Soldiers in King Philip's war. Containing lists of the soldiers of ...

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and that the Major's house at Nonacoicus (in the town of Groton,
now within the town of Ayer) was a place of frequent rendezvous
for the troops passing hither and thither, and of entertainment to
those who came to the Major on the country's business.
On September 8th the Council issued an order to Cornet Thomas
Brattle and Lieut. Thomas Henchman to march to Chelmsford
with fifty men, collected, thirty from Norfolk and twenty from Mid-
dlesex Counties, and distribute them in the garrisons in the frontier
towns of Groton, Lancaster and Dunstable. This order was probably
in answer to Capt. Parker's appeal of August 25th. The men
were to be left under the command of the chief officers in each town ;
and as Major Willard is not referred to at all, it would seem proba-
ble that he had not yet returned from Brookfield, but sometime before
September 20th he was at home ; and when Capt. Henchman
was sent, about that date, to organize an expedition to Pennacook
with orders to withdraw eighty men from the several garrisons be-
fore mentioned, he was instructed to meet Major Willard at his
home, and consult with him and the chief officers of the several
garrisons as to the expedition. This meeting took place on September
25th, and on the same day Major Willard, together with officers
Adams, Parker and Kidder, addressed a remonstrance to the Council
against the withdrawal of so many of their soldiers. Capt.
Henchman reports the same meeting in his letter of Sept. 27th.
The Council, for various reasons, concurred with the Major, and
the expedition was abandoned.
For the succeeding months Major Willard was busily engaged in
ordering the defences of the Middlesex frontier towns and settling
•
i
. . .
the various bodies of friendly Indians.
.
Garrisons were
.
maintained
at Lancaster, Chelmsford, Groton and Dunstable, and the entire
available force of the county was kept in a " posture of war." During
the time that the army of the colony was absent at Narraganset,
there is evidence from frequent letters, petitions, &c, from these
frontier towns, that the people felt comparatively secure; but when
Philip, after the Narraganset fight, fleeing with his surviving warriors,
came again into the vicinity, their fears were again aroused,
especially when, about February 6th, the army abandoned the purr
suit, leaving the Indians in the woods about Brookfield, and return-
ing to Boston were disbanded. The Council, not insensible to
the danger which thus threatened these towns, immediately issued
orders to Major Willard to raise a large force of dragoons to scout
in front of the towns of Groton, Lancaster, &c, to Marlborough.
This plan met with immediate remonstrance from the towns, and
appeals were at once made to the Council against the measure, as it
withdrew many from the garrisons to a great distance for days together,
leaving them exposed to sudden incursions from the prowling
and watchful enemy.
At this time Major Willard was so busy ordering the defences of