Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/135

, large uncultivated tracts lying between. The Indians lived intermixed with the whites, and as every brake and lurking place was well known to them, they were able to fall suddenly upon any village or settlement they might mark for destruction. Many were shot dead as they opened their doors in the morning—for the Indians had both learned the use and acquired possession of firearms; many were killed in the same way while in the fields, or while travelling, or while going to the places of the public worship of God. Unable also to cultivate the fields, the settlers were exposed to famine, while the convoys of provisions sent to their assistance were waylaid and seized, and their escort cut off in ambush. Such was the fate of the brave Lathrop, at the spot which still retains the name of "Bloody Brook." On one occasion, at Hadley, while the people were engaged in divine service, the Indians burst in upon the village; panic and confusion were at their height, when suddenly there appeared a man of very venerable aspect, who rallied the terrified inhabitants, formed them into military order, led them to the attack, routed the Indians, saved the village, and then disappeared as marvellously as he had come upon the scene. The excited and grateful inhabitants, unable to discover any trace of their preserver, supposed him to be an angel sent from God. It was no angel, but one of Cromwell's generals, old Goffe the regicide, who, compelled by the vigilant search made after him by order of the English government, to fly from place to place, had espied from an elevated cavern in the neighborhood the murderous approach of the savages, and hurried down to aid the affrighted colonists in this extremity.

During the summer, the Indians, having the advantage of concealment in the woods and forests, were able to carry on this very harassing and destructive warfare; but when winter came, and the forests were more open, the colonists, by a vigorous effort, succeeded in raising a force of a thousand men, and determined to strike a decisive blow. Josiah Winslow, of Plymouth, was appointed commander-in-chief. On the 18th of December, the troops formed a junction in the territory of the Narragansetts, who had given shelter to the enemy, and after a long march through the snow, and a night spent in the woods, they approached the stronghold of the tribe. This was about one o'clock. The Indians had entrenched themselves on a rising ground, in the midst of a swamp surrounded by a palisade. The leaders were all shot down as they advanced to the charge; but this only excited to the highest pitch the desperate determination of the colonists, who, after having once forced an entrance, and being again repulsed, after a fierce struggle protracted for two hours, burst infuriated into the Indian fort. Revenge for the blood of their murdered brethren was alone thought of; mercy was implored in vain; the foil was fired, and hundreds of Indian wives and children perished in the midst of the conflagration; while their provisions gathered together for the long winter, being consumed, and their wigwams