1704 Raid on Deerfield

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=1704 Raid on Deerfield
partof=Queen Anne's War (1702-1713)
date=February 29, 1704
place=Massachusetts
result=French and Native American victory
combatant2=France
combatant1=Colonists, predominantly from England
commander2=Lt. Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
commander1=Capt. Thomas Wells
strength2=47 French Canadian militians,
200 native warriors
strength1=16 garrison soldiers, 50 town residents
casualties2=40 killed, "many" wounded
casualties1=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

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. [cite web
last =
first =
year =
month =
url =http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb29.html
title =Attack on Deerfield (paragraph #2)
publisher =Library of Congress
accessdate =2007-03-31] 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. [cite web
last =
first =
year =
month =
url =http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb29.html
title =Attack on Deerfield (paragraph #3)
publisher =Library of Congress
accessdate =2007-03-31]

ource 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

* [http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum/ Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704]
* [http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/collection/itempage.jsp?itemid=106 Digital Collection "Old Indian House" (photo)] and [http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/collection/itempage.jsp?itemid=5683 (painting)]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?detr:1:./temp/~ammem_7su8::displayType=1:m856sd=det:m856sf=4a07580:@@@det Frary House]
* [http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/classroom/curriculum_12th/unit1/lesson7/1703_letter.html Historic Deerfield Buys 1703 letter that predicts attack]
* [http://www.historic-deerfield.org Historic Deerfield museum]
* [http://www.babcock-acres.com/Misceallaneous/deerfield_captives_of_1704.htm Fates of Individuals Taken Captive at Deerfield]