james swanson is the author of the new york times best seller manhunt the 12 day chase for lincoln's killer. he is an attorney who's written about history, the constitution and popular culture for a

variety of publications, including the wall street journal american heritage. smith simonian and the los angeles times. he serves on the advisory council of the ford's theater. abraham lincoln bicentennial campaign and is a member of the advisory of the abraham lincoln bicentennial commission. please give a warm savannah welcome to james swanson. let me just suggest this a little visit. good morning. this pocket me feel like i'm reverend john williams from deerfield saying they're attacking they're coming it's to be back in savannah i think this is fourth time at the santa book festival so it's always pleasure to come come here and i want to give a special thanks to prickett and his wife, jane.

matt, of course, is the founder of the savannah book festival. and i thank them for their years of support and for sponsoring talk this year. and it's hard to believe that it was 17 years ago when i was speaking at the national book festival in washington, dc, when a man introduced us and self and said, hi, i'm matt prickett, i'm a book festival in savannah. would you like to. and little did he know that savannah already one of my favorite cities. so of course i said yes today i'm not going to bore you by reading aloud for my book except for a couple select quotations that really helped set the stage. whenever i tend to book event, i don't enjoy reading it. so i figured can do that ourselves and i'm more in hearing about the author, their lives, their stories, their journeys, why they wrote the book, what them, the research and how they write. i grew up in a family of storytellers. my grandmother worked for several of the big chicago newspapers the sun, the sun-times, the daily, at the tail end of the hecht's front

page era. and i've learned frustrating and the fascinating and crazy stories that newspapers would publish in those days almost impossible to believe. when i was six years old, she asked me jamie, did you know that during the chicago world's fair of 1893, a mad man doctor murdered 100 women and dissolved their bodies in acid and? my mother said, whoever heard this, i know he didn't. but now he does. and that led to later. i might be to my agents saying i have an idea for a book and i said it's about dr. holmes of chicago and it's about and he said, do you know who erik larson? i said, yeah. he said, i happen to know he just started writing book. so think of something else. and i said, well, there was 12 a 12 day manhunt for john wilkes about the lincoln assassination. he said, i think i could sell that. so write about the lincoln

assassination. a few years later, my grandmother gave me a typical birthday gift for a young boy, an engraving of john wilkes booth derringer pistol that he used to kill abraham lincoln. not a not a bicycle, not a baseball net, but an assassination. it was it was framed. a clipping from the chicago tribune newspaper. from the morning of march of april 15th, 1865, the morning that lincoln died and the clipping said hoof assassin kills the president to the stage, runs out the back door and escapes on a horse and then and that's where someone had cut the clipping off. and i was obsessed with reading the rest the story that hung on my bedroom wall for most of my life. i still have it and i thought, i've got to read the rest of the story and it's part of the research for man. i was able to buy an entire run. chicago tribune's from april and may 65, so i now possess the whole newspaper from that clipping inspired me to write man it and my grandmother's gift inspired me to write that book and ultimately led to apple tv

plus mini series. and we enough that's coming out this march and so at random gift to a ten year old boy led into that world of writing that book and executive producing that show. my grandfather was a chicago policeman from the 1930s to the late 1960s. the civil rights and vietnam protests era. when he came home from work one night, he whispered to my mother, don't let jimmy at the newspaper tonight. there's been an awful crime. does anybody in the audience remember the name richard. yes. the who knifed several student nurses to death in their apartment and who vanished and was later captured because one of the nurses hid under the bed and remembered him and they had a tattoo that said born to raise hell. he forgot how many captives he had and she survived. and that's erika scott.

my father was also a great storyteller. he attended lynn tech high school in chicago, the same high school attended by herbert hans haupt, one of the eight nazi saboteurs landed by u-boat on the eastern shore of the united states. 1942. you can imagine the rest of that story years later when i worked at the u.s. department of justice, i did. dad invited my dad to visit my office across the hall it to the wall was a bronze plaque that read in this room were tried the eight nazi saboteurs and it named them all including herbert hans helped. then i took the head down the basement to the bowels of the doj and showed him the room where the nazis were locked up during their trial and before their execution. they electrocuted. then we used to go to a restaurant in chicago on german avenue and on swedish. a few doors down was a gift j to a duke to greek shop gift shop. my father me in and to see that

