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

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1SS6. 161
corn Iia\'e been turned up hy the plough. It has been assumed by
some that only a part of this plateau was included in the fort. The
capacity of the fort, liowever, was sufficient to shelter at least four
hundred Indians, and as the rule of the Algonquins was to build a pali-
sade of sufficient size to admit the putting up of rows of little round
wigwams made by concentring poles, covered with skins or bark, it is
fair to conclude that the whole brow of tliis hill was surrounded by a
stockade. The neck joining it with the main land was but a few rods
wide, and a living spring in the ravine furnished an abundant supply
of water. Upon the north side of the liill stands to this day an
ancient chestnut-tree. Its gnarled limbs, liollow trunk, and rugged
bark indicate an antiquity quite sufficient to have been flourishing at
the time of King Philii)'s war. Artists liave painted it, tourists have
climbed the hill to look at it, and it is withal a sacred though speech-
less monument of the local past.
The inhabitants of this section Avere now thoroughly roused to a
sense of danger. " Our P2nglish," wrote Major Pynchon from Hadley,
as far back as September 30, "• are weak and fearful in scouting and
spying, though we do the best we can." Two weeks before that the
Massachusetts council, recognizing the danger of a contagious panic,
had written Major Willard, at Brookfield, to ride over to Springfield,
and " give Major Pynchon a visit and encourage him and the people
in those parts." It was only after the whole valley was aroused that
any definite i)recautions were taken against the Agawams in the
shape of hostages, which were exacted and sent to Hartford for safe
keeping.
There were at the beginning of the war communities of praying
Indians, who refrained from going on the war-path. John Eliot, in a
letter dated December 10, 1675, says : " Another great company of our
new praying Indians of Nipmuck fled at the beginning of the war,
first to Connecticut, offered themselves to M'' Pinchon, one of our
magistrates, but he (though willing) could not receive them. They
fled from thence to Unkas (who is not in hostility to the English)