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Lesson 7: Conflict in the Frontier Town of Deerfield
1 class period (85 minutes)
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| Key Content Ideas Taught in this Lesson and
Teacher Background |
By reviewing an early map, one can see that Deerfield
was at the "point of the knife blade" that constituted
the early frontier. That location made the community vulnerable
to hostilities by the Native Peoples and others during its early
settlement. In this lesson a review of the early period of danger
will occur, culminating with the 1704 Raid.
Teacher Background Essay: The
Deerfield Raid
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| Intended Learning Outcomes |
Understandings
Students will understand:
- the political, social, religious, and economic world and national
context in which the events of Deerfield occurred.
- that there were increasingly in this period competing political
agendas, and
competition for land, power, and wealth in Deerfield.
- that wars between France and England and local cultural conflict
contributed to the volatile environment.
- that the Deerfield region was vulnerable to attacks, and that
this created an unstable environment.
- that the past has a significant influence on present day lives
and society.
- that it is valuable to study the lives, actions, ideas, political
experiences, and judgments of people in the past.
- that it is important NOT to judge people in the past by today's
notions and beliefs.
- how historians approach their work, using both artifacts and
documents.
Skills
Students will be able to:
- identify and articulate differing points of view.
- use a variety of primary source materials, to analyze these
sources, and to make logical inferences and supported conclusions.
- make reference to previously presented material.
- utilize technology to research information and present projects.
- compare and contrast events in Deerfield with world and national
events.
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| In Preparation for Teaching |
Read the Teacher Background Essay: The
Deerfield Raid
Further Background Reading:
Demos, John. The Unredeemed Captive. New
York: Knopf, 1995.
Haefeli, Evan and Kevin Sweeney. "Revisiting
the Redeemed Captive: New Perspectives on the 1704 Attack on Deerfield."
After King Philip's War. Hanover: UP New England, 1992. Pp.
28-71.
Lepore, Jill. The Name of War. New York:
Knopf, 1998
Melvoin, Richard. New England Outpost.
New York: Norton, 1989. Pp. 214-223.
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Primary and Secondary Sources:
1. Memorial Hall Website: "People
and Places" entry about "Bloody Brook"
2. Grant, Ross. "Historic
Deerfield Buys 1703 Letter that Predicts Attack." Greenfield
Recorder 1999.
3. Redeemed
Captive Returning to Zion. by Rev. John Williams, 1774.
4. Tables of Losses
from History of Deerfield by George Sheldon V. I pages 304
- 305.
5. "What
Befell Stephen Williams In His Captivity " edited by George
Sheldon, PVMA, 1889.
6. Cotton Mather's Letter
to John Willliams.
7. "Many Stories
of 1704" - text from the exhibit about 1704 at Memorial
Hall Museum.
Other:
Student Background Essay: The
Relationship Between the English, the French, and the Native Peoples
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| Activities |
Materials in Context |
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Activity 1
1. Review with the students the issues
that created hostilities from the English settlers, The
Native Peoples, and the French, using the student essay.
2. Instruct the students to take notes
from "Peoples and Places" as short summaries of
the hostilities that developed in Deerfield during the period
the colonial period.
3. Instruct students to read the letter
from Samuel Partridge to Governor John Winthrop of Connecticut,
then ask students to respond to the following questions:
What prompted the writing of this letter? What were Partridge's
hopes and expectations?
4. Divide the class into groups, then
each group will summarize one of the many accounts of the
1704 Raid from Memorial Hall Website.
5. Examine as a class the "Tables
of Losses" from George Sheldon's History of Deerfield.
6. Ask students to read a segment of
the first-hand account of the Rev. John Williams. Following
that reading, read the letter from Cotton Mather. Discuss
the intent of the letter and what it conveyed to Williams.
Assignment:
1. Write a journal entry that describes the raid from the
viewpoint of two of the following:
- A mother who learns of the raid in Hadley
- A merchant in Springfield
- A native woman
- A member of the militia in Hadley
- A minister in Brookfield
- A farmer in Hatfield
- A tavern owner in Northampton
- A child in Deerfield during the raid, writing in 1744.
2. Read "What Befell Stephen Williams
In His Captivity" edited by George Sheldon, and produce
a work of art descriptive a segment of the story. These
art descriptions will be used in the next class session
as a review of the events of William's experience.
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The Relationship
Between the English, the French, and the Native Peoples
People
and Places , entry about "Bloody Brook"
Historic Deerfield
Buys 1703 Letter that Predicts Attack
"Many Stories
of 1704"
Tables of Losses
Redeemed
Captive Returning to Zion
(for printable
transcription, click here)
Letter
to John Willliams
(for printable
transcription, click here)
"What
Befell Stephen Williams In His Captivity "
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The art work presentation will be the assessment.
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