over two thousand. Its natural
beauty and the historic interest connected with the town attract many
visitors. Many houses in the village are very old. In Memorial Hall, a
building erected in 1797-98 for the Deerfield Academy, the Pocumtuck
Valley Memorial Association has gathered an interesting collection of
colonial and Indian relics.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 35, SERIAL No. 35
COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: GENERAL WOLFE