The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-03-20
THE DEEaFlsLD MASSACRE
Letter Of +atfsId Man TsIIIng Ab0ut

dDoul uOhlu AFTER lht HdoodSiC at
Deerfeld in 1904, has recently come
into the possession of the historical
society at Hatfield 1t was sent 10
Daniel w. Wells by Miss Mary Lewis
of Pennington, CT, and the original
has been placed in the Dickinson me-
mortal hall The writing is for the
most part legible, except where the
paper was creased and torn. A type
written copy has been made TO store
with the town archives. This is an
original document of great interest
and value as contemporary and hith-
erto unpublished account of that ter
rible massacre, which occurred Feb
ruary 20, 1904 1t is not referred to
by George Sheldon, the Deeriield his
torian, nor was its existence known
to Mr.. Wells and his son, Reuben F.
Wells, at the time of their publication
of the history of Hatfield.
In the following extracts the orig
inal punctuation and capitalization
are followed and, as far as possible,
the quaint spelling and abbreviation
The letter begins:
Hatfield, March 81, 1904
Kinde e. loving friend
Yours of the 20 Inst / received
thank you for your christian affection
therein expressed, it is not a small
or little thing Vt hath befallen us in
the late sore destruction of Deerfield
but a vehement sirprize to ESPECIALLY
We neighboringe townes) all & calls
for deep meditation & as you we'll
hint our harris ought to be concerned
& much up in prayer & faith, that so
we may We better consider We workes
of the lord & and operation of his
hand, Vt when his hand is lifted up
we might Sc & be ashamed fall down
in the dust before god begging of him
to shew us wherefore he doth contend
with us in so terrible manner.
Then follows a long dissertation on
the sins and follies Of the times with
special warning against the lack of
proper training of the children in the
ways OF the Lord, the copying OF
frentch" styles, might walkings, com
pany keeping, drinking and sporting, -
contrary to what Eye most pious &
cody ones Of the ages past declared
& 30 practized" In the judgment OF
the writer il was not surprising that
god comes with such tirrible stroaks
upon rs and he quotes scripture TO
prove g. lie also bewails the fact
that the men Of his time have so
many cheating ways & tricks to over
reach one another spend
abundance of their time in smoaking
and drinking & some to drunkenness
besot ymselves, so that they are not
fit TO doe service for god nor YIN
selves or families" The closing por
ton of the letter describes more in
particular the experiences of the set
tiers of the frontier town and the res
cuers who went from Hatfield and
Hadley to their aid, and is as follows:
But to return to we awful token OF
gods displeasure in the sad & lament.
able breaking waves OF anger upon
Derefield VI so holy & good a man
as ye reverend mr. John Williams was
should with 20 members Of his church
be killed & carried into captivitie,
how amazeing is this the like hath not
been perareled in new england WI
we say. as our saviour xst sayd were
they greater siners no surely, but ra-
Their according TO the best observa.
ton, more exact walkers than others
in as much as they in a special man,
ner had ye rod of the enemy almost
alwayes over them. & il is well
known had more religious exercises
than others, both by private meetings
& publique, but what shall we say, II
this be done to the green tree VT will
become OF the dry, the days may be
comeing II not begun shall burn as an
oven. & We proud shall be as stuble
to that fer. II is great frowne vt We
holy god sees meet to punish us with
false religion for our falshess In We
true religion we need your prayers &
OF all good friends TO cry nightly In
the behalfe Of us a. Of ye poor land
As the good martyr Anne Asker
sayd pray pray pray that god would
be pleased to look down from heaven
& sc the lnosents that the enemy hath
spoiled q bereaved OF house home re
lations children mere & dere ones led
into captivity or burnt 81 slain
stiffeled in sellers & others In the
fight 90 destroyed, 30 houses & Barns
4 in them q otherwise destroyed mere
1000 c worth Of estate we may say
with ye church in the lamentations
fear & a snare is come on us vast &
destruction for web our eyes trincle
down whit tears without intermissior
your lncouridging words as to men fol-
our helpe is some acknowledgement e
us | pray promote it our lives hang IN
doubt a estates we may look for des
truction upon destruction until the
lord look down upon us there is oul
! greatest hope they can goe no fur
Their then god permits them & wer,
we fitted for deliverance god coulC
soon bring it about but shall troubl,
you too much with my broken dis
course a therefore bid you farewell
remember us at all times your afflict
ed friend a servant SAML1
PARTRIDGE
The surprize & advantage of tn,
enemy was great taking YIN mostl!
II not all asleep yet We providence o
god is TO be observed that We enem,
could not destroy We whole sperit
ting those seven In Benony Stebbin
house to hould Il against such a mul
utude, yea after said Benony was kill
ed, one man wounded q n women. We
ye other five moulding II still not witt
standing We great proffers of goo
quarter II they YIELD We woman plead
ing hard for H. ye house set on FIR,
yet at window they killed ye lndial
" did TT at one end who fell In hi
own FIRE 4 partly burnt. another al
. tempted to burn It at We other enc
one OF the men slipt out at We dore
= shot him down though they powore
IN shot on We house In great measue
ali va Whilo mus dtgr,,..r,. ola, 80 ..