Litchfield enquirer., 1843-01-26
From Me Portland TribWns. A LEGEND OF GORHAM.
nY cuARLEs eoRHAM.

There are but few people of the present
 day, in New England, who are not aware,
 that it's earliest settlers suffered for n long
 time and very severely, from the enmity of
 tho Indians, who were once numerous in
 this region. The amount of suffering, or the
 length of time during which our foretathers
 were obliged to sleep, as it were, with their weapons of defence in their hands, is but
 little known - and tha; little knowledge is fast fading away as we recede from the pe-
 riod of those disastrous days. Many will
 be surprised to read, that from the time the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, in 1920, to the
 middle of the last century, six Indian wars,
 carried on with most relentless barbarity 1 by the Indians, had been sustained by the
 afflicted inhabitants of New. England. Se- l verdi of them were of long continuance. In
 one of these wars, all the inhabitants of the town of Windham, in this state, were obli- ged to gather into the stone fort, and for long period of six years there to remain, from fear of the Indians who were skulking all about them, and ready at any moment to slay, with gun or tomahawk, any one
 who wandered beyond the protection of the fort. The hardy and brave men of that 1 town sallied out again and ;sgain, and drove their wary enemies away to their Businesses 1 in the woods, while the women and children ! remained behind cooped up in their place of protection, suffering privations which the l poorest of New England'S children of the present day never knew.
 ] 1t was one day in the 9th Indian war, 97 years ago, that the Indians were discovered l lurking iu the vicinity of Gorham, evident 1 ly with hostile intentions. Indeed, they had l no others in those days. Few in number, were the natives of the soil, who did not 1 thirst for opportunities to torture and mur- der those who had set down on the lands, and were destroying the forest. and hunt | ing grounds, through which they and their 1 fathers had royed the sovefeigns for centu- 1 ries.
 l The inhabitants of Gorham had taken the alarm, and all but four families had remo- we'd to the fort for safety. Among the fam!- lies that remained without its walls, was one whose name was Bryant. It consisted of the father and mother and five children. One of the children was an infant but two weeks old. They had contemplated moving into the fort on prior day - it had been talked over, and the necessity of it fully weighed. As the shades of night fell over them, every rustling of the leaves carried to the hearts of the children pang of fear and blagched their cheeks. The feeble mother drew her babe to her breast still closer, and wished for day. while the stern, l hearted father grasped his gun, and stood | ready to pour out his life to defend his cir cle. Thus passed the night-the long drea- ry night. At last daylight broke in once moro upon them as grateful to their eyes, as ever it was to the mariner, who had clung all night to the wreck that had been cast upon an iron bound shorea~- fearing every moment of that time of gloom, his frol foot hold would crumble and float away from
 beneath him. Morning came, and the fa1mi- iy was yet alive and we'll. As the warm sun arose, they began to laugh at the fears that the darkness had nufsed. ana doubt whether 1 it was necessary 10 move that day. The mother idolizcd her little one, md as he lay on her lap, she thought how pleased she should be to have tiny bed for him to 1 sleep on, within a cradle. II was Q fatal 1 thought! She turned to her husband and begged him to make a cradle on that day
 for the babe. Her remark on that occasion
 is matter of history, and is familiar to the
 inhabitants of G. even to this day. If you 1 will, said she, we remain iE our dwelling
 to-day, and will risk my scalp one day longer.'
 Bryant consented, and in so doing, he consented to his own death, ere the sun fell ! below the horiZon The Indians, ten in
 number, had well laid their plans, and this
 was the fatal day in which 10 execute them. l They secfeted themselves in the outskirts
 of the town, and waited for their opportuni- ty to bounce upon their victims. Bryant ] and his eldest son went into the field some distance from the house, in the early part of | the day. The Indians mad matured their plans. by dividing into five parties, in order | to murder all of the families at once One
 of these parties fell in with Bryant and his
 son. They could not make captive of
 him, for he fought with Spartan bravery He was fighting not merely for life, but for strength to defend his children and his help
 less wife. Finding they could not take him alive, his foe shot him and his so1 as they
 were endeavoring to escape to the house i;
 another party of sayages had hastcned to the
 house, to surprise its inmates. It was in- deed surprise As they were looking for the father to return, the fierce and blood
 thirsty Indians came! The innocent look,
 the pleading voice found no cord in their
 stony hearts to which to appeal. They murdered the children and scalped them.- They took the infant, whose artificial wants
 had brought all these woes upon the house,
 and dashed it to pieces against the wall !-
 The mothers eyes saw this but they saw no more!
 Night again fell upon the spot where
 twelve hours before this happy family was
 assembled. But in place of the pleasant
 voice of the mother, the prattle of the little ones or the manly tones of encouragement of the father-there lies blackened heap of smouldering ruins - there lie for the wolves that may be skulkiDg around, the re- mains of some of those children, whose laugh and gaiety, but a little while ago, rung thro the air .clsar as a silver bell.' Father and :.Eo Ohi hxr