1690 — March 18, Massacre, French & Indians attack settlers, Salmon Falls, NH — 30
— ~80 Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America. In Drake 1836, p. 170.[1]
— ~34 Abbott, John S. C. The History of Maine. 1875, p. 226.[2]
— 30 Drake, Samuel Gardner. The Book of the Indians of North America. 1833, p. 109.
— 30 Kingsford, William. The History of Canada (Vol. 2, 1679-1725). London: 1888, p. 336.
— ~30 Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana. 1893. Digitized by Univ. of MI, 596.
— 30 Winsor. The Memorial History of Boston…(Vol. II, The Provincial Period). 1880, 149.
Narrative Information
Abbott: “Berwick had revived, and contained about twenty-seven houses. Early in the spring of 1690, a party of French and Indians, having laid waste the settlement at Salmon Falls, made an attack upon Berwick. The assailants consisted of fifty-two men, twenty-five being Indians, the remainder Frenchmen. As usual, the attack was commenced by surprise, in the earliest dawn of the morning. The Indians were led by a renowned chief, called Hopehood. The French commander was a Canadian officer of distinction, by the name of Artel, or Hartel as it is sometimes spelled.
“The English fought with the energies of despair. When almost every man (thirty-four in number) had been shot down, the women and children were compelled to surrender. The victors wantonly shot the cattle, laid all the buildings in ashes, and with fifty-four captives, and all the plunder they could carry, retreated.” (Abbott, John S. C. The History of Maine, from the Earliest Discovery of the Region by the Northmen Unitil the Present Time. 1875, p. 226.)
Drake (Chronicles): “1690….March 18. – Salmon Falls in New Hampshire is burned by the Indians and French, who kill about 80 people, and make prisoners of 32 others.” (Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America, From its First Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: 1836. In Drake, S. G. The Old Indian Chronicle; Being a Collection of Exceeding Rare Tracts Written and Published in the Time of King Philip’s War, by Persons Residing in the Country; to Which are Now Added Marginal Notes and Chronicles of the Indians From the discovery of America to the present time. Boston: Antiquarian Institute, 1836, p. 170.)
Drake (The Book): “On the 18th of March, 1690, happened a horrid massacre at Salmon Falls. Hopewood had joined 22 Frenchmen, under Hertel, with 25 of his warriors. They attacked the place, as soon as it was day, in three places. The people defended themselves as well as they were able, in their consternation, until about 30 of their best men were slain, when they gave themselves up to the mercy of the besiegers; 64 men were carried away captive, and much plunder. They burned all the houses, and the barns with the cattle in them. The number of buildings thus destroyed is unknown, but was perhaps about 30, and perhaps 200 head of cattle.” (Drake, Samuel Gardner. The Book of the Indians of North America: Comprising Details in the Lives of About Five Hundred Chiefs and Others. 1833, p. 109. Digitally scanned and published by DSI Digital Reproductions, Scituate, MA, 2001.)
Kingsford: “…early in 1690 three expeditions were organized by him [Frontenac]. One from Montreal to Schenectady… I have to relate those which left Three Rivers and Quebec. The destination of both was Acadia. The party which left three Rivers was not numerically large. It consisted of fifty-two men, half of whom were French; the remainder with the exception of five Algonquins were Abenakis, and were under the command of François de Hertel; three of his sons served under him. The party was two months on the march before reaching the spot attacked. The leaders started with no particular destination in view; their mission was to destroy, and they were to trust to some favourable opportunity which should offer. In the territory which they were approaching, every Abenaki Indian they met was a friend, and a foe to those against whom they were advancing. The Abenakis had been confirmed in this sentiment by Father Thury and the two Bigots; consequently, the French expedition was certain of receiving intelligence of any movement unfaourable to it, in time to guard against, or avoid its evil influence.
“Surprise must be felt at the conduct of Massachusetts in this emergency….the opinion prevailed that mere courage, or, in some cases, the affirmation of its possession, was sufficient to constitute a soldier. Disaster upon disaster happened to New England, owing to this unfortunate belief; and it was on these occasions that the best and bravest of her sons were sent forward to be slaughtered.
