Deerfield massacre
Encyclopedia
The Raid on Deerfield occurred during Queen Anne's War
on February 29, 1704, when French
and Native American
forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
attacked the English
settlement at Deerfield, Massachusetts
just before dawn, burning part of the town and killing 56 villagers.
French organizers of the raid drew on a variety of Indian populations, including in the force of about 300 a number of Pocumtucs who had once lived in the Deerfield area. The diversity of personnel involved in the raid meant that it did not achieve full surprise when they entered the palisaded village. The defenders of some fortified houses in the village successfully held off the raiders until arriving reinforcements prompted their retreat. More than 100 captives were taken, and about 40 percent of the village houses were destroyed.
The raid has been immortalized as a part of the early American frontier story, principally due to the account of one of its captives, the Rev. John Williams
. He and his family were forced to make the long overland journey to Canada
. His young daughter Eunice was adopted by a Mohawk
family; she became assimilated and married a Mohawk man. Williams' account, The Redeemed Captive, was published in 1707 and was widely popular in the colonies.
valley (where it presently flows through the state of Massachusetts
), the area that is now Deerfield, Massachusetts
was inhabited by the Algonquian-speaking
Pocomtuc
nation. In the early 1660s, the Pocumtuc were shattered as a nation due to conflict with the aggressive Mohawk nation
. In 1665 villagers from the eastern Massachusetts town of Dedham
were given a grant in the area, and acquired land titles of uncertain legality from a variety of Pocumtuc individuals. A village, at first called Pocumtuck, but later Deerfield, was established in the early 1670s.
erupted into what is now known as King Philip's War
. The war involved all of the New England colonies, and resulted in the destruction or severe reduction and pacification of most of its Indian nations.
Deerfield, which was in a relatively isolated position on the edge of English settlement, was evacuated in September 1675 after a coordinated series of attacks culminating in the Battle of Bloody Brook
resulted in the death of about half the village's adult males. The abandoned village, one of several in the Connecticut River valley abandoned by the English, was briefly reoccupied by the warring Indians. The colonists regrouped, and in 1676 a force of mostly local colonists slaughtered an Indian camp
at a site then called Peskeompscut. It is now called Turner's Falls after William Turner, the English leader who was slain in the action.
Ongoing raids by the Mohawk forced many of the remaining Indians to retreat north to French-controlled Canada
or to the west. Those going west joined other tribes that had formed a peace of sorts with the authorities of the Province of New York
. During King William's War
(1688–1697), Deerfield was not subjected to major attacks, but the community had 12 residents killed in a series of ambushes and other incidents. Supposedly friendly Indians who were recognized as Pocumtuc were also seen passing through the area, and some of them claimed to have participated in attacks on other frontier communities.
Attacks on the frontier communities of what is now southern Maine
at the start of Queen Anne's War
in 1703 again put Deerfield residents on the alert. The town's palisade
, constructed during King William's War, was rehabilitated and expanded. In August of that year, the local militia commander called out the militia after he received intelligence of "a party of French & Indians from Canada" who were "expected every hour to make some attaque on ye towns upon Connecticut River." However, nothing happened until October, when two men were taken from a pasture outside the palisade. Militia were sent to guard the town in response, but these returned to their homes with the advent of winter, which was not thought to be a time for warfare.
Minor raids against other communities convinced Governor Joseph Dudley
to send 20 men to garrison Deerfield in February. These men, minimally trained militia from other nearby communities, had arrived by the 24th, making for somewhat cramped accommodations within the town's palisade on the night of February 28. In addition to these men, the townspeople mustered about 70 men of fighting age; these forces were all under the command of Captain Jonathan Wells.
as early as 1702. The forces for the raid had begun gathering near Montreal
as early as May 1703, as reported with reasonable accuracy in English intelligence reports. However, two incidents intervened that delayed execution of the raid. The first was a rumor that English warships were on the Saint Lawrence River
, drawing a significant Indian force to Quebec
for its defense. The second was the detachment of some troops, critically including Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
, who was to lead the raid, for operations in Maine (including a raid against Wells
that raised the frontier alarms at Deerfield). Hertel de Rouville did not return to Montreal until the fall.
