Part 8 (1/2)
We are not informed whether the father recovered of his wounds Sos of the attack, came with succor, and the six dead Indians, without ht be filled with such terrible details No one could sleep at night without the fear of an attack fro In the silence of the wilderness, edy was enacted of terror, torture, and blood, which would cause the ear that hears of it to tingle
The day after the arrival of the English force in Swanzey the Indians again appeared in large nuht Philip himself ith this band A party of volunteers rushed furiously upon the foe, killed a nues retired to their fastnesses, and the English traversed Mount Hope Neck until they came to the imperial residence of Philip Not an Indian was to be found upon the Neck But here the English found the heads of eight of their countryhastly trophies of savage victory They took them down and reverently buried them
It was now the 29th of June, and the Indian corn-fields aving in luxuriant growth Philip had not anticipated so early an outbreak of the war, and had more than a thousand acres planted with corn These fields the English tras of the Indians, leaving the Neck barren and desolate This was a heavy blow to Philip The destruction of his corn-fields threatened him with starvation in the winter The Indians scattered in all directions, carrying every where terror, conflagration, and death
Captain Church, with twenty men, crossed the Taunton River, and then followed down the eastern shores of the bay, through Pokasset, the territory of Wetaned
At the southern extremity of the present town of Tiverton they came to a neck of land called Punkateeset Here they discovered a fresh trail, which showed that a large body of Indians had recently passed
Following this trail, they ca to Captain Almy, a colonist who had settled there They loitered a short ti the peas The forest, alrew very densely around Just as they were eround, with the woods growing very thickly upon one side, a sudden discharge of musketry broke in upon the silent air, and bullets were every where whistling fiercely around the up fro his eyes to the side of the hill above hi covered with Indians, with their bright guns glistening in the sun, and running in a circun to surround them” Captain Church and his men slowly retreated toward the shore, where alone they could prevent the the the forest resound with their hideous outcries
As the savages eed from their ambush, they followed at a cautious distance, but so directed their steps as to cut off all possibility of retreat froht that all could be killed or captured without any loss upon their own part
The situation of the English now see the water, and the exultant foe, in overwhel nearer and nearer, and overwhel them with a storm of bullets
But the colonists resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible
It was better to die by the quick ministry of the bullet, than to fall as captives into the hands of the savages, to perish by lingering torround was very stony, and every man instantly threw up a pile for a breastwork The Indians were very cautious in presenting their bodies to the unerring aim of the white men, and did not venture upon a simultaneous rush, which would have secured the destruction of the whole of Captain Church's party
For six hours the colonists beat back their swar foes The Indians availed theht, and kept up an incessant firing Just as the aht was co the water to their rescue Captain Golding, a , and was hastening to their relief The as fair, and as the vessel approached the shore the Indians plied their shot with such effect that the colors, sails, and sides of the sloop were soon pierced full of bullet holes The water was so shoal that they dropped anchor, and the vessel rode afloat several rods fro had a s a cord to this, he let it drift to the shore, driven by the fresh wind Two men entered the canoe, and were drawn on board The canoe was then returned, and two more were taken on board Thus the embarkation continued, covered by the muskets of those on board and those on the shore, until every man was safe
Not one of their nulish, very skillful with the musket, kept their innumerable foes at a distance It was certain death for any Indian to step from behind his rampart The heroic Church was the last to e his foes, presenting his gun, which all the ree, a bullet passed through his hat, cutting off a lock of his hair Two others struck the canoe as he entered it, and a fourth buried itself in a stake which accidentally stood before thehis farewell shot at the enemy, he was safely received on board, and they were all conveyed to the English garrison which had been established at Mount Hope Many Indians were killed or wounded in this affray, but it is not kno many
[Illustration: THE BATTLE IN TIVERTON]
Captain Church then went, with a se the territories of Wetamoo When he arrived at the spot where Fall River now stands, he found that Weta swareat part of the town of Dartmouth was in flames, that many of the inhabitants were killed, and that the survivors were in great distress Captain Church marched immediately to their rescue But the foe had finished his work of destruction, and had fled into the wilderness, to ee at some other spot, no one could tell where, and strike another deadly blow The colonists, however, took one hundred and sixty Indians prisoners, who had been induced by promises of kind treatnation of Captain Church, all these people, in es of the capitulation, were by the Plymouth authorities sold into slavery This act was as impolitic as it was criminal It can not be too sternly denounced It effectually deterred others frolish
The colonists, conscious of the intellectual supreenius of the strife, devoted their e rewards were offered for his head
The barbarian e in an alhteen miles below Taunton All the inhabitants of Taunton, in their terror, had abandoned their hoarrison houses
On the 18th of July, a force of several hundred men from Plymouth and Taunton surrounded the swaled thicket, their feet at al shackled by interlacing roots, the branches pinioning their ar their eyes Philip, with characteristic cunning, sent a few of his warriors occasionally to exhibit theot their accustoerly forward
Suddenly from the dense thicket a party of warriors in ambush poured upon their pursuers a volley of bullets Fifteen dropped dead, and many were sorely wounded The survivors precipitately retired fro a wild beast in his own den”
The English, taught a lesson of caution by thisevery avenue of escape They knew that Philip had no stores of provisions there, and that he soon uard for thirteen days In the mean tiht floated all his warriors, some two hundred in nuh the present towns of Dighton and Rehoboth, far away into the unknoilderness of the interior of Massachusetts Wetamoo, with several of her warriors, acco women and children in the swalish
A band of fifty of the Mohegan Indians had now come, by direction of Uncas, to proffer their services to the colonists A party of the English, with these Indian allies, pursued the fugitives They overtook Philip's party not far from Providence, and shot thirty of their nule man Rev Mr Newreat co his parishi+oners to pursue the savages
Philip had now penetrated the wilderness, and had effected his escape beyond the reach of his foes He had the boundless forest around hi at his leisure upon any point of attack along the vast New England frontier which he ht select
The Nip of many petty clans spread over the whole of the interior of Massachusetts They appear to have had no sacheansets, but were now tributary to the Wa on very friendly terms with the inhabitants of the tohich had been settled within the limits of their territory The court at Boston, apprehensive that the Nipers to treat with the warriors were very surly, and ht; but the old men dreaded the perils of ith foes whose prowess they appreciated, and were inclined to a renewal of friendshi+p
It was agreed that a conference should be held at a certain large tree, upon a plain about three ust At the appointed tilish commissioners were there, with a small force of twentysolish determined to advance some e nuth came to a narrow pass, with a steep hill covered with trees and underbrush on one side, and a swa this narroay they could le file The silence of the eternal forest was around thehtest indication of danger
Just as they were in the middle of this trail, three hundred Indians rose up on either side, and showered upon theht dropped dead Three were mortally, and several others severely wounded Captain Wheeler, as in command, had his horse shot froh his body His son, who rode behind hih his own arm was shattered by a ball, dis his father in the saddle A precipitate retreat was immediately commenced, while the Indians pursued with yells of exultation But for the aid of three Christian Indians who accolishman must have perished One of these Indians was taken captive The other two, by skill and bravery, led their friends, by a by-path, back to Brookfield
This toas then a solitary settlement of about twenty houses, alone in the wilderness, half way between the Atlantic shore and the settlements on the Connecticut The terrified inhabitants had but just tiarrison house when the savages were upon theuish they saw, from the loop-holes of their retreat, every house and barn consumed, their cattle shot, and all their property of food, clothing, and furniture destroyed
They were thus, in an hour, reduced from competence to the extreme of want