October 5, Springfield was attacked. The Indians laid the same plan as
at Deerfield and Northfield. Only notice given by a friendly Indian
during the night before saved the town from total destruction. The
assailants were Indians who had lived for generations neighbors and
friends of the Springfield people. On the 4th they had made earnest
protestations of friendship, on the strength of which the garrison had
marched to Hadley. This deliberate treachery was probably planned by
Philip.
October 19, a large party made an attack on Hatfield, but was repulsed.
As the spring of 1676 advanced, a large body of Indians collected at
Peskeompskut for the purpose of catching a year’s stock of shad and
salmon. Parties from thence occasionally harassed the settlers below,
who knew that when the fishing season was over, the enemy would
constantly infest the valley, and watch every chance to kill the
unprotected. They therefore determined to take the initiative, and at
nightfall of May 18, a party of about a hundred and fifty men under
Captain William Turner made a night march, surprised the camp at
daylight the next morning and destroyed many of the enemy.
The homeward march was delayed so long that Indians from neighboring
camps began to appear. A released captive reported that Philip with a
thousand warriors was at hand, and as the enemy swarmed on rear and
flank, the retreat became almost a panic. The straggling and the wounded
were cut off. Captain Turner was shot while crossing Green River, about
a mile from the battle-field, and the party, under Captain Samuel
Holyoke, reached Hatfield with the loss of forty-two men.
The warring Indians never recovered from the blow at Peskeompskut.
Besides their slain, they lost their year’s stock of fish, and the
hundreds of acres of Indian corn they had planted with the assurance of
a permanent abode in that region. The broken, disheartened clans drifted
aimlessly eastward. They quarrelled among themselves. Philip, with a few
followers, skulked back to Pokanoket, where he fell, August 12, 1676.
The war ended soon after.
In the spring of 1677, some of the old settlers came back and planted
their deserted fields; preparations for building were well advanced by
some of the more venturesome, when, September 19, they were surprised by
Ashpelon with a party of Indians from Canada, and all were either killed
or captured.
In 1679 the General Court passed an act regulating the resettlement of
deserted towns, requiring the consent of certain authorities who should
prescribe
“In what form, way & manner, such townes shall be settled &
erected, wherein they are required to haue a principal respect to
neerness and conveniency of habitation for securitie against
enemyes & more comfort for Xtian comunion & enjoyment of God’s
worship & education of children in schools & civility.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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