of October 4, 1675, during which Philip's warriors were admitted into the fort, the colonists were warned of their danger by a messenger from Windsor, dispatched by a Mr. Wolcott, whose Indian servant, in great mental distress, had divulged the plot. The settlers quickly gathered in three partially fortified houses, with a part of their effects and the pastor's library, and awaited the morning; but, no sign of trouble appearing, the minister's books were returned to his study, and the more venturesome began to pursue their callings. Major Pynchon, in command of the Springfield troops, had been called; to the defence of the towns up the river. The non-appearance of danger and the discomforts of their self-imprisonment at last induced Lieutenant Thomas Cooper and Thomas Miller to mount their horses and ride down toward the Indian stronghold on Long Hill. From ambush in the woods at the lower end of
The Railroad up Mt. Tom
Main street Cooper was shot dead and Miller was mortally wounded, but his horse wheeled and galloped homeward with "his dying burden," who fell at the door of one of the fortified houses. The worst having been thus confirmed, the savages swarmed about the buildings, burned about thirty houses and twenty-five barns, again and again attacking the fortified houses, but succeeding only in killing one woman, Pentecost Matthews, and wounding four or five persons. While this carnival of fire was going on, about midday, a small force of colonists, under Major Treat from Westfield, arrived on the west side of the river. Every effort to cross in the face of such odds was ineffectual, but the force under Major Pynchon and Captain Appleton came down from Hadley, on the Springfield side of the river, a few hours afterwards, and the prudent braves all disappeared in the forest. The three commanders united their
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