conciliate them, sent a messenger up all
these rivers to invite the Indians to come down and live near him,
assuring them that he would protect them from all mischief, and would
sell them every needed supply at the fairest prices. The messenger,
thinking to add to the force of the invitation, overstepping his
instructions, threatened them that if they did not accede to his
request the English would come and kill them all. This so alarmed the
Indians that they fled to the banks of the Penobscot, which was then
in possession of the French. Here they held a general council.

Mr. Abraham Shurte was chief magistrate of the flourishing plantation
of Pemaquid. He was a man of integrity, of humanity, and of great good
sense. By indefatigable exertions, he succeeded in obtaining an
interview with the sachems, and entered into a treaty of peace with
them. In consequence of this treaty, the general court of Boston
ordered considerable sums of money to be disbursed to those Indians
who would become the subjects or allies of the colony. There was thus
a temporary respite of hostilities in this section of the country.
Upon the banks of the Piscataquis, however, the warfare still
continued unabated. On the 16th of October, one hundred Indians
assailed a house in South Berwick, burned it to the ground, killed the
master of the house, and carried his son into captivity. Lieutenant
Plaisted, commander of the garrison, viewing the massacre from a
distance, dispatched nine men to reconnoitre the movements of the
enemy. They fell into an ambuscade, and three were shot down, and the
others with difficulty escaped.

The next day Lieutenant Plaisted ordered out a team to bring in the
bodies for interment. He himself led twenty men as a guard. As they
were placing the bodies in a cart, a party of one hundred and fifty
savages rushed upon them from a thicket, showering a volley of bullets
upon the soldiers. The wounded oxen took fright and ran. A fierce
fight ensued. Most of the soldiers retreated and regained the
garrison. Lieutenant Plaisted, too proud to fly or to surrender,
fought till he was literally hewn in pieces by the hatchets of the
Indians. His two sons also, worthy of their father, fought till one
was slain, and the other, covered with wounds of which he soon died,
escaped. The Indians then ravaged the regions around, plundering,
burning, and killing.

The storms of winter now came with intense cold, and the snow covered
the gr