The force assembled at Chambly
, just south of Montreal, numbered about 250, and was composed of a diversity of personnel. There were 48 Frenchmen, some of them Canadien militia and others recruits from the troupes de la marine
, including four of Hertel de Rouville's brothers. The French leadership included a number of men with more than 20 years experience in wilderness warfare. The Indian contingent included 200 Abenaki, Iroquois
, Wyandot, and Pocumtuc, some of whom sought revenge for incidents that had taken place years earlier. These were joined by another 30 to forty Pennacook
led by the sachem Wattanummon as the party moved south toward Deerfield in January and February 1704, raising the troop size to nearly 300 by the time it reached the Deerfield area in late February.
The expedition's departure was not a very well kept secret. In January 1704, New York's Indian agent Pieter Schuyler
was warned by the Iroquois of possible action. which he forwarded on to Governor Dudley and Connecticut's Governor Winthrop
; further warnings came to them in mid-February, although none were specific about the target.
The raiders had noticed that snow drifts extended to the top of the palisade; this greatly simplified their entry into the fortifications just before dawn on February 29. They carefully approached the village, stopping periodically so that the sentry might confuse the noises they made with more natural sounds. A few men climbed over the palisade via the snow drifts and then opened the north gate to admit the rest. Primary sources vary on the degree of alertness of the village guard that night; one account claims he fell asleep, while another claims that he discharged his weapon to raise the alarm when the attack began, but that it was not heard by many people. As the Reverend John Williams
later recounted, "with horrid shouting and yelling", the raiders launched their attack "like a flood upon us."
The raiders' attack probably did not go exactly as they had intended. In attacks on Schenectady, New York
and Durham, New Hampshire
in the 1690s (both of which included Hertel de Rouville's father), the raiders had simultaneously attacked all of the houses; at Deerfield, this did not happen. Historians Haefeli and Sweeney theorize that the failure to launch a coordinated assault was caused by the wide diversity within the attacking force.
The raiders swept into the village, and began attacking individual houses. Reverend Williams' house was among the first to be raided; Williams' life was spared when his gunshot misfired, and he was taken prisoner. Two of his children and a servant were slain; the rest of his family and his other servant were also taken prisoner. Similar scenarios occurred in many of the other houses. The residents of Benoni Stebbins' house, which was not among the early ones attacked, resisted the raiders' attacks, which lasted until well after daylight. A second house, near the northwestern corner of the palisade, was also successfully defended. The raiders moved through the village, herding their prisoners to an area just north of the town, rifling houses for items of value, and setting a number of them on fire.
As the morning progressed, some of the raiders began moving north with their prisoners, but paused about a mile north of the town to wait for those who had not yet finished in the village. The men in the Stebbins house kept the battle up for two hours; they were on the verge of surrendering when reinforcements arrived. Early in the raid, young John Sheldon managed to escape over the palisade and began making his way to nearby Hadley
to raise the alarm. The fires from the burning houses had been spotted, and "thirty men from Hadley and Hatfield
" rushed to Deerfield. Their arrival prompted the remaining raiders to flee, some of whom abandoned their weapons and other supplies in a panic.
The sudden departure of the raiders and the arrival of reinforcements raised the spirits of the beleaguered survivors, and about 20 Deerfield men joined the Hadley men in chasing after the fleeing raiders. The English and the raiders skirmished in the meadows just north of the village, where the English reported "killing and wounding many of them". However, the pursuit was conducted rashly, and the English soon ran into an ambush prepared by the raiders who had left the village earlier. Of the 50 or so men that gave chase, nine were killed and several more were wounded. After the ambush they retreated back to the village, and the raiders headed north with their prisoners.
As the alarm spread to the south, reinforcements continued to arrive in the village. By midnight, 80 men from Northampton
and Springfield
had arrived, and men from Connecticut swelled the force to 250 by the end of the next day. After debating over what action to take, they decided that the difficulties of pursuit were not worth the risks. Leaving a strong garrison in the village, most of the militia returned to their homes.
