men killed by shots from an unseen enemy. The whole of the inhabitants deserted the place in terror, and it was reduced to ashes by the assailants.

The colonies attempted, after this, to treat with the Nipmuck sachems, but found them reserved and "surly." A meeting was, however, appointed between them and an embassy from the Massachusetts government. Captains Wheeler and Hutchinson, with a considerable body of mounted men, repaired to the place of meeting at the time designated, viz.: the 2d of August; but, instead of coming forward in friendly conference, the Indians, to the number of two or three hundred, formed an ambuscade, and, firing suddenly from their cover, killed eight of the whites at the first discharge. Hutchinson was killed and Wheeler wounded.

The company, avoiding the other spots where they suspected the enemy to be lying in ambush, made the best of their way to Brookfield, a solitary village near the principal head-quarters of the Nipmucks. The Indians, in great numbers, pursued them into the town. They found the terrified inhabitants collected in a single house, which stood on a rising ground, where they had fortified themselves as well as possible, upon such an emergency, by piling logs and hanging feather beds against the walls. Wheeler and his companions also entered the house, and the savages, after burning all the buildings in the town, with the exception of a few immediately adjoining that where the whites had retreated, laid close siege to the frail fortification. Seventy people, including women and children, were here crowded together, with such slight defences as we have mentioned; while an enraged and remorseless enemy was pouring showers of bullets through the walls, and using every endeavor to fire the house. The Indians shot burning arrows upon the roof, and, attaching rags dipped in brimstone to long poles, they set fire to them, and thrust them against the walls. From the

afternoon of Monday the 2d of August, till Wednesday evening, these assaults continued; and, as a last attempt, the besiegers loaded a cart with hemp and other inflammable materials, and binding together a number of poles, so attached to the vehicle that it could be moved from a safe distance, wheeled it blazing against the building. This was in the evening, and, according to Wheeler's account, nothing could have preserved the unfortunate inmates, had not a heavy shower of rain suddenly extinguished the burning mass. In the words of Hubbard, by "this devilish stratagem," but for the rain, "all the poor people would either have been consumed by merciless flames, or else have fallen into the hands of their cruel enemies, like wolves continually yelling and gaping for their prey."

To exclude all assistance from without, the Indians had placed watchers and ambuscades upon all sides of the town; but Major Willard, who had been despatched against the Indians west of Groton, hearing of the probable condition of Brookfield, marched to its relief, and succeeded in effecting an entrance to the fortified house on this same night. He had with him forty-six men, but it is said that, as they passed through the ruins of the town, a large number of terrified cattle, who had not been destroyed in the conflagration, followed them for protection; and that, in the darkness, the Indians were deceived by this circumstance, as to the number of the party, and accordingly drew off their forces early the next morning. They retired to a swamp, twelve miles distant, where they met Philip with a band of his warriors. Only one of the whites was killed on this occasion, while the Indians lost, it is said, nearly eighty.

A garrison was maintained at the only remaining house for some months, but was finally drawn off, the building was burned by the savages, and the town left entirely desolate.

CHAPTER VI.

PHILIP MOVES WESTWARD.. -ATTACKS ON HADLEY AND DEERFIELD.GOFFE THE REGICIDE. DESTRUCTION OF LATHROP'S COMMAND. ASSAULTS ON SPRINGFIELD AND HATFIELD. — EXPEDITION AGAINST THE NARRAGANSETTS: OUTRAGEOUS CRUELTIES IN THEIR REDUCTION. PHILIP ON THE HUDSON.-DESTRUCTION OF LANCASTER, MEDFIELD, Seekonk, GrotON, WARWICK, MARLBOROUGH, ETC.CANONCHET TAKEN AND PUT TO DEATH.- FURTHER INDIAN RAV

AGES.

"All died — the wailing babe - the shrieking maid
And in the flood of fire that scathed the glade,
The roofs went down."- BRYANT.

