John Pynchon (1610-1702) Captain of the Springfield Militia

John Pynchon (1610-1702) Captain of the Springfield Militia

John PYNCHON, son of William, married Amy WILLYS, daughter of Geo. Willys at Hartford, October 30, 1645. His wife, Amy, died January 9, 1699, aged 74. He died January 17, 1703, aged 76.

John Pynchon, the only son of the founder of Springfield, was 26 years old when his father returned to England. Inheriting the lands his father had acquired here and his store of goods, and the special privileges which had been granted to him in the way of trade with the Indians, the son at once entered upon a prosperous career, and was placed at the front of every undertaking leading to the development of the country, and to the acquisition of wealth. He had from the start opportunities that came to no other inhabitant, and he possessed the ability to make the most of favoring circumstances. In both private and public concerns he was the leading spirit. He was chosen Selectman in 1650. Town Clerk in 1652, appointed Magistrate to try small causes in 1653, elected Deputy to the General Court in 1662, and soon afterward Assistant in the Council, or Upper House, which position he held until 1701, almost to the close of his life.

He was appointed by the General Court on the committees to establish the boundaries of the new towns within the vicinity of Springfield. He, with others, laid out the bounds of Northampton, Hadley, and what afterwards became Hatfield (purchasing the lands of the Indians), Westfield, Suffield, and Enfield. In short there was no movement of a public nature in which he was not concerned. Even the names of some of the new localities suggest his practical and unsentimental nature. For instance, Westfield was so named from the fact that it was a field west of Springfield; Suffield was originally Southfield, from its direction from Springfield, but the English habit of contracting the prefix to "suf" for south curtailed it to Suffield, Enfield was sometimes written Endfield, suggesting that it was a field at the end of the town, it being supposed at the time that it was within the sphere of Massachusetts. It might, however, have derived its name from Enfield, in England. Then, at a much later date, came the naming of Brimfield, suggested perhaps from the fact it was on the brim of the settlement. Brookfield, in which Pynchon had a hand, was probably named from its numerous brooks. Going north, though Pynchon was not concerned in its beginning, Northfield received its name from its geographical position to the older settlements, and Deerfield, from the fact that its meadows made a good feeding place and were frequented by deer. Sunderland was originally in the Pynchon vernacular Swampfield. The Stony brooks of Suffield and up the Connecticut, received their names from Pynchon. These localities had something about their position sufficient to suggest to his practical mind the names which they received and continue to beat at the present time.

He entered early into the military spirit which had come across the ocean as an inheritance. He was confirmed by the General Court in 1653 Lieutenant of the training band, in 1657 Captain of the company, and at a later date was made a Major of the troop, the local cavalry company, with the command of the military forces in this region.

The Colonial authorities appear to have had great confidence in his ability and the General Court appointed him on many important committees relative to boundary lines, and in 1680 he was sent to Albany to confer with Sir Edmund Andros, then Governor of New York, concerning the depredations that the Mohawks were making upon some of our outer settlements, and he succeeded in establishing friendly relations with the Indians, for which our General Court voted him £12.

The same year he was appointed with Joseph Dudley to establish the boundary line between Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 1685 he was one of the committee to make the final settlement of the boundary line between Springfield and Northampton. During his long service in the General Court there was scarcely an important question concerning boundaries or where tact and diplomacy were needed, that he was not given opportunity to bring about a peaceful settlement. He was zealous in upholding the religion of his time, but he does not appear to have had any of the polemic, or controversial spirit of his father. He was too eminently practical to enter into the discussion of the different points in theology,--possibly from the fact he was deeply concerned in trade, and in the accumulation of wealth. Whatever success came to him he evidently regarded as God given. He took part in the religious observances of the town and at times conducted Sunday services, sometimes by reading and sometimes from his own meditations. During the ministry of George Moxon he wrote in a kind of short-hand the leading points in the sermons which are now in possession of the City Library, but it was constructed on no known system of the present.

The great calamity which befell Springfield October 5, 1675, the burning of the town by the Indians, occurred while he was at the head of his troops in Hadley, and his desponding letters concerning it, written to the Rev. John Russell of Hadley, and to the Governor, indicate that he was greatly affected and despaired of the ability that had fallen upon it, but his fears proved greater than the reality and prosperity came to it in the subsequent years in the continued up-building of the town.

His penmanship was strong and clear, entirely unlike that of his father, but he lacked that thorough training that his father had received, which could hardly be otherwise considering he was placed uner entirely different conditions in his youth. His recorded transactions lack system and an orderly arrangment in statement, but there is a certain picturesque ness that gives them the color of the times, a freshness that better trained minds sometimes lack. In entering the accounts in his ledger he frequently accompanied them with bits of conversation, or statements that enliven a very commonplace transaction, even to describing his leather breeches made for him by John Barber.