The raiders destroyed 17 of the village's 41 homes, and looted many of the others. They killed 44 residents of Deerfield: 10 men, 9 women, and 25 children, five garrison soldiers, and seven Hadley men. Of those who died inside the village, 15 died of fire-related causes; most of the rest were killed by edged or blunt weapons. They took 109 villagers captives; this represented 40 per cent of the village population. They also took captive three Frenchmen who had been living among the villagers. The raiders also suffered losses, although reports vary. New France's Governor-General Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil
reported the expedition only lost 11 men, and 22 were wounded, including Hertel de Rouville and one of his brothers. John Williams heard from French soldiers during his captivity that more than 40 French and Indian soldiers were lost; Haefeli and Sweeney believe the lower French figures are more credible, especially when compared to casualties incurred in other raids.
According to John Williams' account of his captivity, most of the party traveled up the frozen Connecticut River, then up the Wells River
and down the Winooski River
to Lake Champlain
. From there they made their way to Chambly, at which point most of the force dispersed. The captives accompanied their captors to their respective villages. Williams' wife Eunice, weak after having given birth just six weeks earlier, was one of the first to be killed during the trek; her body was recovered and reburied in the Deerfield cemetery.
The raid failed to accomplish one of Governor Vaudreuil's objectives: to instill fear in the English colonists. They instead became angry, and calls went out from the governors of the northern colonies for action against the French colonies. Governor Dudley wrote that "the destruction of Quebeck and Port Royal
[would] put all the Navall stores into Her Majesty's hands, and forever make an end of an Indian War", the frontier between Deerfield and Wells was fortified by upwards of 2,000 men, and the bounty for Indian scalps was more than doubled, from £40 to £100. Dudley promptly organized a retaliatory raid against Acadia
(present-day Nova Scotia
). In the summer of 1704, New Englanders under the leadership of Benjamin Church raided Acadian villages
at Pentagouet (present-day Castine, Maine
), Passamaquoddy Bay
(present-day St. Stephen, New Brunswick
), Grand Pré, Pisiquid, and Beaubassin
(all in present-day Nova Scotia). Church's instructions included the taking of prisoners to exchange for those taken at Deerfield, and specifically forbade him to attack the fortified capital, Port Royal.
Deerfield and other communities collected funds to ransom the captives. French authorities and colonists also worked to extricate the captives from their Indian masters. Within a year's time, most of the captives were in French hands, a product of frontier commerce in humans that was fairly common at the time on both sides. The French and converted Indians worked to convert their captives to Roman Catholicism, with modest success.
Some of the younger captives, however, were not ransomed, as they were adopted into the tribes. Such was the case with Williams' daughter Eunice, who was eight years old when captured. She became thoroughly assimilated, and married a Mohawk man when she was 16. Other captives also remained by choice in Canadian and Native communities such as Kahnawake for the rest of their lives.
Negotiations for the release and exchange of captives began in late 1704, and continued until late 1706. They became entangled in unrelated issues (like the English capture of French privateer
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
), and larger concerns, including the possibility of a wider-ranging treaty of neutrality between the French and English colonies. Mediated in part by Deerfield residents John Sheldon and John Wells, some captives were returned to Boston in August 1706. Governor Dudley, who needed the successful return of the captives for political reason, then released the French captives, including Baptiste; the remaining captives who chose to return were back in Boston by November 1706.
about his experience, which was published in 1707. The work was widely distributed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and continues to be published today (see Further Reading below). Williams' work was one of the reasons this raid, unlike others of the time, was remembered and became an element in the American frontier story. In the 19th century the raid began to be termed a massacre (where previous accounts had used words like "destruction" and "sack", emphasizing the physical destruction); this terminology was still in use in mid-20th century Deerfield. A portion of the original village of Deerfield has been preserved
as a living history museum; among its relics is a door bearing tomahawk marks from the 1704 raid. The raid is commemorated there in leap year
s.
