Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: FIRST SETTLEMENT or DEERFIELD. In the year 1669, during the administration of Governor Bellingham, the government of Massachusetts Bay, made a grant of 8000 acres of land to the town of Dedham in the County of Norfolk; this tract was located, and is a part of the territory which was in 1673, incorporated by the general Court, into a town by the name of Deerfield, situated in that part of the state which was afterwards erected into the County of Hampshire, (since into the County of Franklin.) The Indian name of Deer- field, was Pocomtuck. The first meeting of the proprietors of Dedham grant was held at Dedham, March 1st, 1670, at which time, measures were taken to lay out the town plat at Pocomtuck— soon after a settlement was commenced there, (probably, in 1671,) a few houses were built on the main street, and the settlers continued to live in peace with their Indian neighbors, until the breaking out of King Phillips' war (so called) in 1675. In September of that year the place was attacked and one of the settlers slain ;—they were again assailed by the Indians the same month while going to attend public worship on Sunday, fortunately no lives were lost. There being at this time a considerable quantity of grain at Deerfield, it was deemed prudent to remove it to some place of safety ; accordingly Captain Lathrop with abont 80 men, marched from Hadley, (about 15 miles south of Deerfield) accompanied by a suitable number of teams, for the purpose of moving the grain to that place ; when on his return from Deerfield, September 18th, 1675, about four and a half miles south of the village, at a place now called Bloody- Brotk, he was suddenly assailed by a large body of Indians, lying in ambush,who were said to be commanded by King Phillip in person ; the attack was sudden and ...