1690.] CAPTURE OF SALMON FALLS. 227 



It was a false and fatal security. Through snow 

 and ice and storm, Hertel and his band were mov- 

 ing on their prey. On the night of the twenty- 

 seventh of March, they lay hidden in the forest 

 that bordered the farms and clearings of Salmon 

 Falls. Their scouts reconnoitred the place, and 

 found a fortified house with two stockade forts, 

 built as a refuge for the settlers in case of alarm. 

 Towards daybreak, Hertel, dividing his followers 

 into three parties, made a sudden and simultane- 

 ous attack. The settlers, unconscious of danger, 

 were in their beds. No watch was kept even in 

 the so-called forts ; and, when the French and In- 

 dians burst in, there was no time for their few 

 tenants to gather for defence. The surprise was 

 complete ; and, after a short struggle, the assailants 

 were successful at every point. They next turned 

 upon the scattered farms of the neighborhood, 

 burned houses, barns, and cattle, and laid the 

 entire settlement in ashes. About thirty persons 

 of both sexes and all ages were tomahawked or 

 shot ; and fifty -four, chiefly women and children, 

 were made prisoners. Two Indian scouts now 

 brought word that a party of English was advanc- 

 ing to the scene of havoc from Piscataqua, or Ports- 

 mouth, not many miles distant. Hertel called his 

 men together, and began his retreat. The pur- 

 suers, a hundred and forty in number, overtook 

 him about sunset at Wooster River, where the 

 swollen stream was crossed by a narrow bridge. 

 Hertel and his followers made a stand on the far- 

 ther bank, killed and wounded a number of the Eng- 



