es, of both captives and slain are preserved. Those who
escaped with life and freedom were, by the best account, one hundred and
thirty-seven. An official tabular statement, drawn up on the spot, sets
the number of houses burned at seventeen. The house of the town clerk,
Thomas French, escaped, as before mentioned, and the town records, with
other papers in his charge, were saved. The meeting-house also was left
standing. The house of Sheldon was hastily set on fire by the French and
Indians when their rear was driven out of the village by Wells and his
men; but the fire was extinguished, and "the Old Indian House," as it
was called, stood till the year 1849. Its door, deeply scarred with
hatchets, and with a hole cut near the middle, is still preserved in the
Memorial Hall at Deerfield.[60]

Vaudreuil wrote to the minister, Ponchartrain, that the French lost two
or three killed, and twenty or twenty-one wounded, Rouville himself
being among the latter. This cannot include the Indians, since there is
proof that the enemy left behind a considerable number of their dead.
Wherever resistance was possible, it had been of the most prompt and
determined character.[61]

Long before noon the French and Indians were on their northward march
with their train of captives. More armed men came up from the
settlements below, and by midnight about eighty were gathered at the
ruined village. Couriers had been sent to rouse the country, and before
evening of the next day (the first of March) the force at Deerfield was
increased to two hundred and fifty; but a thaw and a warm rain had set
in, and as few of the men had snow-shoes, pursuit was out of the
question. Even could the agile savages and their allies have been
overtaken, the probable consequence would have been the murdering of the
captives to prevent their escape.

In spite of the foul blow dealt upon it, Deerfield was not abandoned.
Such of its men as were left were taken as soldiers into the pay of the
province, while the women and children were sent to the villages below.
A small garrison was also stationed at the spot, under command of
Captain Jonathan Wells, and thus the village held its ground till the
storm of war should pass over.[62]

We have seen that the minister, Williams, with his wife and family,
were led from their burning house across the river to the foot of the
mountain, where the crowd of terrified and disconsolate
captives--friends, neighbors, and relative