The Disasters of 1690

Summary

• Monday, February 24, 1690, Boston
• Mail post from Albany explaining “the Massacre at Schenectady by the French”
• 60 men, women and children murdered (February 8-9) - tomahawked, 27 carried into captivity
• French and Indian raid around midnight in the winter, was least expected so the village was unprepared (showed no mercy)
• March - French and Indian prisoner revealed that this group was not alone, another group had come from Quebec heading for New England
• retaliation for destruction of LaChane (French village up the St. Lawrence River from Montreal)
• Tuesday, March 18, 1690, Salmon Falls
• After the wake up the Schenectady massacre, the prisoners told of an attack that would come soon from the other part of their troop (Norton, 102).
• March 18: “A force of about sixty ‘half indianized French, and half Frenchified indians’ led by a French officer and Hope Hood of the Androscoggins, attacked the village of Salmon Falls” (Norton, 103).
• The attack focused on the destruction of Fort Loyal
• one of many attacks on Fort Loyal during the battle period
• Before Bay colony leaders could get news of the destruction at Salmon Falls, the colony leaders had already decided to retaliate against the indians and French (Norton, 103).
• Sir WIlliam Phips (a future elite member during the witch trials) was chosen as commander in chief of the army.
• The Salmon Falls natives were accused of being careless, and the Bay colony leaders did not feel responsible for their troubles
• Fitz John Winthrop believed, “such a people are miserable and canot be saved” (Norton, 104).
• Essex County men were ordered to join the militia.
• Samuel Sewall and William Stroughton served as commanders and confirmed that Massachusetts would contribute men (104).
• April 24, Jonathan Corwin and John Harthorne to search the attacked areas and determine their states (Norton, 104).
• It is believed that Corwin and Harthorne did not suggest leaving troops in Falmouth.
• Tuesday, May 20,1690, Falmouth
• 3 days and 4 night battle where English settlers and militiamen fought battle against  Madockwando and the natives who had “wee had in hould that Sir Androus ordered to bee clered”(105). After the loss of Falmouth and the death of approximately 200 english settlers many of the New Englanders abandoned their settlements Southwest of Casco Bay. “Nothing now remaines Estawrd of Welles”(105)
• Natives burned coastal cities leaving over 300 fugitives mostly women and children.
• The english are terrified “we are precipitated into such distress & danger, as we have never seen before… God is now come forth against us with an ax, a French ax, accompanied with Indian Hatchetts” (105).
• President of the Maine providence Thomas Danforth, in response to the pleas of his people responds by saying “the Lord Jesus Christ was king of the Earth as well as the heavens, and if he [Jesus] did not help them he [Danforth] could not.
• May 22, 1690
• Word from Sir William Phips states that an attack on Port Royal against the French was successful. The moral boost lead to a bigger plan where the council planned to launch a naval attack against Quebec, while simultaneously launching an attack against on Montreal. Many of the colonies’ resources and able bodied men were needed elsewhere,  therefore the attack was lacking men.
• Further North, natives continued to engage in battle against the English, proving the effectiveness of their guerilla war tactics by knowing precisely where the English were, and where they weren’t. Attacking at will.

Analysis

• Between May 20-May 22 the battle between the Natives/French and the English increased, and the battles swung in favor of the natives. The english were afraid, demoralized and had stretched their resources to the absolute limit. Hundreds of English colonist were forced to leave their homes and towns behind, as they watched the natives burn the cities they had built to the ground. Many of the refugees from the cities were women and children, temporarily displaced geographically the emotional and psychological ruined colonists had nowhere to turn. Because of this constant fear of Native attacks, many of the younger refugees may have been emotionally scarred from witnessing the constant death on the frontier. Many of the accusers in Salem during 1692 had been refugees from the battle torn frontier of Maine. It is very possible that the accusers manifested the terrors they faced on the frontier in fits and accausations against their neighbors, friends, and even strangers.
• Salmon Falls Attack:There are five individuals that have a direct correlation with the witchcraft crisis, John Harthorne, William Stoughton, Samuel Sewall, Sir Willam Phipps, and Jonathan Corwin. John, Jonathan, William, and Samuel were all judges in the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the witch trials. Sir William Phips was an elite member of society during the trials.  All of these men had a militaristic role in the affairs of 1690. Stoughton, Sewall, and Phipps were all commanders of different sectors of troops during the raids of 1690. Therefore, it can be assumed that these men saw horrific tortures and losses during their travels. The trauma from the experience may have played a role in their perspectives and mental stability during the trial period. Based on Norton’s thesis, these men did  have a close relationship with the effects of the Indian Wars.  In the case of Corwin and Harthorne, they have been attributed with telling the troops not to attend to many of the affected areas, because they believed the areas were stable. Ironically, the areas they thought to be stable were attacked once again, but this time there were no troops to help the people. Essentially, one can blame Corwin and Harthorne for those second attacks. One could conjecture that maybe these men felt guilty about their choices during the war and decided to make their “sins” right by prosecuting suspected witches.

References and Links

• In the Devil’s Snare by Mary Beth Norton
• http://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=808287&t=w
• http://www.josephsmithacademy.org/wiki/samuel-sewall/
  

Pictures