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Several were killed in Mendon; sixteen in Brookfield, and the town burnt; Northfield, Deerfield, and Hadley were attacked; many lives lost, and the buildings mostly destroyed. Springfield was partly saved by the opportune arrival of some troops from Connecticut.

New-Hampshire and the District of Maine were attacked at the same time. At Portsmouth, Exeter, Dover, Kittery, Saco, &c. their devastations were very extensive. It is stated, however, that the savages in Maine were not thus cruel without provocation. Several of them were betrayed on board of a ship and sold for slaves; and though the colonies were willing to make ample redress, the Indians chose not to await the effect of negociation, or the slow progress of justice.

The Narragansets having violated their engagements, and there being the utmost reason to suppose that, if all the Indians should rise against them, the issue would be at least doubtful, the colonists determined, before the savages should have time to unite, to attack the Narragansets, in their principal town.

The Narraganset warriors only were believed to amount to two thousand; half of whom were armed with muskets. Connecticut sent five companies, Plymouth two, and Massachusetts six; amounting to six hundred and fifty men, besides a company of horse. On the 19th of December, after sleeping a stormy night, in the open air, and wading through snow sixteen miles, about one o'clock the joint forces reached the head quarters of the Narragansets.

These were fortified on a rising ground, in the midst of a swamp, with a palisade, and encompassed with a hedge of a rod's thickness. The fortress had but one entrance, and this fortunately was at the spot where the colonists approached. Here the English captains led their troops. The two first, Captains Johnson and Davenport of Massachusetts, with many of their men, were instantly shot.

The savages fought desperately, but after a violent and bloody engagement, they were at length overpow

ered and compelled to retreat. About six hundred wigwams were burnt, and most of their women, children, old men, corn, and other stores, were lost in the fire.

In this bloody conflict, which lasted three hours, the English lost eighty, killed or mortally wounded; one hundred and fifty of the wounded recovered. Three hundred of the savage warriors were killed; three hundred and fifty made prisoners, and three hundred women and children captured.

Among the slain of the English were six Captains; two have been mentioned, the others were Captains Gardner, Gallup, Siely, and Marshal.

In this sanguinary engagement, some may, at this day, lament that the old men, women, and children were burnt with the wigwams; but, when it is considered, that by the savages not only neither age nor sex had been spared, but that by them every species of cruelty had been inflicted on the English, we cannot so much wonder at this severe retaliation.

During the succeeding winter, the ravages of the Indians were more enormous than even before. About half of Medfield was burnt, a part of Weymouth, the whole of Groton, of Warwick, and Marlborough. Forty houses were burnt at Rehoboth. Many other towns were assaulted throughout New-England; some partially and some wholly destroyed.

Captain Wadsworth, with fifty men from Boston, when marching to the relief of Sudbury, met a party of Indians who fled from him as if from fear. He pursued them about a mile into the woods, where, thus decoyed, he was surrounded by several hundreds. After a desperate engagement they were overpowered, and most of them killed. Those unfortunately taken alive, were reserved for long tortures and a lingering dissolution.

Thus far the savages appeared to triumph; but in the spring they met a sad reverse. Many friendly Indians giving information of the situation of the enemy, the English were frequently enabled to surprise them. In one of their excursions into the Narraganset country, they killed above one hundred; and among them their chief. Similar success attended most of their enterprises; and in a few weeks above five hundred were killed.

King Philip had been to solicit the aid of the Mohawks, the most fierce and warlike of all the Indians of North America; but met not with success. On his return he was lurking about Mount Hope, plotting new mischief towards the English.

When they heard of his situation, Captain Church, with about thirty soldiers and twenty friendly Indians, were sent in pursuit of him. Ignorant of their approach, he was surprised at Mount Hope. One hundred and thirty of his men were killed, and his wife and son made prisoners.

He escaped; but his retreat was soon discovered and himself slain. His death was the subject of universal gratulation among the colonists; for this intrepid and patriotic savage warrior had long been, more than any other chief, their greatest dread.

