History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

1721-17-23.] FATHER rale's WAR. 19
11'" of October Capt. Dewey was ordered to march forth-
with to Deerfield, send one lialf his company to Northfield
to guard the people while gathering their harvest, and to
range and scout the woods to the northwest.
Assault on North- Tliese orders came too late ; the enemy were
field. at their bloody work before the troops
received them. On the 9"' the Indians
assaulted a party of men at work in the Northfield mead-
ows. One man was killed, two were wounded, and a third,
Samuel Dickinson, captured and taken to Canada. He had
been previously taken prisoner at Hatfield. In June of the
following year he was redeemed, and returned to Deerfield,
bringing important information concerning the movements
of the enemy. After this alarm a company of Connecticut
troops was on duty at Northfield four weeks. In November
the General Court ordered that a company of forty men
should be enlisted, and placed under the command of Lieut.
Joseph Kellogg, who was commissioned as its Captain.
This company remained at Northfield during the winter.
Capt. Benjamin Capt. Benjamin Wright, whose exploits
Wright offers form a brilliant page in the history of his
time (being then a resident of Northfield),
proffered his services to the government, asking the '
' liberty
of commanding forty or fifty men to go on the track
of this army, which came to Northfield, as far as Otter
Creek, and then round to White River and home by Connecticut
River." Col. Stoddard, about this time, suggested
that an expedition to St. Francis, the headquarters of the
Canada Indians, would be of great service, and that four
hundred men would be sufficient. But "as the winter was
far advanced,'' it was not thought "best to attempt the
march, but of service to send forty or fifty men to Otter
Creek and White River." Nothing, however, was done at
this time.
A Blockhouse Built
above Northfield.
Wlieii affairs became serious and threaten-
ii^g^ the authorities decided to construct
a blockliouse above Northfiekl, and there
maintain a garrison, for the purpose of scouting along the
frontier, and giving seasonable warning of the approach of