with their accustomed yells, they leaped from their
concealment, and rushed like demons upon the town. The English,
undismayed, met them at the palisades. The battle raged for some time
with very great fury.

In the midst of this scene of tumult and blood, when the battle seemed
turning against the English, there suddenly appeared a man of gray
hairs and venerable aspect, and dressed in antique apparel, who, with
the voice and manner of one accustomed to command, took at once the
direction of affairs. There was such an air of authority in his words
and gestures, the directions he gave were so manifestly wise, and he
seemed so perfectly familiar with all military tactics, that, by
instinctive assent, all yielded to his command. Those were days of
superstition, and the aspect of the stranger was so singular, and his
sudden appearance so inexplicable and providential, that it was
generally supposed that God had sent a guardian angel for the
salvation of the settlement. When the Indians retreated the stranger
disappeared, and nothing further was heard of him.

The supposed angel was General Goffe, one of the judges who had
condemned Charles I. to the block. After the restoration, these judges
were condemned to death. Great efforts were made to arrest them. Two
of them, Generals Goffe and Whalley, fled to this country. They were
both at this time secreted in Hadley, in the house of the Rev. Mr.
Russell. Mr. Whalley was aged and infirm. General Goffe, seeing the
village in imminent peril, left his concealment, joined the
inhabitants, and took a very active part in the defense. It was not
until after the lapse of fifteen years that these facts were
disclosed. The tradition is that both of these men died in their
concealment, and that they were secretly buried in the minister's
cellar. Their bodies were afterward privately conveyed to New Haven.

It so happened that the Connecticut colony had just raised a standing
army of two hundred and fifty English and two hundred Mohegan Indians,
and had sent them to Northampton, but a few miles from Hadley, for the
protection of the river towns. A force of several hundred men also
marched from Boston to co-operate with the Connecticut troops. The
settlements upon the river were thus so effectually protected that
Philip saw that it would be in vain for him to attempt any farther
assaults.

He therefore sent most of his warriors to ravage the towns along the
sea-coast. It is generally