An 1875 legend recounts the attack as an attempt by the French to regain a bell, supposedly destined for Quebec, but pirated and sold to Deerfield. The legend continues that this was a "historical fact known to almost all school children." However, the story, which is a common Kahnawake tale, was refuted as early as 1882.
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
on February 29, 1704, when French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville was a colonial military officer of New France. He is best known in North America for leading the raid on Deerfield, Province of Massachusetts Bay against English settlers on 29 February 1704...
attacked the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
settlement at Deerfield, Massachusetts
Deerfield, Massachusetts
Deerfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,750 as of the 2000 census. Deerfield is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area in Western Massachusetts, lying only north of the city of Springfield.Deerfield includes the...
just before dawn, burning part of the town and killing 56 villagers.
French organizers of the raid drew on a variety of Indian populations, including in the force of about 300 a number of Pocumtucs who had once lived in the Deerfield area. The diversity of personnel involved in the raid meant that it did not achieve full surprise when they entered the palisaded village. The defenders of some fortified houses in the village successfully held off the raiders until arriving reinforcements prompted their retreat. More than 100 captives were taken, and about 40 percent of the village houses were destroyed.
The raid has been immortalized as a part of the early American frontier story, principally due to the account of one of its captives, the Rev. John Williams
John Williams (Reverend)
John Williams was a New England Puritan minister who became famous for The Redeemed Captive, his account of his captivity by the Mohawk after the Deerfield Massacre during Queen Anne's War. He was an uncle of the notable pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards. His first wife Eunice Mather was a...
. He and his family were forced to make the long overland journey to Canada
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...
. His young daughter Eunice was adopted by a Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
family; she became assimilated and married a Mohawk man. Williams' account, The Redeemed Captive, was published in 1707 and was widely popular in the colonies.
Background
At the time of the arrival of European colonists in the middle reaches of the Connecticut RiverConnecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
valley (where it presently flows through the state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
), the area that is now Deerfield, Massachusetts
Deerfield, Massachusetts
Deerfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,750 as of the 2000 census. Deerfield is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area in Western Massachusetts, lying only north of the city of Springfield.Deerfield includes the...
was inhabited by the Algonquian-speaking
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
Pocomtuc
Pocomtuc
The Pocumtuck, also Pocomtuc or Deerfield Indians, were a Native American tribe formerly inhabiting western Massachusetts, especially around the confluence of the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers in Franklin County. Their territory also included parts of Hampden and Hampshire County, as well as...
nation. In the early 1660s, the Pocumtuc were shattered as a nation due to conflict with the aggressive Mohawk nation
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
. In 1665 villagers from the eastern Massachusetts town of Dedham
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
were given a grant in the area, and acquired land titles of uncertain legality from a variety of Pocumtuc individuals. A village, at first called Pocumtuck, but later Deerfield, was established in the early 1670s.
Deerfield
By 1675 the village had grown to number about 200 individuals. In that year, conflict between colonists and Indians in southern New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
erupted into what is now known as King Philip's War
King Philip's War
King Philip's War, sometimes called Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the...
. The war involved all of the New England colonies, and resulted in the destruction or severe reduction and pacification of most of its Indian nations.
Deerfield, which was in a relatively isolated position on the edge of English settlement, was evacuated in September 1675 after a coordinated series of attacks culminating in the Battle of Bloody Brook
Battle of Bloody Brook
The Battle of Bloody Brook was fought on September 12, 1675 between English colonial militia from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a band of Indians led by the Nipmuc sachem Muttawmp...
resulted in the death of about half the village's adult males. The abandoned village, one of several in the Connecticut River valley abandoned by the English, was briefly reoccupied by the warring Indians. The colonists regrouped, and in 1676 a force of mostly local colonists slaughtered an Indian camp
Battle of Turner's Falls
The Battle of Turner's Falls, also known as the Peskeompscut massacre, was fought on May 19, 1676, during King Philip's War, in present-day Gill, Massachusetts, near a falls on the Connecticut River. The site is across the river from the village of Turners Falls...
at a site then called Peskeompscut. It is now called Turner's Falls after William Turner, the English leader who was slain in the action.
