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An Old Deerfield Letter, by by S.G.W. Benjamin., 1890, continued. one of our canoas, & fetched in theirs. And he that was swimming about we called to shore to us, And Lieut childs killed him, and some of ye men scalped him, And by Information that we bad afterwards by the captives yt were then in Canada three more were killed at the same Time. And after that skirmish, we made the best of our way homeward, and came to the French River after Dark, and so proceeded all that night up ye french River, till we came to the Falls, and there we left our Canoas and took our Packs upon our Backs and travailed homewards up ye River and coming to a crook that was in the river, we Left ye river & took ye nearest Cutt across yt Elbow, & so came to ye river again, which was about nine of ye clock that morning, & there we espied a canoa coming down ye river, with four Indians in it, and a captive-man, which was taken at Exeter, named Willm Moody, we then immediately fired on them, & killed 2 the first shoot, & wounded ye 3d and the 4th jumped out, & swam to ye contrary Shore. Then our Capt ordered some of his men to tarry there, & fire at him when he got to shore, & they did so — and afterwards we was Informed yt he was so wounded that in a few Days after he got to Canada died. Now the rest of the men followed ye Canoa as it fell down Stream and the Capt called to the Captive to paddle ye canoa to Land, but he replied he could not because the wounded Indian would not Let him, with that the Capt hollowed to him and bid him Knock him in ye head, with that he took up a hatchet to Do it, but ye Indian rising up took hold of ye hatchet, & got it away from him, and then catched up the Paddle, & Laid it on his head, & the skuffling together turned over the Canoa, and parted in the water, &the Indian swam to the contrary Shore. As he got out of the water we pined him to the Bank with seven Bullets. The captive also swimming towards us but being very weak, fell Down a great pace, and cried out he should Drown before he could get to Shore. With that Lieut Wells flung down his gun upon ye Bank, & run, & catch up a Pool, & hold out to him, & he catch'd hold of it, & the Lieut drew him to Land. And John Strong being upon the Bank, heard ye sticks crack behind him, & Looked around, & cried out, Indians, & was immediately fired upon by them, & was wounded in the face & breast with a charge of Cutt. Shoot, but not mortal. With that Lieut Wells sprung up the Bank to get his gun, & was mortally shoot. Now the men being scattered along upon the Bank, but ye Capt being with ye captive yt came to ye shore Immediately examined him, bow many Indians there was; be made Answer 19, being in 5 Canoas, 2 being Down Stream from that which we shoot upon, And 2 above, having been at Exeter took a captive (man) which they then bad with them. And those 2 canoas yt was passed by was ye Indians yt made ye first Shoot upon us. And we also received several shoots from those yt were above us, which Landed on ye other side of the River. Now we being under no advantage to defend our Selves, we every one made ye best of our way and shirked for our Selves, & in a Short Time, Capt Write and 5 of his men got together, Three more yet missing, the next Day came 2 more to us, where we hid some of our Provision, & there waiting some hours for the other man. But he came not while we tarried there, whereas Capt Write thinking best to have a suitable quantity of Provision and other necessaries in case he ever came it might be of service to him in his Journey homeward, It being one John Burt of Northampton. Then we soting forward on our Journey homeward, and came to our Canoas that we Left on White River, then we got into them, & came down ye river to ye mouth of it, where we left 6 men formally mentioned in our History. And finding them gone, then we sot forward homeward, & after we had got home, Those six men formally mentioned, Informed us wt they had Litt of 6 Days after we Left them. Those 6 men espied a Canoa of 2 Indians, coming Down the river, & called to them not knowing but yt they were Scattercooks, but they refused to come to them, & paddled to the contrary shore. Then they fired wounding one, but they geting to the shore Left ye Canoa, & plunder. After that ye men made ye best of their way home. And some Time after they were got home was Informed, yt they were Scattercooks. Now returning to our former story, having an Account of two of those captives yt were with ye Indians that we Litt of on French river, we now returned home, & gave us an Account, yt we then killed 4 Indians, & Moody that we had taken from them we
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