Chap. 1. 



INDIAN AND COLONIAL WARS. 



SCHCYLER S ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE INDIANS. 



DEERFIELD DESTROYED. 



pose of concerting measures for the com- 

 mon safety and defence. Here it was 

 agreed that the conquest of Canada would 

 be the only effectual means of securing 

 peace and safety to tlicir frontiers, and it 

 was recommended thatvigorous efforts be 

 made for the accomplishment of that ob- 

 ject. Two expeditions were therefore 

 planned ; one under Sir William Phipps, 

 which was to proceed against Quebec 

 by water, and the other under John Win- 

 throp, which was to be joined by the Iro- 

 quois, and, proceeding by the way of lake 

 Champlain, was to attack Montreal. The 

 latter expedition was abandoned on ac- 

 count of the lateness of the season and 

 the refusal of the Iroquois to join it, and 

 the one under Phipps proved unsuccess- 

 ful. 



In the summer of 1691, Col. Schuyler 

 put himself at the head of a party of Mo- 

 hawks, who were a tribe of the Iroquois, 

 and passing through lake Champlain and 

 the western borders of Vermont, made a 

 successful descent upon the French set- 

 tlements on the river Richelieu, in-which 

 were slain 300 of the enemy ; a number 

 exceeding that of his own force. In Jan- 

 uary, 1695, a party of six or seven hun- 

 dred French and Indians marched by the 

 way of lake Champlain and attacked the 

 Mohawks in their own country. Intelli- 

 gence of these transactions no sooner 

 reached Albany, than Schuyler, at the 

 head of 200 volunteers, hastened to their 

 relief. Several engagements ensued, in 

 which Schuyler had the advantage, and 

 the enemy were soon compelled to make 

 a hasty retreat to Canada. 



These reciprocal depredations were 

 continued till the treaty between France 

 and England, in 1697, put an end to hos- 

 tilities and restored peace to the colonies. 

 But this peace was of short continuance. 

 War was again declared in. Europe in 

 1702, and in tliis the colonies were soon 

 involved. During this war the frontiers 

 of New England were kept in continual 

 alarm by small parties of the enemy and 

 suffered severely. The town of Deerfield 

 in Massachusetts had been settled some 

 years and was at this time in a very flour- 

 ishing condition : but, being the most 

 northerly settlement on Connecticut riv- 

 er, excepting a few families at Nortlifield, 

 the French and Indians devoted it to de- 

 struction. 



In the winter of 1704, a party of about 

 300 of the enemy under De Rouville set 

 out upon an expedition against this ill- 

 fated place. They proceeded up lake 

 Champlain to the mouth of Winooski, or 

 Onion river, and, following up that stream, 

 they passed over to Connecticut river. 



Proceeding down the Connecticut upon 

 the ice, they arrived in the vicinity of 

 Deerfield on the 29th of February. Here 

 they concealed themselves till the latter 

 part of the night, when, perceiving that 

 the watch had left the streets and that all 

 was quiet, they rushed forward to the 

 attack. The snow was so high as to en- 

 able them to leap over the fortifications 

 without difficulty, and they immediately 

 separated into several parties so as to 

 make their attack upon every house at 

 the same time. The place was complete- 

 ly surprised, the inhabitants having no 

 suspicions of the approach of the enemy 

 till they entered their houses. 



Yet surprised and unprepared as they 

 were, the people of Deerfield made a 

 vigorous defence ; but were at length 

 overpowered by the enemy. Forty-seven 

 of the inhabitants were slain, the rest 

 captured and the village plundered and 

 set on fire. About one hour after sunrise 

 the enemy hastily departed ; and although 

 pursued and attacked by a party of the 

 English, they succeeded in escaping to 

 Canada, where they arrived with their 

 prisoners and booty after a fatiguing march 

 of 25 days.* For several years after the 

 destruction of Deerfield the frontiers, both 

 of Canada and the New England provin- 

 ces, were one continued scene of massa- 

 cre and devastation. 



Section IV. 



French and English Colonies. — Transac- 

 tions in Vermont and its vicinity from 

 J705<ol749. 



The merciless depredations upon the 

 frontiers of New England still continuing, 

 it was again determined, in 1709, to at- 

 tempt the conquest of Canada. The plan 

 of operations was very similar to that de- 

 vised in 1690. Quebec was to be attack- 

 ed by water, and an army of provincial 

 troops was at the same time to proceed by 

 the way of lake Champlain and reduce 

 Montreal. But the failure of Great Brit- 

 ain to furnish a fleet for the enterprise 

 against Quebec, and the mortal sickness, 

 which prevailed among the troops collect- 



* One of the prisoners, taken in this descent upon 

 Deerfield and carried to Canada, was the Rev. John 

 Williams, who was grandfather of the IJev. Samuel 

 Williams, I.. L. D. the earliest and ablest historian 

 of Vermont, and great grandfatlier of the Hon. 

 Cliarles K, Williams, the present Chief Judge of the 

 Supreme Court of this State. He was horn at 

 Roxbury, Mass. in 1761; graduated at Harvard 

 Collose in 1G83 ; settled at Deerfield, where ho was 

 taken in 1704 ; was exchanged and returned to 

 Deerfield in 1706; and died in 1728. 



