and family; and during the last year of his life, when past the age of threescore years and ten,-a time when the repose that nature demands is most grateful and necessary, he is found more actively engaged in military service, in addition to his civil functions, than at any former period. His home was upon the frontier, a position of great danger to himself, and to those he most dearly loved.* From this eventful period, embracing the gloomiest portion of Philip's war, we can trace Major Willard, step by step, until the close of his life.

In April [6], 1675, he was one of the judges who held the County Court at Cambridge. At the May Session of the General Court, he was appointed, in the words of the record, "to keep the County Courts in Dover and Yorkshire the year ensuing" (ante, p. 187). As he held no term of the court in Middlesex after June 15,† until April 4, 1676, it may be presumed, that, "in the dark and troubled night" which was then upon New England, amidst anxious cares and sad forebodings, his military employments engrossed his time and attention.

The principal events in this war are so familiarly known, or may be so easily gathered from contemporaneous histories, that I do not propose to enlarge upon them: indeed, it would not be to my purpose to enter into details having no immediate connection with my subject.

* We shall find, in the sequel, that his residence at Nonaicoicus was the frequent rendezvous of the troops employed in military expeditions in that part of the Colony, and the head-quarters whence orders were issued to the various places under his command.

241

CHAPTER IX.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SIMON WILLARD.

(Continued.)

AFTER the reduction, and almost annihilation, of the Pequots, the colonists remained substantially at peace with the various Indian tribes that were amongst them, or on their borders, for a period of nearly forty years. The unwise policy and the pervading jealousies which prevented a union between the Pequots and Narragansets, while they were strong and the English were weak, continued in full force between the Narragansets and Mohegans after the subjection of the Pequots. It was for the interest of the English, if not to foment divisions between the tribes, at least to prevent their hearty union; and this they did by taking sides with the Mohegans against their neighbors, the Narragansets. Meanwhile, population was rapidly increasing town after town became settled; and the resources of the New-England Colonies, especially those of Massachusetts, were rapidly developed.

Philip had the sagacity to perceive that it must soon come to the question, whether the white or the red man should rule. He had witnessed the constant growth of the English, and must have well understood that the elements which combined to increase their strength, tended, by a reflex influence, to impair the power of the native population. It was natural, then, whether moved by private griefs or by love for his race, that he should wish to become the champion of his countrymen, in making a bold and vigorous

effort for the mastery. In pursuance of his design, he attempted to unite the Narragansets, the Nipmucks, and other tribes, in a war of extermination against the English, and was very nearly successful in his endeavors. The Narragansets were expected to bring four thousand warriors into the field; and active preparations were made, with all possible secrecy, to be ready to strike a decisive blow in 1676. But the murder of Sassamon,- instigated by Philip, as was generally supposed, and the trial and execution of those who committed the deed, precipitated that dire war, which ended in the death of the brave and far-seeing sachem, the extermination of his and other tribes, andout of much suffering the assured safety of the Colonies. So formidable was this conspiracy, that some of the colonists apprehended the entire destruction of the English; and undoubtedly, had the war been postponed to the time proposed, and could Philip have perfected his plans, their sufferings must have been greatly aggravated. But it is difficult to imagine any combination of circumstances which could have occasioned their entire overthrow. As it was, the principal towns remained unscathed, and the substantial wealth of the colonists was preserved. In a few years, they recovered all their vigor, and entered again upon a course of prosperous years.

The Wompanoags, Philip's tribe, were an inconsiderable people, scarcely numbering three hundred warriors, and possessing but little territory; their lands having been. chiefly, if not wholly, conveyed to Plymouth by Philip's father, Massasoit.*

The scene of hostilities opened on the 24th of June, 1675, when the Indians attacked Swanzey, within the borders of Plymouth Colony, and not far from Philip's principal residence. Troops were despatched from Boston with great promptness, and marched towards Mount Hope. Joining the forces from Plymouth, they penetrated the large swamp

Hutchinson, vol. i., says, "All that they were possessed of."

*

at Pocassett Neck, where Philip lay concealed. Here they sustained considerable loss; and the sachem, with numbers of his men, succeeded in making his escape to the Nipmuck country, within the borders of Massachusetts.

The first attack within the limits of Massachusetts was made upon Mendon, on the fourteenth day of July,† by some of the Nipmuck Indians, who seem to have taken open part with Philip earlier than any other tribe. In this attack, several persons were slain; and a fearful alarm was created, that spread at once through the interior and along the border settlements of the Colony.

On the second day of August, Captains Hutchinson and Wheeler, while proceeding with their party of horse some four or five miles beyond Quabaog,§ accompanied by several of the principal men of that town, in order to treat concerning peace with the Nipmucks at Meminimissett, || according to a promise made by the Nipmucks to enter into negotiations on that day, were suddenly attacked; and eleven of their number, including Hutchinson, were killed. The rest of the troops barely succeeded in reaching the town; the Indians following close upon their traces, and burning all the dwelling-houses, with most of the other buildings in the place, except the one in which the inhabitants and soldiers had taken refuge.T

Meanwhile, the fearful news of an Indian war had pervaded the entire Colony; and the frontier-towns in Middlesex, peculiarly exposed to danger, and trembling lest they should next fall victims to savage ferocity, were hastily taking measures, according to their limited ability, to

* Tiverton, R.I.

† Major Willard was absent from the meeting of the council, July 9; probably engaged in his military duties.

"This was the first blood ever shed in the Massachusetts in a way of hostility." Increase Mather's Indian Wars, 1675-6.

§ Brookfield.

In the south-western part of New Braintree.
About seventy in all, according to Hubbard.

provide for their own security. The points of dangerfrom Plymouth, through the interior, to the east of the Merrimack were so numerous, and the precise point that might be selected for an attack by the Indians was so uncertain, as, with noiseless tread, they pursued their pathway through the forests to the settlements in detached parties, that it was impracticable, and, if practicable, would have been unwise, to station the whole military force of the country at any one place. Hence we find the English forces, in single companies, posting rapidly from town to town, wherever apprehension was excited; and the commander of a regiment, frequently at the head of a single company, performing the duties of a captain. I suppose that the soldiers, at this period, were in a good state of discipline. It is true that there had been a long interval of peace, even through an entire generation: but the law was rigid in requiring frequent military exercise; and the suspicions which Philip had excited, by his conduct for several years, would naturally lead to increased exertions in preparations for any outbreak.

Major Willard had been in command of the Middlesex regiment for more than twenty-one years.* During this period, there had been large accessions to the population of the county; several new towns had been planted, and the older ones were progressive; insomuch that, at the begin

*After Major Willard's death (viz., at the October Session, 1680), the General Court, "for the better regulation of the militia in the county of Middlesex, and for the ease of the people that live in that county," divided the regiment of Middlesex, "at present under the command of Major Daniel Gookin, into two regiments:" viz., "the towns and companies of Charlestown, Cambridge, Watertown, Cambridge Village, Woburn, Malden, and Reading, with the troop under the command of Captain Thomas Prentice, or any other troops that may be hereafter raised in those towns, shall be one regiment, and continue under the command of Major Gookin, Esq.; that the towns and companies of Concord, Sudbury, Marlborough, Chelmsford, Billerica, Grouton, Lancaster, and Dunstable, with the troop under the command of Captain Thomas Hinchman, or any other troop that shall hereafter be raised in those towns, be another regiment, under the command of Major Peter Bulkley, Esq." This list embraced all the towns in Middlesex, except Medford and Sherburne. There were besides, at that time, inhabitants in Pompassiticut, incorporated by the name of Stow in 1683.