FOUNDERS OF FORT NO. 4, CHARLESTOWN, NH From: Farns10th@aol.com - Janice Farnsworth DEAD, WOUNDED, PRISONERS 1747-1750 SOME FORTS - NH Source:  History of Charlestown, NH - Fort No. 4 by Rev. Henry H. Saunderson Chapter III p. 33 Massachusetts sent a company of Rangers under the command of Capt. Phineas Stevens to re-occupy Fort No. 4 in the month of March, l747, as the result of requests to the Assembly of MA for needful provision for the defense of the forts and settlements along the Connecticut River against Indian attack.   I have listed below particular battles with the Indians and list the wounded and dead that resulted. March 1747  French General Debeline with 60 men arrived at Fort 4 demanding surrender but Capt Stevens declared they would fight it out.  There were but 30 men in the fort there were but two men wounded, viz John Brown and Joseph Ely. General Debeline and men and Indians withdrew and were never seen again. In his letter to Col. Williams Capt Stevens mentions that John Hastings, Moses Wheeler and Sampson Colefax of the Fort, were in this fight.   Rev. Saunderson notes that another source is "Hist. of Indian Wars in the country bordering on the Connecticut River and Parts Adjacent" by E. Hoyt, Esq. p.39  No. 4 was not again disturbed by the Indians until Nov. of l747.  Twelve men whose enlistments had expired were passing down the river on their return to MA They were attack by a party of Indians who killed and scalped Nathan Gould and Thomas Goodale.  Oliver Avery was wounded and John Henderson was taken prisoner. p.40 Feb. l748 House of Representatives voted that with the numbers already posted to Fort 4 and Fort Massachusetts will be increased (at each site) to 100 men, officers included.   Commanding officers in said garrisons will see that a suitable number be employed to intercept the French and Indian Enemy in the marches from Wood Creek and Otter Creek to our frontiers.  On the passage of this act, Capt. Phineas Stevens was (again) apptd to the command of Fort No. 4.  Second in command, under Capt Stevens was Capt. Humphrey Hobbs. Shortly thereafter, according to "Doolittle's Narrative" a small party of Indians made an appearance at the Fort.  They numbered abt ten.  They fired on and killed Charles Stevens, wounded Nathaniel Andross (some spell it Andreas) and taken prisoner, Eleazer Priest. March l5, l748  Capt. Stevens with a rescue team.  (Charles Stevens who had been killed was not a son of Capt. Phineas Stevens as some writers ascertain.) Of the fate of Nathaniel Andross we have no info.  Eleazer Priest, son of Joseph Priest of Groton, MA died at Louisburg Sept. 1748 enroute home. May l3, l748 A scout of nineteen men under the command of Capt Eleazer Melvin march May l3, l748 from Fort Dummer proceeding up the Conn.River to Fort 4 and were joined by Capt Phineas Stevens with his force of 60 men from Fort 4 which included Capt. Hobbs.  On Sunday May l5, l748 at sunset they set out for Fort 4.  They followed the "Indian Road" along the banks of the Black River. On reaching the main branch of Otter Creek, Capt Melvin and his men left the party, (as previously agreed) and crossed the stream and set out for Crown Point. Capt. Steven's party passed down Otter Creek, a short distance, and struck eastward in the hope of reaching White River.  After five day's traveling they reached its mouth and found it to be the Quarterqueeche.  Proceeding down the Connecticut River on rafts and canoes they reach Fort 4 May 30 l748 after an absence of 2 wks (see also B.H. Hall's "Eastern Vermont") p.42 Capt. Stevens remained at Fort 4 for two days, in preparations of an ex- cursion down the Connecticut River.  He set out June 2, l748 with 60 men in 6 canoes at 3 in the afternoon, for Fort Dummer, passing over the falls at sundown and arriving at Fort Dummer at abt two in the morning.  Upon arrival they were told of the great disaster which had happened to the command of Capt. Melvin. On arrival Capt Stevens found at Fort Dummer, a considerable number of inhabitants from Northampton, Hadley, Hatfield, Deerfield, Northfield and Falltown assembled to give assistance to Capt. Melvin but dispersed on the arrival of Capt. Stevens and his men.  Capt. Melvin on separating from Captains Stevens and Hobbs arrived on May 25, l748 opposite Crown Point two canoies with Indians on the lake and fired on them.  