woman behind the counter pick something he went to buy. i want you to meet her. so i bought a little china lion figure. it was dollar and he said talk her, say hello, buy it and then i'll tell you who she was. we went outside and my father said, that was tokyo rose. i learned later there were several tokyo roses, but. but she was one of the women who did radio broadcasts propaganda broadcasts who convinced soldiers it wasn't worth fighting the japanese empire. and so growing up, i was surrounded by history. when i was six years old, i wrote letter to j. edgar hoover and he back and wanted a future i'm going to write about is what i wrote to him about and what he wrote back to me as a child child. i wrote my book on john kennedy because my father told me i was a boy. what it was like the day kennedy shot my kept what she called her

work. she was a painter. she kept her morgue of clippings in a sliding door closet, her bedroom and that morgue i found magazines to this kennedy assassination and to the hanging execution of the lincoln conspirators. i was transfixed by these images and she found me up there looking through her papers. and i could tell by her tears that something bad had happened to president long ago. and then the hanging photos of the execution were by alexander gardiner, the photographer who took many great photographs, abraham lincoln and years later, when i was working on the book, i acquired an original set of alexander photographs that i had seen in life magazine when i was a boy. and so that's really how i got very into storytelling and listening to wild stories by my family and in fact, my book on martin luther in his last year was inspired by my memories of

assassination. i was a small boy, he lived in chicago, and my father drove me into the neighborhoods where the riots happened because he wanted me to see, as he said, where history had happened. so he drove me to the neighborhoods i visited, the burned out buildings, the signs. and i was so vivid of him being in april 1968. so that's what inspired me to write my book about the death of martin luther king. so i've come to realize that every book i've written has somehow been connected to something. i learned in my childhood or a story was told or an object i've seen and that's the case. the deerfield massacre, the surprise attack of force march and the fight for survival in early america when was in college, i received a historic deerfield fellowship in early american history and decorative arts. historic deerfield has a mile long street of museum houses in deerfield, and every year they invite about eight college students to, spend an intensive

summer there studying. early american architecture, silver ceramics landscape and of course, that's i first heard the phrase the deerfield massacre, and i became obsessed with that story. i visited the graveyard many times, visited the colonial graves. i read the stories. i the cumnock valley memorial association museum, which is a repository of some of the great relics of that era. and so that, too, has fascinated me for decades. so that's really how i got into that. in fact, in memory and myth, i look at this story from perspectives that of the english colonists and the native americans, and i followed the story. 1704 down to the present day and fact native americans been embraced for hundreds years from

their role in the story yes the colonists lost the battle. the natives. had one. but for the next three centuries, until very recent time, the colonists really won the battle of deerfield they won the historical memory. they succeeded in erasing the role of native americans in what happened. so i hope in my book to out and resist the cultural and the stereotypes of the native american role in the deerfield. founded in 1675, deerfield was one of the first new england settlements. it sprouted up as a farming village. it was not wealthy. its had little money and few possessions. it was really a small town of, hardworking people who really had very little compared to boston and other eastern outposts in massachusetts situated about 90 miles west of boston between the connecticut and deerfield river.

it's only asset its only true asset was its rich farmland. in 1675. deerfield not escape the violence of king philip's war. it had escaped the earlier conflict of the pequot war, which happened long before deerfield even existed. and so the first violence in deerfield happened in a place called bloody brook in september 1675, during philip's war. deerfield were supposed to transport wheat in to a nearby town to bring supplies for the military forces in the militia. they were heedless and thought they were safe and there 17 or 18 carts driven by teamsters, along with 60 soldiers and went on their journey of a few miles. they crossed the brook, they didn't realize that up to 1000 native warriors from several

were hiding in the underbrush and hiding in the trees and without warning they struck. the colonists had been so foolish as to notice a canopy of luscious grapes hanging their heads. and so they laid their muskets to pick the grapes and eat them in the warm weather is one of the mantras. red deer and deadly grapes. they to them the indians struck the they had no chance. the indians fired the volley first and then the colonists tried to pick up their arms and fight back by then most of the natives had dropped their weapons weapons and withdrawn from their belts. one of the deadliest weapons on the new england. not the knife, not tomahawk, the war clock. the war club was like using a baseball bat hitting but wielded by a champion hitter. they were absolutely deadly weapons. and in the book, i show some illustrations of natives carrying clubs and a current war

club. also from the 1600s that survived that era. and so they were wiped out. over 60 militia were killed, 718 of the 18 teamsters driving the wagons were also killed. and it was one of the worst disaster areas. and new england history deerfield was abandoned that for several years. of course, the war was not over after king philip was killed and the war ended, it was still a dangerous. multiple attacks occurred through the late 1600s and for few generations the disastrous bloody brook haunted the memory of the people who lived in deerfield. they thought it could happen anytime again. in fact, i'm going to tell you something that john williams said, but first i forgot to mention the mystery of deerfield in 1937, kind of a can read.