The savages, by the loss of so many of the warriors and their principal chiefs, by being hunted about from place to place; by the loss of their wigwams, and being compelled to live on horse flesh and ground nuts, (having planted nothing in the spring) were so distressed by famine and so hopeless of future success, that before autumn, they surrendered themselves to the English, singly, by tens and by hundreds. Others fled to the French and to distant tribes; so that peace was very generally restored.*

* Very great indeed were the losses sustained by this predatory war. Nearly 600 of the inhabitants, the greatest part of whom were the flower of the country, either fell in battie, or were murdered by the savages. Many others were led away into a most miserabl⚫ captivity. Most of the country was in deep mourning. There was scarcely a family or individual who had not lost some relative or friend. Twelve or thirteen towns were wholly destroyed, and others greatly damaged. About 600 buildings, chiefly dwellinghouses, were con sumed with fire. An almost insupportable debt was contracted by the colonies, at a time when their live stock and all other resources had suffered a very great diminution. The whole of this loss and expense was borne solely by the colonies. - Trumbull."

1684. On account of charges of disrespect to the laws of England, the charter of the governor and company was declared to be forfeited: and two years after, Sir Edmund Andros arrived with a commission from James the Second, for the government of New-England, not including Plymouth.

He was invested with powers wholly incompatible with the rights and the safety of the colonists, and brought with him a small military establishment to enforce his government. Three years after, Andros having conducted himself in an arbitrary manner, the patience of the colonists was exhausted; and, on a sudden provocation, they seized the governor and several of his council, and resumed the government according to charter rights, after mature deliberation of the representatives of fifty-four towns.

In 1692, a new charter arrived from England, by which the Plymouth company was incorporated with Massachusetts, together with Maine, Nova-Scotia, Nantucket, &c. By this charter the governor was appointed by the crown, instead of being elected by the assembly, and had the power of calling, adjourning, prorogueing, or dissolving the general court.

No act was to be valid without his consent. Many other important alterations were made: and this charter continued till the late revolution.

We should be willing, in silence and sorrow, to pass all notice of an infatuation, which prevailed generally for a long time, and the consequences of which were the imprisonment and other sufferings of a great number, and the death of a less: but truth and impartiality compel us, most reluctantly, to give a very brief account of what has usually been called the Salem Witchcraft.

Early in the year, (1692) two children of the family of a clergyman in Salem village, the one eleven, the other nine years of age, having been for some time indisposed, and no relief being obtained from medical aid, the attending physician suggested the probability of their being bewitched. The children, informed of their supposed situation, complained of an Indian woman, and declared they were "pinched, pricked, and tormented" by her.

Other persons, soon after, afflicted with various complaints, attributed their sickness to the same cause; and several of the imagined witches were put in prison. In the month of June eleven persons were tried, condemned, and executed.

The awful mania increased. In September, nme more received sentence of death. Each became suspicious of his neighbour. The charges of witchcraft, commencing with the lower part of society, extended to all ranks; even a clergyman, among others, having been executed. A confession of guilt became the only security for life; such not being condemned. In October, the number of persons accused was so great, and their standing in society so respectable, that by general consent, all persons were released, and all prosecutions dropped.

The celebrated missionaries, Mayhew and Elliot, were very successful in civilizing the Indians, and converting them to the Christian faith. Notwithstanding the opposition of the sachems and priests, there were in 1687, more than twenty assemblies of Indians, who worshipped God. In 1695, there were not less than 3000 adult Indian converts, in the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

"The Boston News Letter," (1704) was this year issued, being the first newspaper published in America.

In 1745, Governor Shirley requested the members of the general court to lay themselves under an oath of secrecy, while he should communicate to them a proposal of great importance. This was a plan for attacking Louisburg, a town belonging to the French on the Island of Cape Breton, fortified with a rampart of stone thirty-six feet high, and a ditch eighty feet wide, and batteries in different situations containing about two hundred cannon.

After long debate, the proposal was carried by a majority of one. Circulars were sent to all the colonies, as far as Pennsylvania, for forces, which were immedi

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