Deerfield,
A town on the west bank of the
Connecticut River,
in Franklin county, Mass.; notable as having been twice the victim of a foray by French and Indians.
During King Philip's War a terrible slaughter occurred a mile from the town, Sept. 18 (O. S.), 1675.
The
Indians had burned
Deerfield and murdered some of the inhabitants.
The survivors fled, leaving about 3,000 bushels of wheat in stacks in the field.
Capt. Thomas Lothrop, commanding part of a force at
Hadley, was sent with eighty men to secure this grain.
As they approached
Deerfield they fell into an Indian ambush, and the captain and seventy-six men were slain.
They sold their lives dearly, for ninety-six of their assailants perished in the fight.
The stream near which the scene occurred has been called
Bloody Brook to this day. A rude monument was erected on the spot forty years afterwards, and in 1838 another—an obelisk of white marble—was put up there.
Late in February, 1704, a party of French and Indians, under
Maj. Hertel de Rouville, who had travelled on snow-shoes from
Canada, appreached
Deerfield.
The chief object of the expedition was to procure a little bell hung over the meeting-house in that
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village.
It had been bought in
France for the church in the
Indian village of
Caughnawaga, 10 miles above
Montreal.
The vessel that bore it to
America was captured by a
New England privateer and taken into
Boston Harbor.
The bell was sold to the Deerfield congregation.
Father Nicolas, the priest at
Caughnawaga, persuaded the Indians to accompany him, under
De Rouville, to get the bell.
When the invaders approached
Deerfield, the snow lay 4 feet deep in that region, and was covered by a hard crust that bore the men. Upon drifts that lay by the palisades they were able to crawl over these defences in the gloom of night, while the inhabitants were slumbering.
The first intimation the villagers had of danger was the bursting in of the doors before the dawn (March 1, 1704), and the terrible sound of the war-whoop.
The people were dragged from their beds and murdered, without regard to age or sex, or carried into captivity.
The village was set on fire, and every building, excepting the chapel and one dwelling-house, was laid in ashes.
Forty-seven of the inhabitants were killed, and 120 were captives on their way through the wilderness towards
Canada an hour after sunrise.
Under the direction of
Father Nicolas, the bell was carried away, and finally found its destined place in the belfry of the church at
Caughnawaga, where it still hangs.
Among the victims of this foray were
Rev. John Williams (q. v.), pastor of the church at
Deerfield, and his family, who were carried into captivity, excepting two children, who were murdered.
