Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

CHAPTER IX.
1674-1676.
The Indian Situation. — Puritan View of the Savage. — The Agawams. — Englisli Laws
for the Natives. — Indian Mortgage Deeds. — An Appeal to Boston. — The Origin of
Slavery in New England. — Perfecting Title to the Land. — King Philip's War. — The
Attack upon Brookfield. — IJeutenant Cooper sent forward from Springfield. — Beers,
Lathrop, Alosely, and Treat march to the Rescue of the Connecticut Valley Towns. —
The Swamp Fight. — Death of Beers. — Bloody Brook. — Pynchon's Protest to the
Commissioners. — The Indian Fort at Springfield. — The Town burned by King Philip.
— Pynchon's Hasty Ride from Hadley. — Death of Cooper and Miller. — Captain
Appletou in Command. — Trouble about iNIilitary Authority. —Winter, — Death of
Elizur Holyoke and Selectman Keep. — The Fight at Turner's Falls. — Heroism of
Samuel Holyoke. — King Philip's Death.
For forty years Springfield was happily free from the scenes of
fire and blood that usually attend the occupancy of a savage wilder-
ness. If we have read the town's story aright, there was reason for
this exceptionally good fortune. The first planters never occupied a
foot of ground without paying for it, and the Pynchon rule of even
justice toward the Indian was known to the tribes hundreds of miles
away. The Pynchons were famed in all the wigwams from Quabaug
to the Mohawk coimtry for their justice and fair play. The Indians
often brought their disputes to Springfield for settlement, and the}'
were justly dealt with, even when the authorities in Connecticut and
down at the Bay were antagonized.
Looking at the question broadly, it will baffle philosophy itself to
analyze the workings of the Puritan mind when confronted by the
savage ;
but what can be said of the results of the contact of English,
Indian, and negro? The subject, seemed of little moment in those
days, but, measured by the result, is of xital importance. The very