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...
or to the west. Those going west joined other tribes that had formed a peace of sorts with the authorities of the Province of New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
. During King William's War
King William's War
The first of the French and Indian Wars, King William's War was the name used in the English colonies in America to refer to the North American theater of the Nine Years' War...
(1688–1697), Deerfield was not subjected to major attacks, but the community had 12 residents killed in a series of ambushes and other incidents. Supposedly friendly Indians who were recognized as Pocumtuc were also seen passing through the area, and some of them claimed to have participated in attacks on other frontier communities.
Attacks on the frontier communities of what is now southern Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
at the start of Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
in 1703 again put Deerfield residents on the alert. The town's palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
, constructed during King William's War, was rehabilitated and expanded. In August of that year, the local militia commander called out the militia after he received intelligence of "a party of French & Indians from Canada" who were "expected every hour to make some attaque on ye towns upon Connecticut River." However, nothing happened until October, when two men were taken from a pasture outside the palisade. Militia were sent to guard the town in response, but these returned to their homes with the advent of winter, which was not thought to be a time for warfare.
Minor raids against other communities convinced Governor Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts and son of one of its founders, he had a leading role in the administration of the unpopular Dominion of New England , and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, where he oversaw the trial...
to send 20 men to garrison Deerfield in February. These men, minimally trained militia from other nearby communities, had arrived by the 24th, making for somewhat cramped accommodations within the town's palisade on the night of February 28. In addition to these men, the townspeople mustered about 70 men of fighting age; these forces were all under the command of Captain Jonathan Wells.
Organizing the raid
The Connecticut River valley had been identified as a potential raiding target by authorities in New FranceNew France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
as early as 1702. The forces for the raid had begun gathering near Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
as early as May 1703, as reported with reasonable accuracy in English intelligence reports. However, two incidents intervened that delayed execution of the raid. The first was a rumor that English warships were on the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
, drawing a significant Indian force to Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
for its defense. The second was the detachment of some troops, critically including Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville was a colonial military officer of New France. He is best known in North America for leading the raid on Deerfield, Province of Massachusetts Bay against English settlers on 29 February 1704...
, who was to lead the raid, for operations in Maine (including a raid against Wells
Wells, Maine
Wells is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Founded in 1643, it is the third-oldest town in Maine. The population was 9,400 at the 2000 census. Wells Beach is a popular summer destination.-History:...
that raised the frontier alarms at Deerfield). Hertel de Rouville did not return to Montreal until the fall.
The force assembled at Chambly
Chambly, Quebec
Chambly is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada, about to the south east of Montreal.- Geography :It sits on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La-Vallée-du-Richelieu, at .-History:...
, just south of Montreal, numbered about 250, and was composed of a diversity of personnel. There were 48 Frenchmen, some of them Canadien militia and others recruits from the troupes de la marine
Troupes de la marine
See also Troupes de Marine for later history of same Corps.The Troupes de la Marine , also known as independent companies of the navy and colonial regulars, were under the authority of the French Minister of Marine, who was also responsible for the French navy, overseas trade, and French...
, including four of Hertel de Rouville's brothers. The French leadership included a number of men with more than 20 years experience in wilderness warfare. The Indian contingent included 200 Abenaki, Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, Wyandot, and Pocumtuc, some of whom sought revenge for incidents that had taken place years earlier. These were joined by another 30 to forty Pennacook
Pennacook
The Pennacook, also known by the names Merrimack and Pawtucket, were a North American people that primarily inhabited the Merrimack River valley of present-day New Hampshire and Massachusetts, as well as portions of southern Maine...
led by the sachem Wattanummon as the party moved south toward Deerfield in January and February 1704, raising the troop size to nearly 300 by the time it reached the Deerfield area in late February.
The expedition's departure was not a very well kept secret. In January 1704, New York's Indian agent Pieter Schuyler
Pieter Schuyler
Pieter Schuyler was the first mayor of Albany, New York and the head of the Albany Commissioners for Indian Affairs...
was warned by the Iroquois of possible action. which he forwarded on to Governor Dudley and Connecticut's Governor Winthrop
Fitz-John Winthrop
Fitz-John Winthrop was the governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1698 to 1707....
