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Turner Falls Massacre
Captain William Turner and 150 militia volunteers attacked a fishing Indian camp at present-day Turners Falls, Massachusetts. At least 100 women and children were murdered in the attack.
Summary
The Native American community known as Peskeompskut-Wissatinnewag was located in the vicinity of current day Turners Falls and is the location of a significant King Philips War engagement between Colonial forces and Native Americans. On May 19, 1676 more than 150 Colonial militia attacked a village of several hundred Native people killing more than two hundred in less than an hour. In the immediate aftermath of the massacre Native men mobilized from several other villages in the area and repeatedly attacked the colonists as they retreated 20 miles south to Deerfield. Thirty-eight colonists died in these attacks including Captain William Turner, commander of the English militia.
Background and Aftermath
From Rootsweb Project: Ancestral Tree - William Allis
Until 1675 the settlers and the Indians lived together for the most part in peace, but the Indians had grievances and were begining to resent the loss of their hunting lands. In that yearmany of them united under a chieftain called King Philip by the English. In September they attacked Northfield and Deerfield, but when on October 19, 1675, a band of about 800 attacked Hatfield, the settlers anticipated them and drove them off successfully. Roving Indians stole cattle and horses from the English settlers and harassed the outlying farms. This enraged the English who decided to take the offensive and the battle at Great Falls (now Turner's Falls) resulted. About 150 men gathered from the various towns and on May 19, 1676, attacked the Indians encamped at the Falls early in the morning while they were asleep, killing about 175. The success turned to defeat as they returned homeward. Indians attacked them from therear and the English colonists scattered in panic, hearing the report that King Philip with a thousand warriors was near at hand; 38 of the men were killed. William Allis was an officer in the fight at Great Falls and was joined in the engagement by three of his sons, one of whom,William Jr., was killed.
It was felt that a large force was needed to cope with the Indians. Major John Pynchon took command of a cavalry regimentcalled the Hampshire Troop, recruited from the various towns. William Allis was first Coronet and leter Lieutenant of themounted troops. Garrisons were established in the various towns, that of Hatfield being made up of 36 men under LieutenantWilliam Allis, and he was put in charge of the fortifications at Hatfield in the winter of 1677-8.
The massacre of the Narragansett Indians in the Swamp Fight and the death of King Philip on Aug. 12, 1676, appeared to put an end to the war, but on Sep. 19, 1677, fifty Indians from Canada, led by their chief Ashpelon and encouraged by the French, attacked Hatfield without warning. Entering the town when most of the men were harvesting corn in a distant field, they setfire to many buildings, killed 12 and captured 17 of the English, and hastened to Canada with their captives. Mary, the wife of William Allis, was one of those killed, and Abigail Allis, his granddaughter, was one of those taken captive. The prisoners were turned over to the French in Canada, and it was eight months before the survivors again saw their homes.
Resources
- Wikipedia
- https://gillmass.org/files/Battle-of-Turners-Falls-Info-Meeting.pdf Battle of Turners Falls]
- Schultz, Eric; Tougias, Michael (1999). King Philip's War. Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press.
- George Madison Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War, Being a Critical Account of that War,' Third Edition', Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1967.