“After long wandering about in search of a locality where an attack could be safely made, de Hertel heard that Salmon Falls was open to attack. The place is now known as Berwick, in New Hampshire, seven miles from the present town of Portsmouth, then called Piscataqua from the river of that name, at the mouth of which it is situate, and even then a place of importance. De Hertel, after his descent of the Kennebec, had long prowled about before he found his prey, for he only arrived at Salmon Falls on the 27th of March.
“The settlers were grouped about the river. The place contained two picket forts, constructed for protection against Indian attack. One of he houses was also large and capable of being fortified; no watch was kept, and it may be said that surprise was invited. De Hertel divided his party into three small squads, and in the first grey of the morning when every one was sleeping, the attack was made. There was no time to collect the slightest force for defence; what resistance was made was of no avail. It was simply to defer the victim’s death for a few seconds, for he was overpowered by numbers. All found in the houses were killed, shot, or cut down by the tomahawk. They numbered thirty persons, men and women, old and young. The party of de Hertel spread itself through the small settlement, laying waste its whole extent. All the houses and barns were burned: Salmon Falls ceased to exist. Twenty-seven houses and two thousand head of cattle are said to have been destroyed; fifty-seven persons, old and young men, women and children, were carried away as prisoners.
“The Canadians rapidly retreated, and had not proceeded far on their route, when as usual, the Indians brought them news of what was being done. The destruction of Salmon Falls had been reported at Portsmouth; in consequence, a force had been rapidly organized and was advancing to attack them. De Hertel placed himself on the bank of what is now the Wooster river. In front of him was a stream only to be crossed by a long narrow bridge, in itself establishing that no ford was to be found in the vicinity. The party in pursuit, consisting of one hundred and forty men, attempted to pass from the opposite side of the stream; they were received by a continual fire. Two of the Portsmouth party were killed, eight wounded. The skirmish continued until dark, when de Hertel retreated safely, to reach an Abenaki village. A Frenchman and an Indian on his side were killed; the eldest son of de Hertel was wounded by a musket ball in the thigh. Three days later, the scouts he sent out reported that they had met three men from New England on their trail, and killed them. There is no English account of this loss.” (Kingsford, William. The History of Canada (Vol. 2, 1679-1725). London: Trübner & Co., 1888, pp. 335-337.)
Mather: “The year 1690 must begin very inauspiciously….the French with Indians made a descent from Canada….On March 18, the French with Indians – being half one, half t’other – half Indianized French, and half Frenchified Indians – commanded by Monsieur Artel and Hope-Hood, fell suddenly upon Salmon Falls, destroying the best part of the town with fire and sword. Near thirty persons were slain, and more than fifty were led into what the reader will by and by call ‘the worst captivity in the world.’ It would be a long story to tell, what a particular share in this calamity fell to the family of one Clement Short: This honest man, with his pious wife, and three children, were killed: and six or seven of their children were made prisoners….[Mather relates on p. 597 the torture and death of one of the prisoners, Robert Rogers.]
(Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana; or The Ecclesiastical History of New-England From Its First Planting, in the Year 1620, unto the Year of Our Lord 1698. In Seven Books (Vol. II). Hartford: Silas Andrus & Son, 1893. Digitized by the University of Michigan, pp. 595-597.)
Thompson: “Section III. French and English Colonies — Transactions in the vicinity of Vermont from 1638 to 1705.
“Although both the French and English colonies had long been in the habit of furnishing the Indians with arms, ammunition, provisions and clothing, when going to war either among themselves, or with an opposite colony; yet previously to the year 1689, no expedition had ever been fitted out in one colony for the express purpose of aiding the Indians in their depredations upon another. They year it was resolved by the French to attempt, by the aid of the Canada Indians, the conquest of the province of New York, which had now been for some time in possession of the English. They looked upon this course as the only effectual method of subduing their most inveterate and troublesome enemy, the Iroquois.