; further warnings came to them in mid-February, although none were specific about the target.
Raid
The raiders left most of their equipment and supplies 25 to 30 miles (40 to 48 kilometers) north of the village before establishing a cold camp about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Deerfield on February 28, 1704. From this vantage point, they observed the villagers as they prepared for the night. Since the villagers had been alerted to the possibility of a raid, they all took refuge within the palisade, and a guard was posted.The raiders had noticed that snow drifts extended to the top of the palisade; this greatly simplified their entry into the fortifications just before dawn on February 29. They carefully approached the village, stopping periodically so that the sentry might confuse the noises they made with more natural sounds. A few men climbed over the palisade via the snow drifts and then opened the north gate to admit the rest. Primary sources vary on the degree of alertness of the village guard that night; one account claims he fell asleep, while another claims that he discharged his weapon to raise the alarm when the attack began, but that it was not heard by many people. As the Reverend John Williams
John Williams (Reverend)
John Williams was a New England Puritan minister who became famous for The Redeemed Captive, his account of his captivity by the Mohawk after the Deerfield Massacre during Queen Anne's War. He was an uncle of the notable pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards. His first wife Eunice Mather was a...
later recounted, "with horrid shouting and yelling", the raiders launched their attack "like a flood upon us."
The raiders' attack probably did not go exactly as they had intended. In attacks on Schenectady, New York
Schenectady massacre
The Schenectady Massacre was a Canadien attack against the village of Schenectady in the colony of New York on 8 February 1690. A party of more than 200 Canadiens and allied Mohawk nation, Sault and Algonquin warriors attacked the unguarded community, destroying most of the homes, and killing or...
and Durham, New Hampshire
Raid on Oyster River
The Raid on Oyster River happened during King William's War, on July 18, 1694. The English settlement of Oyster River was attacked by French career soldier Claude-Sébastien de Villieu with about 250 Abenaki Indians from Norridgewock under command of their sagamore, Bomazeen...
in the 1690s (both of which included Hertel de Rouville's father), the raiders had simultaneously attacked all of the houses; at Deerfield, this did not happen. Historians Haefeli and Sweeney theorize that the failure to launch a coordinated assault was caused by the wide diversity within the attacking force.
The raiders swept into the village, and began attacking individual houses. Reverend Williams' house was among the first to be raided; Williams' life was spared when his gunshot misfired, and he was taken prisoner. Two of his children and a servant were slain; the rest of his family and his other servant were also taken prisoner. Similar scenarios occurred in many of the other houses. The residents of Benoni Stebbins' house, which was not among the early ones attacked, resisted the raiders' attacks, which lasted until well after daylight. A second house, near the northwestern corner of the palisade, was also successfully defended. The raiders moved through the village, herding their prisoners to an area just north of the town, rifling houses for items of value, and setting a number of them on fire.
As the morning progressed, some of the raiders began moving north with their prisoners, but paused about a mile north of the town to wait for those who had not yet finished in the village. The men in the Stebbins house kept the battle up for two hours; they were on the verge of surrendering when reinforcements arrived. Early in the raid, young John Sheldon managed to escape over the palisade and began making his way to nearby Hadley
Hadley, Massachusetts
Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms Mall along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding...
to raise the alarm. The fires from the burning houses had been spotted, and "thirty men from Hadley and Hatfield
Hatfield, Massachusetts
Hatfield is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,249 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area....
" rushed to Deerfield. Their arrival prompted the remaining raiders to flee, some of whom abandoned their weapons and other supplies in a panic.
The sudden departure of the raiders and the arrival of reinforcements raised the spirits of the beleaguered survivors, and about 20 Deerfield men joined the Hadley men in chasing after the fleeing raiders. The English and the raiders skirmished in the meadows just north of the village, where the English reported "killing and wounding many of them". However, the pursuit was conducted rashly, and the English soon ran into an ambush prepared by the raiders who had left the village earlier. Of the 50 or so men that gave chase, nine were killed and several more were wounded. After the ambush they retreated back to the village, and the raiders headed north with their prisoners.
