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

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to leave their homes at an hour's notice. Their guns, hunting-gear,
ammunition, stores, etc., all which was their own private property,
were plundered by their English neighbors and never returned to
them. Rev. Mr. Eliot, Major Gookin and others of their friends,
met them at the " Falls of the Charles River " and they were taken
down to Deer Island, in boats, with such of their poor belongings
as they were able to bring along. Some two hundred in all were
landed upon the bleak island, with scant clothing and food, and no
shelter save such as they might construct. They suffered incredibly
in many ways, being obliged to subsist largely upon clams, and
such fish as might be taken from the shore.
In November, the Hassanamesit Praying Village was attacked by
the hostile Indians, and about fifty men and one hundred and fifty
women and children captured. They had been disarmed by the
English, and so abused and threatened by their English neighbors
that many went willingly, as they were persuaded that the English
were mostly hostile to them, and meant to destroy them. James
Speen and Job Kattenanit escaped and brought the news to the
English. Their ruler " Capt. Tom," alias " Wuttasacomponom," had
been a tried and trusted friend of the English, but had been so insulted
and threatened by the English that he yielded to the enemy,
and many others followed with him. The pastor of their church,
Joseph Tuckapawillin, and his aged father Naoas, went unwillingly
and sorrowfully.
By this stroke the cause of christianizing the Indians met with a
very severe check, there being three villages, viz., Hassanamesit,
Magunkog and Chobonokonomum, broken up. Properly armed
and garrisoned with a few English, along with the Indians, these
villages would have been a strong defence in the war. It was upon
this disaster that Capts. Henchman and Syll came to Hassanamesit,
and the record of their expedition shows that all the success they
had, was achieved by the five Natick scouts, of whom three were
Thomas and James Quanapohit and Eleazar Pegin, who were highly
commended for their services, their courage and fidelity, by their
officers. But the hate and prejudice was so bitter among the
soldiers, that Capt. Syll was forced to send three of the Indians
back home. For lack of these, Lieut. Philip Curtis lost his life
uselessly, his company being left without any scouts. James and
Thomas Quanapohit remained in Capt. Syll's company.
When Job Kattenanit escaped from Hassanamesit he left his
three children with the hostile Indians, and was granted a pass to go
into the woods to try to recover them ; but meeting with some of
Capt. Henchman's soldiers, he was seized and stripped of most of
his clothing and his arms, and then by the Captain, to still the rage
of the soldiers and populace, he was sent down to Boston, and there
thrown into prison, no note being taken of his pass from Major
Gookin. He suffered here from the foulness of the prison and the