FOOTNOTES: [22] Hoyt's Antiquarian Researches. [23] Book of the Indians. VIII. WAR OF WILLIAM III. COMBINATION of French and Indians against the Americans--Burning of Schenectady--Cause of it--Horrors attending it--Attack upon Salmon Falls--Upon Casco--Results of Expeditions fitted out by New York and New England--Reduction of Port Royal--Atrocities which marked the war--Attack on Haverhill, Mass.--Heroic Conduct of Mrs. Dustan--Peace. During the three wars of King William, Queen Anne, and George II., the sufferings of the northern colonies were severe and protracted, or were intermitted only at short intervals. The hostility of the Indians was kept alive, and often kindled into a fresh flame, through the agency of European settlers on their northern border. These took up the quarrel of France and England, and sought occasions to molest the subjects of the English sovereign in America. In _King William's War_, the French combined with the Indians in bringing fire and sword upon the inhabitants of New England and New York. A connected account need not be given of the disastrous occurrences that took place, during this sanguinary war; but only particular instances of hostilities, and their effects, will be narrated in this portion of the present work. We commence with the attack on _Schenectady_. This was made in pursuance of a plan adopted by Count Frontenac, then the governor of Canada, in revenging on the English colonies the treatment which King James had received from the English government, and which had inflamed the resentment of Frontenac's master, Louis XIV. The governor fitted out three expeditions against the American colonies in the midst of winter, of which one was against New York. The attack on Schenectady was the fruit of this expedition. It was made by a party, consisting of about two hundred French and, perhaps, fifty Caughnewaga Indians, under the command of two French officers, Maulet and St. Helene, in 1689-90. [Illustration: Burning of Schenectady.]