As the alarm spread to the south, reinforcements continued to arrive in the village. By midnight, 80 men from Northampton
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
and Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
had arrived, and men from Connecticut swelled the force to 250 by the end of the next day. After debating over what action to take, they decided that the difficulties of pursuit were not worth the risks. Leaving a strong garrison in the village, most of the militia returned to their homes.
The raiders destroyed 17 of the village's 41 homes, and looted many of the others. They killed 44 residents of Deerfield: 10 men, 9 women, and 25 children, five garrison soldiers, and seven Hadley men. Of those who died inside the village, 15 died of fire-related causes; most of the rest were killed by edged or blunt weapons. They took 109 villagers captives; this represented 40 per cent of the village population. They also took captive three Frenchmen who had been living among the villagers. The raiders also suffered losses, although reports vary. New France's Governor-General Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil
Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil
Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil was a French politician, who was Governor-general of New France from 1703 to 1725....
reported the expedition only lost 11 men, and 22 were wounded, including Hertel de Rouville and one of his brothers. John Williams heard from French soldiers during his captivity that more than 40 French and Indian soldiers were lost; Haefeli and Sweeney believe the lower French figures are more credible, especially when compared to casualties incurred in other raids.
Aftermath
For the 109 English captives, the raid was only the beginning of their troubles. The raider intended to return to Canada, a 300 miles (482.8 km) journey, in the middle of winter. Many of the captives were ill-prepared for this, and the raiders were short on provisions. The raiders consequently engaged in a common practice: they killed those captives when it was clear they were unable to keep up. Only 89 of the captives survived the ordeal; most of those who died of exposure or were slain en route were women and children. In the first few days several of the captives escaped. Hertel de Rouville instructed Reverend Williams to inform the others that recaptured escapees would be tortured; there were no further escapes. (The threat was not an empty one — it was known to have happened on other raids.) The French leader's troubles were not only with his captives. The Indians had some disagreements among themselves concerning the disposition of the captives, which at times threatened to come to blows. A council held on the third day resolved these disagreements sufficiently that the trek could continue.According to John Williams' account of his captivity, most of the party traveled up the frozen Connecticut River, then up the Wells River
Wells River (Vermont)
The Wells River is a river, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is a tributary of the Connecticut River.The Wells River begins at the outlet of Ricker Pond at the southern boundary of Groton State Forest in the town of Groton. The river flows generally southeast through the...
and down the Winooski River
Winooski River
The Winooski River is a tributary of Lake Champlain, approximately long, in northern Vermont in the United States. Although not Vermont's longest river, it is one of the state's most significant, forming a major valley way from Lake Champlain through the Green Mountains towards the Connecticut...
to Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
. From there they made their way to Chambly, at which point most of the force dispersed. The captives accompanied their captors to their respective villages. Williams' wife Eunice, weak after having given birth just six weeks earlier, was one of the first to be killed during the trek; her body was recovered and reburied in the Deerfield cemetery.
The raid failed to accomplish one of Governor Vaudreuil's objectives: to instill fear in the English colonists. They instead became angry, and calls went out from the governors of the northern colonies for action against the French colonies. Governor Dudley wrote that "the destruction of Quebeck and Port Royal
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...
[would] put all the Navall stores into Her Majesty's hands, and forever make an end of an Indian War", the frontier between Deerfield and Wells was fortified by upwards of 2,000 men, and the bounty for Indian scalps was more than doubled, from £40 to £100. Dudley promptly organized a retaliatory raid against Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
(present-day Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
). In the summer of 1704, New Englanders under the leadership of Benjamin Church raided Acadian villages
Raid on Grand Pre
The Raid on Grand Pré was the major action of a raiding expedition conducted by New England militia Colonel Benjamin Church against French Acadia in June 1704, during Queen Anne's War...
at Pentagouet (present-day Castine, Maine
Castine, Maine
Castine is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States and was once the capital of Acadia . The population was 1,343 at the 2000 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduates officers and engineers for the United States Merchant Marine and marine...