The garrison at Crown Point fired several guns and sent out a party to intercept them. Capt Melvin and his party set out immediately to return, marching 3 or 4 miles through drowned lands, water being mid-leg deep.  On May 26th they saw tracks of the enemy of a poss. one hundred fifty to two hundred that had taken the course by which Melvin's party had reached Lake Champlain. Seeing this they took a southerly direction, marching up the south branch of Otter Creek and on the 30th of May l748, came on a branch of the West River.  Their provisions were short so began their march before sunrise on the 3lst, and traveled until nine in the morning.  On the banks of West River they stopped for weariness and directly after halting the enemy arose from the trees at twenty or thirty feet distance and fired.  Capt. Melvin called upon his company to face the enemy.  Melvin fired at the enemy, killed one, and his men retreated.   Capt Melvin was left alone to defend himself.  Several Indians attacked him with hatchets but he ran and looking back he saw nine Indians scalping those they had killed while other Indians carried off their dead. He made his way, as best he could to Fort Dummer and arrived June 1, l748, where one of his men had arrived an hour before him. In this fight, were killed outright: Sgt. John Heywood, Sgt. Isaac Taylor Privates John Dodd, Daniel Mann and Samuel Severance. John Petty had been wounded and his comrades were unable to take him with them in their flight. They told him to "live, if he could", sheltering him in boughs and leaving water. On June 2, l748 Capt Melvin left Fort Dummer for the place of the fight A great search for Petty was made but he wasnt found.  They buried the dead named above, except for the body of Samuel Severance which was not discovered until some time after.  They returned to Fort Dummer some three days later. On June 6, l748 Lieut's Alexander and Hunt with a large force went again to search for Petty. One report states he was found dead but his body was never recovered.  The losses to the enemy were impossible to determine. (B.H. Hall).(See also Shattuck, "Hist. of Concord, MA). (See also Belknap) In the next month Fort 4 experienced a great loss in the death of Col. Stoddard, Super. of Defense who died at Boston June l9th l748 in attendance at the General Court.  He was succeeded by Col. Israe Williams who had been commissary under Stoddard.  Col. Williams was of Hatfield, MA and was Proprietor's Clerk of No. 4.  One of his lst acts was to send out scouting parties under brave and cautious officers.  He sent out Capt. Hobbs with forty men to the wilderness to Fort Shirley in Heath, one of the MA forts.   Hobbs started out from No. 4 on June 24th, l748.  On June 26th a Sunday, he halted l2 miles n.w. of Fort Dummer (which is now, Marlborough) not knowing he being pursued, still he posted a guard, when a large body of Indians under its chief, Sackett a half-breed Indian tracking them arrived.  Hobbs was an old Indian fighter with perfectly diciplined men stood to repel the oncoming foe.  The Indians rushed forward with terrible shouts but were met with direct fire and several of their number were killed.  The conflict that followed in which the sharp-shooters bore a prominent part was of the most exciting nature. Hobbs and the Indian Chief Sackett, who spoke English, knew each other. He called to Hobbs to surrender but Hobbs called back to come on!  The action continued for four hours and Sackett retired from the battle leaving Hobbs and his men masters of a well-fough field. (Doolittle says the fight lasted four hours and Capt Hobbs shot the last gun at the enemy and is supposed to have killed the Indian Chief). Hobbs and his men remained concealed til nightime when they gathered their packs and their dead and wounded and after burying the former, abt a half mile from the scene and conducting the wounded to a place abt two miles distant, they encamped for the night.  They arrived at Fort Dummer on the 27th of June at four in the afternoon and sent their wounded to Northfield for needed medical aid.  In this battle among others, were the following men from Fort No 4:  Lieut. Isaac Parker, Sergeants Moses Willard and Moses Wheeler,  Aaron Hosmer, Joseph Farwell, James Farnsworth and Nathaniel Sartwell. The Indians attacked Ashuelot early in July and killed or drove away all the cattle and on the l4th of July either killed or captured a party of seventeen a half mile below Fort Dummer.  