Part 16 (1/2)

The as 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 Haed with unabated violence Bands of savages were roving over the whole territory, carrying conflagration and blood to the hos 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 hteen thousand in number These Indians had for soross outrage roused the Philip An illustrious Indian, by the name of Squando, was sacheion in the vicinity of Saco He was a th of ravity and i down the River Saco in a canoe, with her infant child So in a boat, accosted her brutally, and, saying that they had understood that Indian children could swi ducks, overset the canoe The infant sank like lead The indignant ht 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 exter tidings ca out of Philip's war The Plyer to York to infore them to disarm the Indians, and to sell them no more powder or shot A party of volunteers was immediately sent fro its banks of their ier, and ascertain the disposition of the Indians With a small vessel they entered the adahock, and ascended the streae to relate, induced theuns One of the Indians, more spirited than the rest, was not disposed to yield to the delish 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 ies 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 ransoood 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, srand dance, with shouts and songs whichThe proes 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 settleadahock, froland He is reputed to have been a hard-hearted, shrewd ain 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 ca 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 theupon 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 thehome 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 hiun, 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 fahter, as 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 tianset Bay, which led to the supposition that soed in the capture The celebrated Squando, in whose character huularly blended, took pity upon the child, rescued her, and delivered her to the English at Dover

A fa several miles distant fro house, and the next day a file of men repaired to the place A scene of horror led corpses The bodies of the slain the savages had cut up in the es spread rapidly, and the settlers, in their solitary horeat 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 fro the bay, and entered the river The inhabitants had already fled, and the Indians were there, about thirty in nulish, they concealed thelish had advanced but a few rods froes 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, caht and established themselves in ambush The assailants were not less than one hundred in number There were fifty persons, arrison, of who they coreat energy, and es at length atte assailed it with a storht until four in theThey 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 beca, 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 ounded 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 fae 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 nu cut off to aa 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 ofthe report of the guns, sent a party of nine to aid their friends These le discharge every one was cut down This saed the settlements in Wells, Hampton, Exeter, and South Berwick

Great exertions had beenin these hostilities About ten adahock 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 i 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 beco more cold and sullen Captain Davis, to conciliate theer up all these rivers to invite the Indians to co them that he would protect them from all mischief, and would sell theer, thinking to add to the force of the invitation, overstepping his instructions, threatened thelish 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 Abraha plantation of Peood sense By indefatigable exertions, he succeeded in obtaining an intervieith the sachems, and entered into a treaty of peace with theeneral court of Boston ordered considerable sums of money to be disbursed to those Indians ould 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, co 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 tea in the bodies for interuard As they were placing the bodies in a cart, a party of one hundred and fifty savages rushed upon the 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 ounds of which he soon died, escaped The Indians then ravaged the regions around, plundering, burning, and killing

The storms of winter now caround four feet deep upon a level The weather co this short calish, had burned many houses, and had committed depredations to an incalculable a perhaps even more severely They had no provisions, and no ame in these northern forests, and the snoas too deep for hunting Their ammunition was consumed, and they knew not how to obtain anyand almost helpless Under these circu desire for peace There were, however, individuals of the English who, by the coes, fanned anew the flahton had obtained a warrant from the court in Massachusetts to seize any of the Eastern Indians who had robbed or hton, 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

”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 fro 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