he town was but seventeen miles from Boston. Several
garrison houses had been erected, in which all the inhabitants could
take refuge in case of alarm. Two hundred soldiers were stationed in
the town, and sentinels kept a very careful watch. On the Sabbath, as
the people were returning from public worship, one or two Indians were
seen on the neighboring hills, which led the people to suspect that an
assault was contemplated. The night was moonless, starless, and of
Egyptian darkness. The Indians, perfectly acquainted with the
location of every building and every inch of the ground, crept
noiselessly, three hundred in number, each to his appointed post. They
spread themselves over all parts of the town, skulking behind every
fence, and rock, and tree. They concealed themselves in orchards,
sheds, and barns. King Philip himself was with them, guiding, with
amazing skill and energy, all the measures for the attack. Not a
voice, or a footfall, or the rustling of a twig was heard, as the
savages stood in immovable and breathless silence, waiting the signal
for the onset. The torch was ready to be lighted; the musket loaded
and primed; the knife and tomahawk sharp and gleaming.

At the earliest dawn of day one shrill war-whoop was heard, clear and
piercing. It drew forth the instant response of three hundred voices
in unearthly yells. Men, women, and children sprang from their beds in
a phrensy of terror, and, rushing in their night-clothes from their
homes, endeavored to reach the garrison houses. But the leaping savage
was every where with his torch, and soon the blaze of fifty houses and
barns shed its lurid light over the dark morning. Fortunately, many of
the inhabitants were in the garrisons. Of those who were not, but few
escaped. The bullet and the tomahawk speedily did their work, and but
a few moments elapsed ere fifty men, women, and children were
weltering in blood. Though they promptly laid one half of the town in
ashes, the garrison houses were too strong for them to take. During
the progress of this awful tragedy King Philip was seen mounted on a
splendid black horse, leaping the fences, inspiriting his warriors,
and exulting in the havoc he was accomplishing.

At length the soldiers, who were scattered in different parts of the
town, began gradually to combine their strength, and the savages,
learning that re-enforcements were also approaching from Sudbury, were
compelled to retire. They retreated across a br