BATTLE OF BLOODY BROOK.

111

house, feared the tomahawk for herself and children. On the sudden attack, the husband would fly with one child, the wife with another, and perhaps only one escape.

12. "The village cavalcade making its way to meeting, on Sundays, in files on horseback, the farmer holding the bridle in one hand and a child in the other, his wife seated on a pillion behind him-it may be with a child in her lap-as was the custom of those days, could not proceed safely-bullets would come whizzing by them. The Indians hung upon the skirts of the English villages like the lightning upon the edge of the clouds."

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Continuation of the History of New England.-Events of the War with Philip.

1. PHILIP, with his warriors well armed, and the Nipmucks, had also powerful assistance. He had drawn to his alliance most of the tribes throughout New England, and was now prosecuting the war with new vigor. During the summer and autumn, Hadley, Deerfield, Northampton, and Springfield, in the west, and Dover, Exeter, Saco, Scar'bor-ough, and Kittery, in the north and east, were made to feel the force of his vengeance.

2. The fate of Captain Lathrop was most melancholy. With eighty young men the flower of Essex county-he was escorting some teams, with grain, from Deerfield to Hadley. In passing through a thick wood, soon after leaving Deerfield, they stopped to pick a few grapes. Suddenly they were attacked by several hundred Indians, and seventy young men were slain, with twenty of the teamsters.

3. On hearing the noise of the guns, troops were sent from Deerfield to their assistance, who arrived in time to kill or wound one hundred and fifty of the Indians, and disperse the rest, with the loss of only two The battle-ground, long known by the name of Bloody Brook,

men.

was near the present village of Muddy Brook.

4. Another anecdote of this war is curious. Goffe, one of the judges who had doomed Charles I. to death, was in New England at this time, and one of his hiding-places was at Hadley. The Indians attacked that place in September. On their arrival, Goffe, in a strange

CHAP. XLVIII-1. What of Philip and his allies? 2. Captain Lathrop and his party? 3 What of the troops from Deerfield? 4. What of Goffe?

dress, suddenly placed himself at the head of the citizens, drove off the Indians, and disappeared. The wondering inhabitants believed, for some time, that an angel had been sent to their relief.

5. The Narraganset Indians, though they would not openly fight the English, were known to afford shelter to their enemies, and thus act against them indirectly. It was therefore resolved to wage war against them; and the united colonies sent out a body of eighteen hundred men, with one hundred and fifty friendly Indians, to attack them in their quarters, amid the deep snows of December.

6. They found them in a great swamp in Kingston, Rhode Island. On a rising ground, in the swamp, was their fort. After a severe battle of three hours, the fort was taken and burnt. The Indians lost about one thousand of their number, including women and children, and five or six hundred wigwams. Only a few of them escaped. The English had about two hundred and thirty killed and wounded.

7. The few remaining Indians were greatly distressed by this defeat. Without food or shelter, many perished; and, of those who survived, the greater number were compelled to subsist on any thing they could find-acorns, groundnuts, horse-flesh, etc. But they would not yield. "We will fight," said Ca-non'-chet, their chief, "to the last man."

8. Relics of the Narraganset fight, to which we have alluded, were to be seen within the memory of some persons now living. It is not long since that an Indian pipe and various Indian utensils were dug up on the battle-ground. Nor is it yet half a century since charred corn was found, having lain there about one hundred and thirty years.

CHAPTER XLIX.

Various Events of the War.-Death of Philip.

1. WE have seen that the Indians were greatly reduced, yet they were not destroyed. Philip had at first fled to the far west, to induce the Mohawks to join him, but his countrymen of the various tribes in New England had been roused to the work of burning and murdering; and, in the spring of 1676, Philip returned and joined them.

2. The depredations of the savages, during the winter of 1675 and the spring of 1676, were almost innumerable. Among those who were murdered were Captains Wadsworth and Pierce, with fifty men each. The latter had also twenty friendly Indians, who were killed.

5, 6. What of the Narragansets? 7. What of the surviving Indians? 8. Relics? CHAP. XLIX.-1. What of the Indians? Philip? Depredations of the Indians in the winter of 1875? What towns were burned?

DEATH OF PHILIP.

113

Among the towns burnt, either partly or wholly, were Lancaster, Medfield, Weymouth, Groton, Springfield, Sudbury, and Marlborough in Massachusetts, and Providence and Warwick in Rhode Island.

3. Philip, on his return from the west, attempted to hide himself near Mount Hope. Concealment, however, was impossible. All New England was in arms against him, as he was in arms against all New England. Even his own followers-perhaps to make better terms for themselves with the English-began to plot against him.

4. One cannot help pitying the poor man; for, though a savage, he had a soul. He could, perhaps, have borne the mere destruction of his nation, but he met with a loss, soon after his return, which affected him more than any thing else, and severed the last ties which bound him to the land of his fathers.

