(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved. Contact us for information about using this image.
label levels:
Stephen Williams (1693-1782) was just a young boy when a group of French and Native Americans raided the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704. The attackers captured Stephen's entire family except for those killed in the initial attack and the one member of the family who was not in Deerfield at the time. Stephen endured a grueling ordeal over the next year and a half, including a forced winter march to northern Vermont and frequent deprivation. Unlike his sister, Eunice, who chose to stay with the Indian family that adopted her, Stephen Williams returned to New England. He wrote this account shortly after his return.