), Passamaquoddy Bay
Passamaquoddy Bay
Passamaquoddy Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its western shore bounded by Washington County, Maine. The southernmost point is formed by...
(present-day St. Stephen, New Brunswick
St. Stephen, New Brunswick
St. Stephen is a Canadian town in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, situated on the east bank of the St. Croix River at .-Climate:...
), Grand Pré, Pisiquid, and Beaubassin
Beaubassin
Beaubassin was the first settlement on the Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia, which was Acadian. The area is now known as the Tantramar Marshes. Beaubassin was settled in 1672, the second Acadian village to be established after Port Royal. The village was one of the largest and most prosperous in...
(all in present-day Nova Scotia). Church's instructions included the taking of prisoners to exchange for those taken at Deerfield, and specifically forbade him to attack the fortified capital, Port Royal.
Deerfield and other communities collected funds to ransom the captives. French authorities and colonists also worked to extricate the captives from their Indian masters. Within a year's time, most of the captives were in French hands, a product of frontier commerce in humans that was fairly common at the time on both sides. The French and converted Indians worked to convert their captives to Roman Catholicism, with modest success.
Some of the younger captives, however, were not ransomed, as they were adopted into the tribes. Such was the case with Williams' daughter Eunice, who was eight years old when captured. She became thoroughly assimilated, and married a Mohawk man when she was 16. Other captives also remained by choice in Canadian and Native communities such as Kahnawake for the rest of their lives.
Negotiations for the release and exchange of captives began in late 1704, and continued until late 1706. They became entangled in unrelated issues (like the English capture of French privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste was a French privateer famous for the success he had against New England merchant shipping and fishing interests. Baptiste's crew members were primarily Acadians....
), and larger concerns, including the possibility of a wider-ranging treaty of neutrality between the French and English colonies. Mediated in part by Deerfield residents John Sheldon and John Wells, some captives were returned to Boston in August 1706. Governor Dudley, who needed the successful return of the captives for political reason, then released the French captives, including Baptiste; the remaining captives who chose to return were back in Boston by November 1706.
Legacy
John Williams wrote a captivity narrativeCaptivity narrative
Captivity narratives are stories of people captured by "uncivilized" enemies. The narratives often include a theme of redemption by faith in the face of the threats and temptations of an alien way of life. Barbary captivity narratives, stories of Englishmen captured by Barbary pirates, were popular...
about his experience, which was published in 1707. The work was widely distributed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and continues to be published today (see Further Reading below). Williams' work was one of the reasons this raid, unlike others of the time, was remembered and became an element in the American frontier story. In the 19th century the raid began to be termed a massacre (where previous accounts had used words like "destruction" and "sack", emphasizing the physical destruction); this terminology was still in use in mid-20th century Deerfield. A portion of the original village of Deerfield has been preserved
Historic Deerfield
Historic Deerfield is an open-air living history museum dedicated to the heritage and preservation of Deerfield, Massachusetts and the Connecticut River Valley. Its historic houses, museums and programs provide visitors with an understanding of New England's historic villages and countryside...
as a living history museum; among its relics is a door bearing tomahawk marks from the 1704 raid. The raid is commemorated there in leap year
Leap year
A leap year is a year containing one extra day in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year...
s.
An 1875 legend recounts the attack as an attempt by the French to regain a bell, supposedly destined for Quebec, but pirated and sold to Deerfield. The legend continues that this was a "historical fact known to almost all school children." However, the story, which is a common Kahnawake tale, was refuted as early as 1882.
Further reading
A 19th century printing of Williams' narrative 1969 reprint of a 1908 edition of Williams' narrativeExternal links
- Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704 An interactive website about the raid's origins, participants, and consequences
- Digital Collection "Old Indian House" (photo) and (painting)
- Frary House
- Historic Deerfield Buys 1703 letter that predicts attack
- Fates of Individuals Taken Captive at Deerfield