| 1704 Raid on Deerfield |
| Part of Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) |
|
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| Belligerents |
| Colonists, predominantly from England |
France |
| Commanders |
| Capt. Thomas Wells |
Lt. Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville |
| Strength |
| 16 garrison soldiers, 50 town residents |
47 French Canadian militians,
200 native warriors |
| Casualties and losses |
Over 56 killed,
109 captured and forced to trek to Quebec; of the latter, some died or were killed by their captors along the way |
40 killed, "many" wounded |
The 1704 Raid on Deerfield occurred during Queen Anne's War on February 29, 1704, when joint French and Native American forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville attacked the English settlement at Deerfield, Massachusetts just before dawn, razing the town and killing fifty-six colonists. De Rouville's forces consisted of forty-seven French and French Canadian soldiers and 200 Native Americans, mostly Abenaki, Kanienkehaka and Wyandot, accompanied by a few Pocumtuck. Of the colonists killed, twenty-two were men, nine were women, and twenty-five were children.
A total of 109 residents, including the women and children who had survived the attack, were taken captive and forced on a months-long, 300-mile trek to Quebec in harsh winter conditions; twenty-one of them died along the way.[1] More than sixty of those who reached Quebec were eventually ransomed or otherwise managed to make their way back to New England, but a number of others, including Eunice Williams, the young daughter of Deerfield's pastor, chose to remain in French and Native communities, such as Wendake, Quebec, for the rest of their lives.[2]
Source notes
Further reading
- Demos, John. "The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America", (New York, 1994)
- Haefeli, Evan and Sweeney, Kevin. "Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield", (Amherst, 2003)
- Smith, Mary. "Boy Captive of Old Deerfield", (Aeonian, 1976)
External links
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