Decennium luctuosum. An history of remarkable occurrences, in the long war, which New-England hath…

O Thou Sword of the Wilderness; When wi•• thou be quiet? On Sept. 11. A party of the Enemy came upon the Town of Lancaster, then prepared for Mischief by a wonderful Security and they did no little Mischief unto it. Ne•• Twenty were killed, and among the rest, Mr. John Whiting, the Pastor of the Church there: Five were carried Captive; Two or Three Houses were burnt, and several Old People in them. ⟨p. 149⟩Captain Brown, with Fifty men, pursued them, till the Night Stopped their pursuit: but it seems, a Str•ng• Dog or two, unknown to the Company, did by their Barking, alarm the Enemy, to Rise in the Night, and Strip and Scalp an English Captive-Woman, and fly so far into the Woods, that after Two Days Bootless Labour, our men Returned. November arrived, before any farther Blood shed; and then, 'twas only of one man, in the Woods, at Oyster-River. December arrived with the welcome Tidings, of a Peace concluded between England and France; which made us Hope, that there would be little more of any Blood shed at all. The Winter was the Severest, that ever was in the memory of man. And yet February must not pass, without a Stroke upon Pemaquid Chub, whom the Government had mercifully permitted after his Examination, to Retire unto his Habitation in Andover. As much out of the way as to Andover, there came above Thirty Indians, about the middle of February, as if their Errand had been for a Vengeance upon Chub, whom (with his Wife) they now Massacred there. They Took Two or Three House•, and Slew Three or Four Persons; and Mr. Thomas Barnard, the worthy Minister of the place, very narrowly Escaped their Fury. But in the midst of their Fury; there was one piece of Mercy, the like whereof had never been seen before: For, they had got Colonel Dudley Bradstreet, with his ⟨p. 150⟩Family into their Hands; but perceiving, the Town Mustering to follow them, their Hearts were so changed, that they dismissed their Captives without any further Damage unto their Persons. Returning back by Haverhil, they killed a couple and a couple they Took, with some Remarkable circumstances, worthy to be made a distinct History. But, Reader, we are now in Hast, for to have our present History come unto an End: and though the end of this Year did not altogether prove the end of the War; for, on May 9 1698. the Indians Murdered an old man, at Spruce-Creek, and carried away Three Sons, of that old man;