Connecticut western news., 1911-04-27
PERILS OF THE PIONEERS
Horrors Experienced by Ltchfield County Families Seeking Homes
 on the Border.
Continued from last week.

their prisoners on horseback. After pursuing their route three days in a westerly direction, they halted and sent back war party of about one hundred. After five or six days, the party returned with several scalps, and the horror of captives can scarcely be imagined, when they discovered among the number those of MT. Carter and MT. Duncan. These men, on returning from their labors, ,and seeing the desolation which the Indians had made, repaired to the nearest white settlement, and procured the aid of forty men, with whom they returned for the cattle, and with the faint hope of re- covering the captives. Just as they gained the vicinity of their recent home, they were suddenly surprised by the yell of these savages, and by the flight of their arrows. About half of Carter's men, (most of whom were Dutoh,) in- stantly deserted, and left their com. panions to fight out the battle as best they could. Yet, though struggling against such fearful odds. these brave men stood their ground, till Carter found himself alons-all besides him having been killed or disabled.
 He stationed himself behind rock, and still kept up the fire until struck down by the tomahawks of the enemy. Some four or five of those wounded in the early part of the engagement, suc- ceeGed in crawling so far into the forest as to elude the subsequent search of their willy foes, and at length reached their homes.
 On the return of the Indian warriors to the encampment, Gas was afterwards stated by the captives.) there was great lamentation and mourning among the savages over those of their number who had fallen in the battle-more than half of the one hundred being among the slain.
 The Indians then recommended their march through the woods to the resi- dence of their nation. As nearly as the captlves could recollect, they travelled several days diligently in a northwest erly direction, and at length arrived at their place of destination. Here in dark and filthy huts, ornamented with the scalps of their parents and friends, separated from each other, did these lonely captives spend the long and tedious months of winter, Tn state of almost perfect starvation. The Indians would never go abroad to obtain new supplies of food, so long as one morseI remained and then sometimes returned with little success. Nathaniel, (the youngest of the captives,) having from the first been a general favorite with the Indians, was treated by them with con- parative kindness and attention and so much so that the little white stranger soon ceased to mourn his bereavemeuts, and joined heartily in the amusements and pastimes which they devised for the purpose of diverting him aud making sport for themselves.
 Early in the spring they deserted their winter quarters, and journeyed towards the lakes; and after a tour of several weeks, they arrived in the vicinity of Fort Niagara. where Elizabeth and Sarah were ransomed through the negotiations of Sir William Johnson. But all efforts to obtain Nathaniel were uuavailing. No consideration would tempt the Indians to part with him; and strange as it may appear, he had become so much attached to them that he would not consent to leave them. His sisters, After bidding him an affectionate and final farewell. were conveyed to Albany, where their Connecticut friends, being appraised of their ransom, met them, and they soon had the unspeakable gratif- cation of once more visiting the home of their nativity, and finding themselves surrounded by sympathizing friends and relatives. Yet it was long, very long, before they ceased to mourn over the dreadful scenes through which they had passed, and their sad bereavement
 The reader who has followed thus far our narrative, may feel an interest to know something of the subsequent his. tory of the captives. Sarah Carter from her ill-treatment and mental suf- ferings, never fully recovered. Though she lived to an old age, her intellect was permanently impaired she died few years since in Goshen, [Conn.l Eliza beth was married to MT. Benjamin Oviatt, of Goshen, and died in that town in the autumn of 1885. Among heI children were the late Mir. Lyman Oyiatt, of Goshen !; Heman Oviatt, Esq. wealthy and enterprising citizen of Hudson. Ohio, and distinguished as a liberal patron of the college at that place; and MT. Nathaniel Oviatt oi Richfeld, o. The children of MT Carter's eldest daughter, Jemima. were the late MT. John Bates, of Kent. Conn, the late Isaac Bates, of Warren, Conn.,, Deacon Nathaniel Carter Bates, recently of this town-Litchfeld
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