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

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and Lieut. James Richardson, were engaged in the fight at Blackpoint
; but the number of Indians given by Mr. Hubbard as in the
expedition is not confirmed by other evidence.
In Major Daniel Gookin's "History of the Christian Indians,"
he says :
In June, 1677, another expedition into the Eastern parts, among whom
were about 36 of our Christian Indians, who were in a fight near Black
point; the English lost about forty men whereof were eight of our friendly
Indians, the greatest loss our [Christian] Indians sustained all the war.
This seems to imply that the eight Indians are a part of the forty
that were slain, and also that but thirty-six Indians were in the
command.
The instructions given in making up the force of his Lieutenant
also give additional light.
Order of the Council, June 15th, 1677.
It is reffered to Major Gookin forthwith to Suply Leift. Richardson &
his p ty at Chelmsford with provision Ammunition & app 1
necessary & to
order him to scout & range y e woods between Merrimack & Pascatawq
River & endeavour to kill and sease y e Lurking enemy in those parts for
w ch the Major is ordered to encourage y m w th a reward of twenty shillings
for every scalpe & forty shillings for every prisoner or y e prisoner. And
also to make up in number 25 men, & to order y m after some time spent
there, to m r ch to Blackpoint garison & Their to bee at y e ordering of
Liftenant Tipping until further order from the Council the time of Randevous
at Blackpoint is to bee the 26 of this Instant June if possible.
Mass. Archives, Vol. 69, p. 129.
Past. EDW d Rawson, Secretary.
If these instructions were carried out, Lieut. Richardson and his
Indians from Chelmsford marched overland to Blackpoint, and
evidently arrived there before the hostile Indians had come from the
Kennebec and Androscoggin. The vessels were a day behind the
appointed time in arriving. In making up his force for scouting the
woods from Blackpoint to Saco,' and in the vicinity, Capt. Swett bad
no thought of the large numbers of the enemy that were actually
near them ; so that when he had drawn out his English to the number
of forty, and his Lieutenant's force of thirty-six, and some of
the Blackpoint men of Sergt. Tippen's command joined, he mustered
in all a company of ninety. It is said that a large decoy body of
the enemy showed themselves and succeeded in drawing both the
commands into an ambush contrived with their usual cunning, and
blindly walked into, in the usual manner of the English from the
first; and the story of "Bloody-Brook," "Beers Plain," "Brookfield"
and " Sudbury," is again repeated, and the simple old Indian
device of decoy and ambush again overwhelms our forces and sends dismay
through all the colonies. But the Indians never risked a battle
on any other chance ; and if their device had not succeeded here,
would doubtless have disappeared, and the report would have been
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