5. The loss referred to was that of his wife and only son, then a mere boy, but the king, in prospect, of the ancient tribe of the Wampanoags. The mother and the child were taken prisoners by the English. The youth was transported to Bermuda, and sold as a slave. "My heart breaks," said the despairing chief, when he heard this; "now I am ready to die."

6. Nor did he long survive. His hiding-place in the swamp was soon found out, and Captain Church, with a body of troops, was sent against him. On his arrival at the swamp where Philip was concealed, he placed his men around it in such a way that he might be discovered should he try to escape. They then commenced firing.

7. The soldiers had scarcely begun the attack when Philip seized his gun and attempted to escape; but in doing so he ran toward an Engrish soldier and an Indian acting with his enemies. The Englishman snapped his gun, but it missed fire. The Indian then fired, and Philip received the contents of the gun in his heart.

8. The war continued for a time in the province of Maine, but at length it ceased. The chiefs came and submitted themselves to the English, and a permanent treaty was concluded. The war, however, had been a terrible one for feeble colonies to sustain. They lost at least six hundred men, six hundred dwelling-houses, and from twelve to twenty villages. The whole of New England scarcely contained, at the time, one hundred and twenty-five thousand white inhabitants, or twenty-five thousand fighting men.

8. What of Philip after his return from the west? 4. What feelings are excited for Philip? 5. Wife and child of Philip? 6, 7. Death of Philip? 8 The war? White population in New England at this time?

10*

CHAPTER L.

Return to the History of Virginia.--Bacon's Rebellion.

1. BETWEEN the years 1624 and 1639 serious difficulties had arisen among the colonists in Virginia about their government. The king of England had taken away their charter, and was ruling them in his own way, and by means of such governors as he was pleased to appoint. In one instance, so much dissatisfaction existed with regard to the royal governor, that the people sent him home to England. The king, however, sent him back.

2. In 1639, Governor Berkley was appointed in his stead, and the people were, once more, permitted to choose their representatives. Grateful for the privilege, they remained attached to the cause of the king, even after Cromwell had taken the reins of government. For this the parliament was offended, and Governor Berkley was removed; at the death of Cromwell, he was, however, restored to them.

3. But by this time, either he or the Virginians were somewhat changed. They grew dissatisfied with his conduct, and sent in petitions to the crown against him; but these were disregarded. At length, in 1676, the year of King Philip's death, as just related, the difficulties which existed ripened into an open rebellion.

4. Nathaniel Bacon, a bold, enterprising, eloquent, but ambitious young man, a member of the governor's council, was at the head of the rebel party. The colony had just engaged in a war with the Susque-han'-na Indians. Bacon demanded of the governor a commission in the army, but being refused, a contention ensued between them, which ended in Bacon's suspension from the council.

5. He was, however, soon afterward restored to his office, upon which he renewed his request for a commission; but, being again refused, he collected a band of six hundred men, and marched at once to Jamestown. The General Assembly was in session, and, being unarmed, was forced to submit to his terms, and give him a commission.

6. But he was no sooner gone than the governor denounced him as a rebel; upon which, instead of marching against the Susquehanna Indians, according to the intention of the commission, he returned in great wrath to Jamestown. The aged governor fled to the eastern. shore, and, having collected a small force, recrossed the bay to oppose him.

CHAP. L.-1. What of the government of Virginia between 1624 and 1639 ? 2. What occurred in 1639? 3. What happened in 1676? 4, 5, 6. What of Nathaniel Bacon?

BACON'S REBELLION.

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7. The colony was thus involved in all the horrors of a civil war. The rebel party burnt Jamestown, many houses in the country were pillaged, and whole districts laid waste. The wives of some of the governor's party were even taken from their homes, and carried to the rebel camp.

8. But, in the midst of these calamities. Bacon suddenly sickened and died. His followers, left without a leader, and without a definite object in view, began to disperse. His generals surrendered, and were pardoned. And thus expired the flames of a war that had already cost the colony about half a million of dollars.

9. Governor Berkley now re-entered upon the duties of his office. But, though peace was restored, the progress of the colony had been retarded in various ways. Husbandry, in particular, had been greatly neglected, and the people were once more threatened with famine. About this time Governor Berkley returned to England, and soon after lied.

10. The colony had other difficulties, in the years 1679 and 1680, in regard to raising a revenue; and much dissatisfaction prevailed against Lord Culpepper, the successor of Berkley. The truth is, ideas of liberty and independence, which, a century later, resulted in open rebellion against the mother country, were beginning to germinate, and already rendered the colonists impatient under the despotism of the royal governors sent to rule over them.

7. Civil war? 8. What of Bacon? Effect of his death? 9. Governor Berkley? 10. What other difficulties arose in the colony?