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

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to their sleep. A heavy thunder shower during the night greatly
aided the secresy of the march, while it drove the Indiana to their
wigwams and prevented any suspicion of an attack. This danger
safely passed, the troops rode forward through Greenfield meadow,
and, crossing Green river "at the mouth of Ash-swamp brook to
the eastward, skirting the great swamp " (says Mr. Sheldon), they
at length, about daybreak, reached the high land just south of Mount
Adams, where the men dismounted, and leaving the horses under a
small guard, pushed on through Fall river and up a steep hill, and
halted and silently awaited daylight upon the slope above the sleep-
ing Indian camp. Here all was wrapped in profound sleep. It is
said a great feast had been celebrated the night before by the Indians,
at which they had gorged themselves with fresh salmon from
the river, and beef and new milk from the Hatfield cattle. Not a
guard had been set, and no precaution had been made, so secure
were they and unsuspicious of an English raid. And now
with advancing daylight the sturdy settlers gather silently down
and about their unconscious foes, to whom the first warning of danger
was the crashing of a hundred muskets, dealing death in at their
wigwam doors. Many were killed at the first five, and scarcely a
show of resistance was made. The savages who escaped the first
fire were terrified at the thought that their old enemy was upon
them, and fled towards the river yelling " Mohawks ! Mohawks !
and wildly threw themselves into the canoes along the banks, but
many of these, overcrowding the canoes, were thrown into the river
and carried over the falls to certain death ; others were shot in attempting
to reach the other side ; others were chased to the shelving
rocks along the banks and there shot down. It is said that Capt.
Holyoke there despatched five with his own hand. Very few of the
Indians escaped, and their loss was computed by contemporary
writers at three hundred. One only of the English was killed, and
he by mistake, by one of his comrades, and another was wounded in
this attack. The soldiers burned all the wigwams and their contents,
captured the tools of the Indian blacksmiths who had set up
two forges for mending arms, and threw " two great Piggs of lead
(intended for making bullets) into the river." But while this was
being accomplished, the several larger bodies of Indians upon the
river above and below, rallied, and from various quarters gathered
in and about the English. A small party as decoys showed themselves
crossing the river above, and succeeded in drawing a por-
tion of our force away from the main body only to meet a large
force and to regain the command with difficulty. Capt. Turner,
enfeebled as he was by his disease, collected and drew off his troops
towards the horses, where the guards were about this time attacked
by the enemy, who hastily withdrew at the coming of the main body.
Mounting their horses, the English began the march for Hatfield.
The Indians in increasing numbers gathered upon flank and rear.
"