Salmon Hole Massacre 2002-History of 1748

History Behind the Salmon Hole Massacre

31 May, 1748

The Historical Setting: King George's War

1748 was the last year of what is called in US History as King George's War. However, just as the French and Indian War was an extension of the greater Seven Years' War, fought on several continents, so too was King George's War an extension of the War of the Austrian Succession (1744-1748). In America, the conflict was, as usual, over the borders of New France and the British Colonies. The Treaty of Utrecht signed after Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) had specified the boundary areas but not specifically enough to prevent constant disagreement about the particulars.

The Connecticut River separates eastern Vermont from Western New Hampshire, and divides the western part of Massachusetts and Connecticut from the more populated eastern regions. This wilderness area was very sparsely populated and even less protected from war parties of the French and Indians. Tiny populations of people were settling on the eastern side of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire during the early 1740s and were creating small localized fortifications, including the Fort at Number 4 and Fort Dummer. These little populations were fodder for raids from the French and Indians, who took advantage of King George's War to make raids on the British living in what the French considered to be their territory. For instance, in 1746 a war party of several hundred massacred and burned a small settlement, which is now Keene, NH, and in 1747 the Fort at No. 4 was raided. Many other raids occurred on a regular basis along the Connecticut River.

Historical Records about the Salmon Hole Massacre

The following is provided by Rob Rowell, to provide the background on why we were at this spot reenacting (voluntarily) a scenario where the British are massacred by the French in 1748:

This was one of hundreds of little skirmishes that took place in the years between 1690 and 1755 when war broke out in earnest. Each one has its own story and each contributed to the history of our country in some way.

One account is as follows (with our insertions in square brackets [ ]):
"Scouts under the command of Captain Eleazer [also sometimes 'Lazearus'] Melvin left [Fort] Dummer early May, 1748, going westward. They reached the lake [Champlain] opposite Fort Frederick, when a party of Indians in canoes was discovered. It seems that a company of about thirty Indians had left Canada May 1 for the frontier under the command of Sieur Manet. The Indians retreated at the first firing, which also alarmed the men at the fort; three cannon were discharged and one hundred and fifty men turned out in pursuit of the enemy.

Captain Melvin retreated across the mountains to the head of the West River, halting with his men in the town of Londenderry [what is now the town of Jamaica] May 31, long enough for his men to begin shooting salmon for breakfast [a bit odd since Atlantic Salmon spawn in the Fall, but there were undoubtedly some fish around], unaware that their trail had been followed by a party of two Frenchmen and nine Indians under Sieur Louis Simblin. Creeping through the underbrush until near their prey, the Indians pounced upon the English who were separated from their arms in careless confidence, killing John Howard, Isaac Taylor, John Dodd, Daniel Mann and Samuel Severance and wounding Joseph Petty. After only a slight resistance, Melvin's party, demoralized, fled to Fort Dummer [a good 30 miles]. Their victors did not attempt to pursue them but returned homeward to Montreal, in triumph, with five scalps.

Phineas Stevens led a company to the scene of the disaster, but failed to find Petty, who had given out and was left by his companions in their flight; but sixteen men from Northfield, after a search of five days, found his dead body and buried it."

The second account is as follows:
"On May 13, 1748, a party of 18 men under Capt. Eleazer Melvin left Fort Dummer on a scouting expedition. They proceeded to a near-by fort in New Hampshire known as No. 4. There they were joined by 60 men led by Captains Stevens and Hobbs and the two parties set out toward Lake Champlain. When they reached Otter Creek Captain Melvin and his men crossed the stream and went toward Crown Point. The party under Captains Stevens and Hobbs proceeded along the east bank on a separate expedition returning to No. 4 two weeks later.

Captain Melvin's party reached Lake Champlain of May 24 and camped a few miles below Crown Point. The next day they continued northward. While in sight of the French fort at Crown Point they fired on a party of Indians in canoes. Three cannon were immediately discharged from the fort and 150 Indians were sent in pursuit of the white men, who retreated rapidly toward Fort Dummer.

By the morning of May 31 they had reached the headwaters of the West River in Londonderry. Believing that their pursuers had given up the chase they stopped to rest and shoot salmon for breakfast. Two Frenchmen and nine Indians who had been close behind them approached to within a few rods of the scouts and opened fire from behind logs and trees. Offering little resistance, Captain Melvin's men soon separated and fled to Fort Dummer. Five of them had been killed and one was wounded so badly that he could not travel. The others left him by a spring on a couch of pine boughs, where he died before he could return."

The Salmon Hole Massacre was a setback for the English position in the area. It deprived Fort Dummer of five soldiers in an already small garrison. A rescue party was organized with 16 men from as far away as Northfield, MA, to return to the Salmon Hole to search for bodies. The French and Indians demonstrated that they controlled the area northwest of the existing English forts and were able to strike at close range of those forts with near impunity.

Fort Dummer History and Artifacts

Francis Parkman wrote the following about Fort Dummer:

No part of the country suffered more [from war parties sent from Montreal in the early 1700s] than the western borders of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and here were seen too plainly the evils of the prevailing want of concernt among the British colonies. Massachusetts claimed extensive tracts north of her present northern boundary, and in the belief that her claim would hold good, had built a small wooden fort, called Fort Dummer, on the Connecticut [River], for the protection of settlers. New Hampshire disputed the title, and the question, being referred to the Crown, was decided in her favor. On this, Massechusetts withdrew the garrison of Fort Dummer and left New Hampshire to defend her own." (Parkman: A Half-Century of Conflict).)

The following are photos of the Marker and the current site of the fort, which is now under water. Also below are a few of Rob's photos of buttons and musket balls found at the Fort Dummer site. Apparently there was an amateur archeologist in Brattleboro who would go out when water was let down by the hydro dam in Vernon and sift through the mud and found this stuff in the early 60s.