Ten of the seventeen were on their way from Northfield to Ashuelot to supply these places with the same number killed or taken the month before.  The other seven belong- ed to the companies of Capt. Stevens and Capt. Hobbs. Two of this number were killed on the spot.  Two were wounded. Four escaped (two to Hinsdell's fort below and the remaining two were helped across the river to Fort Dummer.  The remaining eleven were taken prisoner.  But the two who were wounded were massacred.  The Indians were numbered according to Hoyt at abt a hundred and twenty.  The news reached Capt. Stevens on the l5th of July and he immediately set out for Northfield.  The next day, reinforced by men from other stations, his men including officers totalled l29. With this company he marched to the spot of the conflict and found the bodies of Asahel Graves of Hatfield and Henry Chandler of Westford who had been entirely stripped of arms and clothing. They performed the rites of burial with Col. Willard of Fort Dummer and then follwed the enemy's tracks a mile further to discover the bodies of Joseph Rose of Northfield and James Billings of Concord.  Also a body of a soldier slain in a former encounter. On returning to Fort Dummer they were soon joined by inhabitants of Northampton, Hadley, Hatfield and Sunderland who had rec'd orders from Col. Eleazer Porter and Col. Israel Williams to "scour the woods" On July l7th l748 they met at Fort Hinsdell under the command of Capt. Leeds resulting in the determination that Capt. Stevens who had command of the entire party - should examine the woods to discover, if possible, the intentions of the enemy.   On Monday, the l8th of July, l747 Capt. Stevens with l00 and twenty men, started out on the scouting expedition.  He visited the spot where the fight between Hobbs and Sackett had occured and buried the dead they found, only partially interred the night after the battle.  He then followed the enemy a considerable distance before returning to Fort Dummer. These calamities aroused the attention of Massachusetts for the necessity of a more efficient defence of the frontier settlements. Brig. Gen. Joseph Dwight wrote to Secretary Willard of MA on July l6th "praying for a thousand men to drive the woods and pursue the enemy to Crown Point". Also for several troops of horse.  He also arranged that f l000 should be paid for every Indian scalp.  Col Israel Williams of Hatfield wrote to Gov. Shirley on July l6th l748 advising that twenty or thirty of the Six Nations of Indians should be made to reside at Fort 4 and Fort Massachusetts to ward off attacks of the enemy.  Major Josiah Willard of Ashuelot (Keene) NH wrote complaining of the scarceness of provisions at Fort No. 4 (B. H. Hall, pages 5l - 52). Happily for the frontiers on the Connecticut, the last great Indian invasion of the war, was, in this section, over    On the l8th of October l748 the peace of Aix la Chapelle took place by which the war between England and France was terminated.  The news did not reach Boston before January, l749 and though articles of peace had been ratified between France and England, there had been no negot- iations with the Indians but in September, following, a final treaty was concluded with the Indians at Falmouth which is now in the state of Maine.  However, on June 20, l750 after the fort (4) had been evacuated, Indians shot Ensign Obadiah Sartwell while he was hoeing his corn fields, and they took Enos Stevens, son of Capt. Phineas Stevens, prisoner. He was returned to No.4 in September. This was the last of the Indian incursions at Fort No. 4 since July l4, l746. ________________________________________________________________ WOUNDED               DEAD            PRISONER March l747      Nov l747 John Brown Nathan Gould        Nov. l747 Joseph Ely Thomas Goodale        John Henderson Nov l747      Feb l748 Oliver Avery Charles Stevens        Feb. l748 Feb l748      May 3l, l748     Eleazor Priest, who d. Sept,l748 Andross Sergt. John Heyward         enroute home. May 3l, l748 Sergt Isaac Taylor John Petty Pvt. John Dodd          June 20, l750 (Petty never Pvt Daniel Mann        Enos Stevens found) Pvt Samuel Severance                      July l4, l748 Asahel Graves Henry Chandler Joseph Rose James Billings      June 20, l750 Ens. Obediah Sartwell ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. 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