He was granted at various times large tracts of land. The Island in the Connecticut just north of the railroad bridge at Warehouse Point, in Connecticut, was given to him in 1681 by our General Court. He acquired many grants from the town as gifts, or for services in the erection of mills, or for other work done by him. The grain mill and the sawmill were built and conducted in consideration of receiving grants of land.

His mercantile transactions extended up and down the Connecticut in the early years, having purchasers at Northampton and Hadley on the north, and at Windsor, Hartford, Wethersfield, and even New Haven, on the south. His store probably had the largest stock of goods for many years of any within many miles of Springfield. Beaver skins bought of the Indians, or of those who traded with them, were shipped to England, and they enabled him to purchase goods for his store. Grain was sent down the Connecticut and around to Boston, but there is nothing to indicate here that it was shipped to England. He also had some trade with Barbadoes. His store was the medium of exchange,--goods for labor and produce, and his shipments abroad enabled him to keep up the supply which was so much needed in this frontier settlement. It would require a volume to treat of John Pynchon's transactions in all their fullness, but this glimpse of the man will serve to give some idea of his character and work. His children were:--

Joseph, b. July 26, 1646, d. unmarried December 30, 1682. John, b. October 15, 1647, m. Margaret HUBBARD. Mary, b. October 2, 1650, m. Joseph WHITING. William, b. October 11, 1653, d. June 15, 1654. Mehitable, b. November 22, 1661, d. July 24, 1663.

He was captain of the Springfield militia and fought in King Philips' War (1675-76).

The commissioners of the colonies at Boston acted vigorously and a new levy of men was ordered. Major Pynchon of Springfield, as commander-in chief in the valley, wished to garrison the towns by a force sufficient to insure their safety, while a considerable force of mounted men and Indian scouts should strike at the hostiles wherever they could be found. "The English are awkward and fearful in scouting," he wrote to the Council, but "they would do the best they could. We have no Indian friends here to help us."24

p116 The commissioners bade him denude the towns of their garrisons and send every available man to active service in the field. In issuing hampering orders to the captains in the field they bent to popular prejudice against the employment of friendly Indians. This was their fatal error; without Indian auxiliaries the troops were well-nigh helpless and no aggressive campaign possible.

No better opportunity could have been afforded the fast-moving tribesmen. Avoiding the columns in search of them and refusing all open conflict, they hovered near the settlements, shooting the unwary settlers who ventured out to till their fields, or lay in wait around the columns to cut off stragglers and scouts. A house and mill of Major Pynchon on the west side of the river at Springfield, were burned on the 26th, and two days later two Northampton settlers were killed while cutting wood. "The Indians cut off their scalps, took their arms, and were gone in a trice."

It was not until the 4th of October that Major Pynchon, having assembled a large force at Springfield, set out to join the troops already at Hadley. It was his intention, having collected the army at that point, to leave before daybreak on the following morning and attack a large force of Indians who were reported encamped about five miles to the north. The sachems, however, had their p117own plans and the fact that Springfield was denuded of troops was well known among them.

On Long Hill, just below the town, near the river bank, there had been for many years a village of the Agawams. It had existed when the first settlers of Springfield selected the site for their town, and its inhabitants had lived on friendly terms with the settlers for forty years. The disquiet and suspicions of the other tribes had, however, not failed of an effect upon these old neighbors, and Major Pynchon had informed the Connecticut Council that he intended to disarm them, but the Council suggested hostages,27 whose delivery the Indians delayed. The departure of the troops from Springfield gave them an opportunity of which they were not slow to take advantage. They had been harboring now for some time wandering parties of hostiles, and a deadly blow might have been inflicted upon the unsuspicious settlement had not the plot been revealed by Toto, an Indian employed by an English settler at Windsor.28 Noticing his uneasiness during the evening they pressed him for the cause and finally wrung the secret from him. The night was already far spent and the fate of Springfield hung on the minutes. Messengers riding in hot haste sped to Springfield, knocking fiercely in the darkness at the doors of the silent houses to awake the sleeping inmates. The settlers at once took shelter in the three fortified houses,29 and messengers p118were sent in haste to the forces at Hadley for reinforcements.