WE can do little more, in continuing this account of Indian ravages, than enumerate the towns and settlements destroyed, and the little communities massacred or driven from their homes in utter destitution.

The terrible uncertainty which attended these calamities rendered them the more distressing. No one could tell, for many months from this time, where Philip was to be found, or at what point he meditated the next attack. He continued his westward progress, as is supposed, nearly to the Hudson, through the Mohegan country. He was thought to be present at many of the successful and murderous assaults that were made upon the white settlements; but, if so, he was enabled so to disguise himself as not to be distinctly recognized.

Mosely and others in vain scoured the country in pursuit of the Indians. The enemy, neglecting agriculture, and deserting their usual haunts, concealed themselves in swamps and thickets, retiring unperceived at the approach of regular troops, and ever ready to take advantage of any weak and unprotected quarter.

The Indians in the vicinity of Hadley and Springfield,

on the Connecticut, were relied upon by the whites as friendly and well-disposed; but ere long it was sufficiently plain that they had made common cause with Philip.

On the 1st of September, Hadley and Deerfield were both fiercely assaulted, and the latter town in great measure destroyed. At Hadley the Indians were driven off after much hard fighting. The inhabitants were engaged in religious exercises at the meeting-house, with arms, as usual, by their sides, when the Indians came upon them. So sudden and desperate was the attack, that they became confused, and might have been totally discomfited, but for a strange and unlooked-for champion. This was an old man, with white and flowing locks, and unusual costume, who appeared from some unknown quarter, and at once assumed the command of the panic-stricken congregation. With military skill and coolness he directed every manœuvre, and so reestablished their confidence and spirit, that the enemy was speedily put to flight. He disappeared immediately after the engagement, and many of the astonished inhabitants were persuaded that an angel from heaven had been miraculously sent for their deliverance.

The old warrior was no other than Major General Goffe, who, with his companion, Whalley, lay for a long time concealed at the house of Mr. Russell, the minister of Hadley.

Ten men were killed at Northfield about this time, and a party of thirty-six, under a Captain Beers, who had been sent to relieve the town, were nearly all cut off by an ambush. The bodies were mutilated, and the heads set on poles. "One, (if not more,") says Hubbard, "was found with a chain hooked into his under jaw, and so hung up on the bough of a tree, (it is feared he was hung up alive.")

Several thousand bushels of corn had been stored at Deerfield, and a company of nearly one hundred young men, "the flower of the country," under the command of

a youthful and gallant officer, Captain Lathrop, marched to secure it. On their way, an immense body of Indians fell upon them, and slew nearly the whole party; among the rest, the brave commander; only seven or eight survived. This defeat is attributed to the circumstance that Lathrop, aware of the disadvantages which a compact body of troops must labor under, when contending with an enemy who always fired from cover, ordered his men. to separate, and take to the trees, like their opponents. This being done, the disproportion of numbers proved so great, that the Indians were enabled to surround the English, and cut them off separately.

The Springfield Indians had pretended unbroken friendship for the whites, and had given hostages as pledges of good faith; but the hostages succeeded in escaping, and the whole body joined the hostile confederacy, with those of Hadley, "hanging together like serpents' eggs.' The town of Springfield received great injury from their attack, more than thirty houses being burned; among the rest, one containing a "brave library," the finest in that part of the country, which belonged to the Rev. Pelatiah Glover. Hubbard considers that this act "did, more than any other, discover the said actors to be the children of the devil, full of all subtilty and malice," as they had been upon friendly terms with the whites for more than forty years.

On the 19th of October, seven or eight hundred of Philip's coadjutors made an attempt upon Hatfield; but, the place being well defended, by Mosely and others, the enemy "were so well entertained on all hands, that they found it too hot for them."

This was the last important engagement at the westward part of the colony. Most of Philip's men are supposed to have betaken themselves, before winter, to the Narragansett country; and whether the great sachem himself remained concealed among them during that season, or