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

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Capt. Turner led the van, though so weak from long sickness as
scarcely able to manage his horse. The intrepid Capt. Holyoke
commanded the rear guard, but in effect conducted the retreat. The
Indians advanced upon the left and rear, and several sharp skirmishes
ensued while they tried to separate the rear guard from the
main. Once Capt. Holyoke's horse was shot down, and he narrowly
escaped capture by the Indians, who rushed forward to seize him, by
shooting down the foremost with his pistols, till his men came to his
aid. On the left of the line of inarch, nearly all the way to Green
river, was a swamp in which the Indians found safe cover. A rumor
was started (by an escaped captive, it is said) that Philip with
a thousand warriors was at hand, and a panic ensued. The guides
differed as to the course, and some following one and some another,
disorder prevailed, and the command was broken up. Two parties
leaving the main body were cut off and lost. Capt. Turner pushed
forward with the advance as far as Green river, and was shot by the
Indians while crossing the stream, near the mouth of the brook upon
which afterwards stood " Nash's " Mill. His body was found near
the place by a scouting party a short time afterwards. 125
The whole command now devolved upon Capt. Holyoke, who led
his shattered force, fighting every rod of the way to the south side
of Deerfield meadow to the place now known as the " Bars " (according
to Gen. Hoyt's account). That the retreat did not end in a general
massacre is doubtless due to the skill and bravery of Capt.
Holyoke in keeping the main body together, and in protecting flank
and rear while pushing forward to avoid the chance of ambuscades.
As it was, they found, on arriving at Hatfield, that some forty-five
or more of their men were missing. Rev. Mr. Russell's letter of
May 22d gives some account of the losses, and says that six of the
missing have come in, reducing the number of the lost to thirty-
eight or thirty-nine. Of the Indian losses he gives the report of
Sergt. Bardwell that he counted upwards of one hundred in and
about the wigwams and along the river banks, and the testimony of
William Drew and others that they counted some " six-score and
ten." " Hence we cannot but judge that there were above 200 of
them slain."
Of the slain of our soldiers the following list is taken from the
best available authorities :
Capt. William Turner, Boston. Experience Hinsdell, Hatfield.
Serg 1 John Dickinson, Hatfield. John Church, Kadley.
William Allis, " Samuel Crow, "
John Colfax, " Thomas Elgar, "
Samuel Gillet,
"
Isaac Harrison, "
12 5 Certain Indians who were captured afterwards and carried to Newport and tried for
their crimes against the English, testified in regard to the Falls Fight. One Necopeak
testified that he saw Capt. Turner after he was shot, while yet alive ; that he was wounded
in the thigh, and that he told him that he was Capt. Turner. Johu Chase, of Newbury, in
1735, testified that he was in this expedition and helped to bury the body of Capt. Turner.