“It was proposed that a large body of Canadians and Indians should march by the way of lake Champlain, and fall upon Albany and the other northern settlements; and that the city of New York should be at the same time attacked by a fleet, ordered for that purpose from France. But while preparations were making and before the arrival of the fleet, the Iroquois made a descent upon Canada, plundered and burnt Montreal and broke up most of the frontier settlements. Frontenac, the French general, was so much disheartened by these calamities, that he relinquished the hope he had entertained of conquering New York, but he considered some attempt against the English settlements indispensable, in order to revive the drooping spirits of the Canadians and Indians.
“Two parties were therefore sent out. One of these, under the command of M. Hertel, on the 18th of March, 1690, succeeded in destroying the fort at Salmon falls in New Hampshire, where they slew 30 of the English and took 54 prisoners, whom they carried to Canada….” (Thompson, Zadock. History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical, in Three Parts. 1842, p. 4 of Part II.)
Winsor: “On March 18, 1690, a party of French and Indians under Sieur Hertel, and an Indian named Hopegood, ‘once a servant of a Christian master in Boston,’ made an attack on Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, a settlement on the Cocheco River, which separates New Hampshire from Maine. Berwick was a village on the opposite back of the river. The villages were burned, thirty persons were killed, and fifty-four taken into captivity. Mr. Mather (in Magnalia, ii, 595-600) gives an account of the massacre, and the shocking details of the suffering of the prisoners on their march to Quebec.” (Winsor, Justin (Ed.). The Memorial History of Boston, Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts 1630-1880 (Vol. II, The Provincial Period). Boston: Tecknor and Co., 1880, p. 149.)
Sources
Abbott, John S. C. The History of Maine, from the Earliest Discovery of the Region by the Northmen Unitil the Present Time. Boston: B. B. Russell, 1875.
Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America, From its First Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: 1836. In Drake, S. G. The Old Indian Chronicle; Being a Collection of Exceeding Rare Tracts Written and Published in the Time of King Philip’s War, by Persons Residing in the Country; to Which are Now Added Marginal Notes and Chronicles of the Indians From the discovery of America to the present time. Boston: Antiquarian Institute, 1836. Google preview accessed 2-22-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NUwMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Drake, Samuel Gardner. The Book of the Indians of North America: Comprising Details in the Lives of About Five Hundred Chiefs and Others. 1833, p. 109. Digitally scanned and published by DSI Digital Reproductions, Scituate, MA, 2001. Accessed 1-30-2013 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=GTk9F6RB0FMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Kingsford, William. The History of Canada: Canada Under French Rule (Vol. III. 1726-1756). Toronto: Rowsell & Hutchison, 1889. Google digitized. Google preview accessed 2-8-2013 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1pQ-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana; or The Ecclesiastical History of New-England From Its First Planting, in the Year 1620, unto the Year of Our Lord 1698. In Seven Books (Vol. II). Hartford: Silas Andrus & Son, 1893. Digitized by the University of Michigan and accessed 2-23-2018 at: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.afk3754.0002.001;seq=1;view=1up
Thompson, Zadock. History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical, in Three Parts. Burlington, VT: Chauncey Goodrich, 1842. Google preview accessed 2-3-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=8BUzAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Winsor, Justin (Ed.). The Memorial History of Boston, Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts 1630-1880 (Vol. II, The Provincial Period). Boston: Tecknor and Co., 1880. Google preview accessed 2-23-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=vuC3DaZJ-ZMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[1] Highlighted n yellow to denote that this number is not used for the fatality estimate. In his Book of the Indians Drake notes “about 30” fatalities. Either this is a typo or meant to reflect killed and injured or killed and captured. In any event, no other source notes eighty fatalities.
[2] “When almost every man (thirty-four in number) had been shot down…”Ambiguously written, though it appears that Abbott is stating that there were 34 men and that most were killed.