An Essay on "Bars Fight"

Williams, Dr. Stephen West. "The Background of the Fight at the Bars, Deerfield, Massachusetts, August 25, 1746." Memorial Hall Museum Online. Memorial Hall Museum. 24 Oct. 2006 curriculum_6th/lesson6/barsbkgd.html>.

The Memorial Hall Museum is a New England museum that specializes in collecting artifacts and texts that pertain to the colonization of the United States by European settlers. In my search for information relevant to the history behind the Lucy Terry poem, "Bars Fight," I came across an article through the Memorial Hall Museum Online database that gives Eunice Allen's account, as told to Dr. Stephen West Williams, of the events that took place on the day that "Bars Fight" was written about. Eunice Allen, personally mentioned in Terry's poem, was one of the survivors of the attack, and she recounted the events of that day to Dr. Williams when she was more than 80-years-old (Williams 1-2).

The article starts with an introduction that is very pertinent to understanding the context of Terry's poem. Terry was 22-years-old when some of her neighboring families were attacked by Native Americans. The attack occurred in a part of Deerfield, Massachusetts, known as "The Bars." The attack was a surprise, and it resulted in the deaths of many of the families involved as well as the capture of one son of the Allen family, Samuel Allen. According to Eunice Allen, the attack came after Fort Massachusetts, an area approximately 30 miles west of Deerfield, was taken by a party of Native Americans. The Native Americans planned to take Deerfield next, and they hid in the bushes near the field in which the Allen family and their neighboring families labored daily. Allen recalls that "ten or twelve men and children" (1) were present when the attack occurred. The attack left three men and one boy dead, resulted in the capture of Samuel Allen, and left Eunice Allen severely wounded by the means of a tomahawk that one attacker buried in her head (Williams 1-2).

After my initial reading of "Bars Fight," I did not understand the historical significance of the poem. I was not yet acquainted with the history of the events that occurred on the day Terry speaks of in her poem; therefore, the poem was nearly meaningless to me. Furthermore, I did not understand why this particular poem was placed in a "captivity narrative" anthology when it appeared to be more about war than captivity. However, after reading this historical account, I feel I have a better understanding of the story that this poem is telling.

Terry begins her poem by stating the date of the attack and mentioning that it was an attack by "Indians" (380). Upon my first reading, I assumed that the poem was about settlers who had died in a war-like fight against the Native Americans rather than in an ambush at the site of their homes. Reading this article helped me understand that it was in fact an unplanned attack that was carried out on men, women, and children alike.

In her poem, Terry states that "Eleazer Hawks was killed outright" (380). According to Williams, Eleazer Hawks had started the attack when he noticed a bird and shot at it. The Native Americans, upon hearing the shot, assumed that the families had discovered them, and they began the attack by immediately killing and scalping Mr. Hawks. Terry also mentions Samuel Allen Sr., saying he fought "like a hero" (380). According to Williams, Samuel Allen Sr. fought against the Native Americans trying to defend his three children, Samuel Jr., Caleb, and Eunice, before he was killed. The two others that were killed in this attack, Oliver Amsden and nine-year-old Simeon Amsden, are mentioned in Terry's poem but unfortunately not in Eunice Allen's account.

Eunice Allen was mentioned in Terry's poem, as was her brother, Samuel Allen Jr. Terry states that Samuel "was taken to Canada" (380). I wasn't exactly sure what this meant, though I assumed it meant he was captured by the Native Americans simply from our other class readings in which captured settlers were taken to Canada by their captors. Williams' article confirmed my belief by explaining that Samuel Allen Jr. was taken by the attackers to Canada where he lived among them for a year and nine months. Interestingly, the article also expresses that when Samuel Allen Jr. was rescued from Native American captivity, he refused to speak the English language of his heritage and insisted that "the Indian mode of life was the happiest" (Williams 2). Understanding that Samuel Allen Jr. was captured by the Native American attackers helped me better understand why this particular poem appeared in a "captivity narrative" anthology.

While Eunice Allen's account and Lucy Terry's poem coincide almost unanimously with each other, there is one piece of information that appears in both that is conflicting. According to Terry's poem, Eunice would not have been injured "had not her petticoats stopped her," with petticoats referring to the frilly, skirt-like slips she was wearing under her dress. However, in Eunice's own account, she claims that she would have escaped had it not been for one of the attackers firing at her with a gun. She assumed she had been hit with the bullet, even though she had not, and fell to the ground. After she fell to the ground, her attacker hit her in the head with a tomahawk (Williams 2). Because these two pieces of information are conflicting, I would be interested in knowing which was true. According to Williams, when Eunice Allen recounted the story to him, she said that "she remembered the events of that day as perfectly as though they had taken place yesterday" even though more than 70 years had passed.

As one of the most respected New England museums with regard to displaying the artifacts and texts that are relevant to the colonization of the United States, I believe that the Memorial Hall Museum Online is a very reputable source for information pertaining to this period in history. However, there are two factors that make me skeptical about the facts presented in this article. First, there is the fact that this story was not recounted to Dr. Williams until over 70 years after the event had passed. That alone could have lead to a distortion of Allen's recollection of the actual events of that day. Secondly, the fact that the story is told by Dr. Williams as it was told to him by Eunice Allen could have also lead to a distortion of the facts. However, overall, I believe it is a very valuable source for obtaining a historical outline if the events that transpired that day, and I believe that reading this article really enhanced my appreciation and understanding of this text.