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

SPJilJVGFIELD, 1G36~1SS6. 2(31
It is curious tliat :it tliis time the vote for tlie poor was quite equal
to the regular appropriation for schools, which may possibly be ac-
counted for by the war then in progress with the French and Indians.
Here follows a list of members of the first Parish who lost
their lives at Louisburg : Lieut. John Munn. Jonathan AVarriner,
Israel Warner, Abner Hancock, John Ashley, Pelatiah Jones, John
Crowfoot, Gideon Warriuer, Benjamin Knowlton, Jr., Samuel Chapin,
Jr., Asabel Cliainn, Ebenezer Warner, Ebeuezer Thomas, Reuben
Hitchcock, Joseph Mears, George M3^gate, and Reuben Dorchester.
The capture of Fort Massachusetts (Adams, Berkshire county)
by the French and Indians in 1746, and another bloody Indian
attack upon Decrfield, renewed the fears of the people of the valley.
Two years later a fight on the New Hampshire border is of more
immediate interest to Springfield. In 1 748 Capt. Humphrey Hobbs,
of Springfield, and Lieutenant Alexander, of Northfield, left Fort
Charlestown for the fort in Heath. They had many Springfield
soldiers with them, and were attacked while at dinner by Sackett, a
half-breed, descended of a Westfield captive, it is supposed, and
three hundred savages. It was a four hours' sharp-shooting affray
behind trees, during which Hobbs and Sackett, who were old acquaint-
ances, interchanged dreadful threats and commands for surrender.
Hobbs finally charged and won easily.
In 1755, when the Hampshire regiment under Col. Ephraim Will-
iams accompanied the expedition to Crown Point, there was another
season of anxiety. Lieut. Nathaniel Burt, who accompanied Williams,
fell with that hero (the virtual founder of Williams College), Septem-
ber 8, 1755. Burt served in Capt. Luke Hitchcock's company. It
may be interesting to give Burt's outfit at the time of his death : A
great-coat, a camlet scarlet double-breasted jack-coat, a German
serge waist-coat, a striped Holland shirt, a pair of leather breeches,
a felt hat, brass shoe-buckles, a hatchet, etc.
The French and the Indians assaulted the northern settlements of
the Connecticut valley in 1 756. Fear of the victorious ]Montcalm drove