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

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886. 599
necticut river, from the elevated point where the Bay path emerges, upon the top
of the hill to the eastward of the town, and caught his first glimpse of its mag-
nificent curves as it sweeps through the fields of Longmeadow, and that he pres-
ently found himself estabhshed in the little wooden house that had been built for
the accommodation of the family, not far from the river's bank, and close by
the very spot on which we are now assembled. Here, no doubt, he enjoyed for
schooling the instructions of the Rev. George Moxon, and in his out-of-door life
sailed up and down the river from South Hadley Falls to Enfield, and assisted in
trapping beaver at Woronoco and in loading his father's vessels at Warehouse
Point, and daily became more deeply interested in the dusky men who constantly
thronged his father's house ;
and, no doubt, was present when a deputation of the
Mohawks from the great river on the other side of the western mountains waited
upon his father in order to present to him the scalp of Sassacus, the greatPequod
chief, who had fled to them for safety, and which by him was carried to Gov-
ernor Winthrop on his next visit to the Bay, together with his bloody hands.
And in this school of business and affairs passed away nine more years. Then
comes his marriage, October 30, 1645, to Amy, the daughter of Gov. George
Wyllys, of Hartford, and the owner of the famous Charter Oak.
Four years after, in 1650, when he was twenty-nine years of age, occurred the
publication of his father's book, " The Meritorious Price of our Redemption,"
and two years later, his return to England. Immediately after followed his own
entrance upon civil and military life, as chief magistrate of the settlement and
commander of the troops. Presently came the preparations, in 1658, for the
erection of his great brick house, the Fort. During all this period prosperity
flowed steadily in, and wealth accumulated. From Enfield and Suffield on the
south, to the meadows of Deerfield on the north, most of the land was purchased
by him, or through him, of the Indians, and nearly all subsequent titles are from
him derived. Nor were his possessions confined to the Connecticut river valley,
for we find him owning land in the Narragansett country, two thousand four
hundred acres, between the Thames and Mystic rivers, to the east of New
London.
In 1662 occurred his father's death, and the year following he visited England
to settle the estate. In 1675 came King Philip's War, with all its anxieties,
fatigues, and horrors, culminating in the burning of his settlement in October of
that year. In 1679 we discover him assisting officially, as one of the assistants of
the colony, at the imposing funeral of Governor Leverett in Boston. In 1680 we
find him despatched to Albany with instructions from the General Court to get the
advice and assistance of the Hon. Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of New York, to
endeavor a treaty with the Schems and people called Mohawks, and they remind