History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

CHAPTER XL.
QUEEN ANNE'S FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
Caleb Lyman Com- In 1704, tlie government having received
mands a Scout- information tliat tlie Indians had an en-
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campment at Cowass,^ on the Connecticut
River, for the purpose of fishing and planting, determined
to break it up. Orders were issued for the organization of
a scouting jiarty to reconnoitre. Only one man offered
himself for that service in Hampshire County. Col. Partridge
therefore requested the commander of the Connecti-
cut forces to engage some Indians for the expedition.
Major Whiting accordingly "did speedily procure five
brisk Indians " ^ at Hartford, who volunteered for this service.
Caleb Lyman of Northampton, was the one man who
was willing to undertake the enterprise.
Mr. Lymau's Account The followiug report of this undertaking
of the Expedition, jg copied iu full from Penhallow's Indian
Wars. ^ It was furnished to the author by
Mr. Lyman himself, and is therefore of great interest, and
thoroughly reliable : —
"Sometime in the month of May, 1704, there came intelligence from
Albany, of a niimher of enemy Indians up Connecticnt river, who had
built a fort, and planted com, at a place called Cowassuck. On the
fifth of June following, we set out (by order of authority) from Northampton,
and went nine days journey into the wilderness (through much
difficulty, by reason of the enemy's himting and scouting in the woods,
1 Cowassuck or Cowass, as it is generally called, was about one hundred miles
above Deerfleld, on the Connecticut River, near the mouth of Wells River. It was a
famous rallying place for the Indians. They fished in the stream, planted the fertile
meadow, and made it a general rendezvous on their way back and forth from Canada.
The Pascoramuck, as well as the Deerfield captives, stopped there.
2 Petition of Major Whiting, 1706, Judd MSS.
3 pp. 81 to 33.
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