Description:
On August 25, 1746, the Allen and Amsden families were attacked by Indians while haying at The Bars, 1 mile south of Deerfield. Five were killed, and 13 yr. old Eunice Allen (1733-1818) was tomahawked; she survived as an invalid to become a heroine of colonial sacrifice. Her great-grand nephew, William Wesley Starr (1851-1913), carved this banister-back side chair's crest rail about 1860: "EUNICE ALLEN / BORN JUNE 6 1733 / TOMAHAWKED AUG. 25 1746 / DIED AUG 16 1818." According to tradition, Eunice used it in her pew at the Meeting House. George Sheldon notes that after her father and 4 others were killed that "Eunice was the last to be overtaken, but finally an Indian split her skull with his hatchet and left her for dead, not stopping, however, in his haste to secure her scalp. Eunice survived the blow for seventy-two years, but she never fully recovered." A reporter for the "Connecticut Courant", who interviewed Eunice a few months before her death, reported that "Her recollection of the event was perfectly distinct and clear. She observed that it would be the last thing she should ever forget." and "In endeavoring to make her escape she was pursued by an Indian with a gun and uplifted tomahawk. She was extremely active and would have outrun him, had he not fired on her. The ball passed through her clothes but did not injure her. She supposed that it had struck her, and in her fright she fell. The Indian overtook her, and buried his tomahawk in her head, at the fontenelle, and left her for dead.... Miss A. was passed by a number of soldiers who supposed her to be dead. At last an uncle came to her, discovered signs of life in her, and conveyed her home. Her wound was dressed by Doctor Thomas Williams, who took from it considerable quantities of brains." A stone monument at the site: "In Commemoration of the Bars fight, Aug. 25, 1746 in which Samuel Allen was killed near this spot while defending his children against the Indians. Erected by his descendents 190?" The monument is in a small clearing 1 mile south of the village, 3/10 mile off Mill Village Rd. on Stillwater Rd. on the south side.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+77.069 |