The night passed without attack, confidence revived, and some of the people returned to their homes. Lieutenant Cooper, who was well known to the Indians, and put little faith in the reports of the hostile attitude of the Agawams, determined to go down to the Indian fort with constable Miller and investigate. They had gone but a short distance toward their destination, however, when they were shot at from the woods near Mill River "by those bloody and deceitful monsters." Miller was instantly killed, but Cooper, shot through the body, managed to keep his saddle until he reached the nearest garrison house, where he fell from his horse dead. The Indians following closely behind, tried to rush the garrisons. One savage advanced, sheltering himself behind a large pewter plate, but two bullets pierced it and he fell. Several others were shot, and, finding their attempt at a surprise a failure, the rest withdrew. A woman and two settlers had been killed,32 and thirty-two houses (including "saddest to behold the house of Rev. Peletiah Glover furnished with a brave library newly brought back from the garrison and now made fit for a bonfire for the proud insulting enemy") and "not even a bible saved," these and twenty-five barns were in flames by the time Major Treat, marching from Westfield, reached the west bank of the river which he was prevented from crossing by the fierce fire of the Indians.

Late in the afternoon came Major Pynchon and the companies of Captains Sill and Appleton, who, hearing in the early morning that an attack was contemplated, had ridden furiously from Hadley to the relief with two hundred men. The enemy, however, had retired to Indian Orchard and escaped punishment, all save an old p120squaw taken prisoner, who, if we are to believe Moseley, "was ordered to be torn in pieces by doggs and was so dealt withall." The number of Indians concerned in the attack was variously estimated at from 100 to 500. Rev. John Russell of Hadley gives the former figure which, if correct, is evidence that few beside the Agawam or Springfield Indians were concerned.

Discouragement and gloom settled heavily upon men's minds when the news from Springfield became known. Large quantities of provisions had been destroyed; a town, the most important and the most removed from danger in the upper valley had been devastated, and its inhabitants, but for a warning at the eleventh hour, had been massacred. "The Lord will have us in the dust before him," wrote Pynchon sadly to Rev. John Russell. Months of warfare, the sacrifice of valuable lives, the levying of large bodies of troops, and the expenditure of considerable sums of money, all seemed to have been in vain. The field of operations was spreading over a wider area, while the Indians, their numbers augmented by wandering bands from the northern tribes and from villages formerly neutral, were encouraged by their successes to fiercer aggressions.

Men sought to evade military service and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up the companies in the field to their full complement, and the reports sent to the Connecticut Council of the captures of old men, women and children by the Mohegans operating from Norwich, offered but little compensation for the disasters elsewhere.

p121 Major Pynchon had, as before noticed, taken issue with the plan of campaign worked out by the commissioners at Boston. He had repeatedly urged upon them the danger of leaving the towns ungarrisoned while the troops followed the fast-moving warriors into the thickets. "To speak my thoughts all these ought to be garrisoned. To go out after the Indians unless we know where they keep is to hazard our men," he wrote. He urgently asked again to be relieved of his command, which he had never desired. "I would not," he had written some time before, "willingly sin against God nor offend you, and I entreat you to ease me of my (trust)." "Pursue and destroy," they had replied, expressing their confidence in him.

The attack on Springfield strengthened Pynchon's dissatisfaction with the plan of the commissioners. An estimable man and magistrate he was fitted neither by nature nor training for a military command. He felt helpless and worried over the conduct of the campaign, the loss inflicted upon Springfield and the care of its destitute people weighed heavily upon his mind; and now, por the third time, he requested that he be relieved from command. He wrote that he was still opposed to the policy of the commissioners, felt his own unfitness for command and must devolve the command to Appleton unless Treat, who had been summoned away to Connecticut by the report of a body of Indians having been seen near Wethersfield, returned.

The request conveyed in his former letter had already been granted and Captain Appleton had been appointed October 4th to succeed him. He, too, shared Pynchon's view as to the need of garrisoning the towns and urged upon the Council the advisability of leaving the question discretionary with the commander, and complained of Treat's long absence, but the Council held firm to their original plan and Appleton reached Hadley on the night of the 12th to begin operations in the field, having left small garrisons in certain of the towns despite the orders of the Council. A few days later he again writes to the Massachusetts authorities. He knows not when Treat will return, the scouts are timorous and accomplish little and he finds it difficult to know what to do. He realizes, too, both the strength and weakness of the commissioners' position in regard to active operations. "To leave no garrisons and concentrate all for active service in the field, is to expose the towns to manifest hazard. To sit still and do nothing is to tire us and spoil our soldiers and ruin the country by the unsupportable burden and charge."

p123 This web page reproduces a chapter of King Philip’s War by George Ellis and John Morris

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/_Topics/history/_Texts/EAMKPW/7*.html

By the time of John’s death, he was the wealthiest and most powerful landowner in Massachusetts.