Oh my, what a tangled mess. Fun to sort out, too. It’s quite a process, one involving careful study of computer topographical maps, meandering conversations — eye to eye and on the phone — plus scouring early narratives and reviewing recent interpretations and hypotheses pertaining to the same old historical puzzles. It’s all fascinating, intriguing, invigorating and, well, yes, at times even overwhelming.
Bring in trusty old standby Orra White Hitchcock, an important 19th century illustrator of long-ago altered Pioneer Valley landscapes, and there’s a lot more interpretation to navigate, all aimed at unraveling mysteries. It’s not always easy to sift through and make sense of clues unearthed in the upturned borders framing fresh furrows.
This latest, dynamic, multi-facetted discovery mission started with a simple telephone conversation about a reference to “the narrows” in a 17th-century “Indian deed” for Cheapside/Greenfield published in 1905 by former Hampden County Registrar of Deeds Harry Andrews Wright. I was trying to describe to Peter Thomas what the landform looked like before the 20th century East Deerfield stone quarry was hollowed out opposite Cheapside. Pre-quarry, a traprock ridge would have extended north from Woolman Hill, ending at a steep point dropping to the south bank of the Deerfield River across from the Hope Street outflow. Today, that point is gone. All that’s left is a barren stone crater extending a quarter-mile south.
Aware that it had been some time since I last studied Hitchcock’s 1830s lithograph, and curious whether my recollection had been accurate following the phone conversation, I immediately went to my Orra White Hitchcock books to review the image and discovered I had slightly misidentified the perspective.
That afternoon, book in hand, I arrived at Thomas’ South Deerfield home to share the image, revisit the topic and discuss whatever related issues may appear. It was a fruitful journey, well worth a spontaneous two-hour diversion. We compared the “Connecticut/Deerfield Confluence” images to three-dimensional “Terrain Navigator Pro” topo maps, pinned down the location of Hitchcock’s easel, studied the layout of early 19th-century Bingville and Cheapside and, being in the same map neighborhood, moved on to discussion of the May 19, 1676, King Philip’s War “Falls Fight.” That infamous, predawn ambush at Riverside/Gill’s Great Falls is currently under the microscope of Connecticut archaeologist Kevin McBride and his team of scholarly researchers funded by a federal “Battlefield Grant.”
It just so happened that Thomas had a few days earlier (on Oct. 13) accompanied McBride’s retinue of metal-detecting experts for reconnaissance of an old Native trail paralleling Greenfield’s Meridian Street overlooking Green River Field down to a 17th-century Deerfield River ford that no longer exists due to altered river course. McBride was quite pleased with what he and his crew discovered — that is dozens of musket balls that wore the signature of 1676 projectiles. Indeed, the crew had found at the very least a path of military retreat from the Falls Fight.
“Was it the path?” I asked Thomas. “Or could the panicked, retreating soldiers have split into many groups that took several different paths away from counterattacking Indians?”
“That’s a good question,” was his quick response.
The answer is: We may never know.
My own belief is that once the hot chase was underway, the shooting had started and the Indian ambushes had been established, military order and discipline had flown asunder like blustery winds. At that point, everyone — alone or in small groups — was on his or their own. Among these fleeing combatants was the wounded, frantic boy hero Jonathan Wells, 16, who at first attempted to follow Capt. William Turner. But once Turner fell in the Green River ambush at the Nash’s Mills ford, Wells fled along a circuitous, alternate route north to the Pumping Station, then south and west through the Greenfield Meadows to Old Deerfield and ultimately home to Hatfield. Wells’ precise route will never be known. Even he couldn’t retrace it by the time of his 1739 death. Then, later, Deerfield historian Epaphras Hoyt could only approximate Wells’ path 100 years later. So what chance do we have now?
Of course, the Wells dilemma is just one of many surrounding the post-ambush retreat of Falls Fight soldiers/militia trying to escape infuriated, counterattacking Indians. A couple of weeks ago, I wondered in print why Canada Hill has been largely ignored in the newest scholarly attempt to retrace the post-attack footsteps of colonial and Native warriors. Is it not likely that the Indians attacking retreating soldiers trying to recover their horses at a Factory Hollow tie-down site came from Canada Hill? Is it not true that Indians camped at the Rock Dam island a mile below would not have had time to intercept the soldiers at Factory Hollow after hearing the report of muskets at the crack of dawn?
A few days after pondering why Canada Hill was being ignored, McBride chimed in by email to say his team is not overlooking the site known to have been important to indigenous people from the beginning of Pioneer Valley peopling. He said his team intends to focus on the overlooking of the fight during the next phase of the “Battlefield Grant.”
The phase 2 funding has been spent. Phase 3 will be applied for and almost assuredly granted. How can the feds say “no” now?
It’ll be interesting to watch the developing narrative, one backed up by tangible evidence, that should help us all better understand a key Franklin County battle that unfolded 341 years ago and ultimately turned the tide of our bloodiest per-capita colonial war. When the dust had settled, our first people were forever displaced.
Having run out of time on our late-afternoon skull session at Thomas’ home, I stood and headed home. I had to catch a bite before heading to work. Before leaving, I turned to Pete and quipped, “Lots of food for thought.”
“Yep,” he answered. “Isn’t that the goal?”
Indeed.
Recorder sports editor Gary Sanderson is a senior-active member of the outdoor-writers associations of America and New England. Blog: www.tavernfare.com. Email: gsand53@outlook.com.