aiken wrote this in a wpa guide to master use. it's it's no exaggeration to say that deerfield is not so much town as the ghost of a town the most beautiful ghost of kind and with the deepest and historic significance to be found in america. and it feels that way today. so rumors came to deerfield in paris, maybe 1701, 17, 17 or two, that the french and their native allies, canada, were planning a trek down to new england. where would they? no one, no, no one knew. would they hit them with hit connecticut or were they go to deerfield? deerfield was the most northwest an outpost of the english colonies in massachusetts and it was quite vulnerable. and so rumors kept coming to deerfield that the attack was looming it was about to happen. it could happen any day. in fact, reverend williams said this about that.

he said, i said a part a day of prayer to ask god either to spare and save us from the hands of our enemies or us to sanctify and honor him with whatever. so he should to happen to us. he wrote to the governor of massachusetts and said, i would lay our case as it is. we've been from our houses and home lots into the fort. there were ten houses in the fort, some a few miles away where we have suffered much loss. strangers tell us they wouldn't here for 20 times as much as we do. the enemy having such advantage on the river to come down to us. in the fall of 18, the fall of 1703, in october a people started to relax. the the natives hadn't come yet. winter would be coming soon. the snow and ice should protect them from attack. little did they realize in january. 1704 the french and native

forces were massing canada and the of deerfield really had no intelligence that they were coming and so john williams warned of this, but no one listened to him and. 250 to 300 native warriors from several tribes abenaki, -- from odenkirk, parents, lorette mohawks of kind of rocky penicuik and iroquois of the mountain departed canada on snowshoes, headed to deerfield. they had a march 300 miles in the middle of winter. it was a difficult journey to get there. they marched out of deerfield few days before february 29th, 1704. leap year. no one had detected them. the indians maintained a code of silence. they didn't fire their weapons. they didn't hunt. they didn't fires. so the night before. they were encamped a couple of miles deerfield and ready to strike. and they did they came in around

maybe three in the morning when it was dark. snow had piled high up against palisades. they climbed and dropped into the fort. there was only one guard and they didn't notice them or had fallen asleep. their myths about what happened? to the guard the first warning of the attack was the firing of muskets, the lighting, torches, and the attack began. the people of deerfield really had no chance. there were 300 of them and they first were roused their beds when their windows were broken, when the indians attacked their doors and shot them. axes and hatchets and tomahawk. they hit reverend williams house early. they seized him, bundle them in his clothes. he fired a pistol that misfired. they almost killed him for. it they took his two youngest children and smashed their heads on the front doorstep and killed them in front of him. then they killed his female black slaves for trying to protect the children. and then they did that to every

house in town, they set them on fire, drove people into the street. there was no organized resistance. the colonists didn't have time to organize and create firing lines, fight back. and it was over pretty quickly. two houses resisted to fortified houses. one, the george sheldon house, which went down in legend, is the old indian house. it had a huge double think oak door and they tried to chop it down and chop it and they cut a hole and and a musket through and fired a random shot and killed a woman in the house. they could not break down that they couldn't burn it down. they couldn't chop it down. and it looked like everyone that house would survive. but then an occupant afraid and he fled from a secret rear door and left it open him. so the natives all rushed in and captured everyone in the house. then the last surviving house that hadn't been captured yet was the servants house, but now

only stebbins, and about ten people inside opened a withering fire against. the natives shot and killed several of them and the door would not them. a little later, a relief force from hadfield rode into town. they had seen the glowing sky in deerfield direction and knew the town was under attack and under the cloak. the old code of the frontier. they were required to get their guns, mount their horses and rush to the aid of deerfield not. knowing how many natives were there, how serious was the attack? it was their duty felt to risk themselves and rush to the deerfield and help people as they were riding town. some of the natives are still there and they saw that the hatfield relief force come and they started fleeing the taking their captives with them they took 112 people captive, including the reverend john williams. they took babies captive, five year olds, 12 year olds, adults, men and there's no one who was

spared from being taken captive, including pregnant women and. so as they fled to the river, she crossed to the other side via the relief force, was heedless and pursued them with abandon, kissing aside their garments, hats to catch up to them. the natives laid an ambush and another ten colonists on their way out of town. and that led to the march. 112 captives were taken on a march to canada through the snow, the ice in the middle of winter in february, the natives had brought extra mustard moccasins, snowshoes for some of them to help move because the old english footwear was not useful for that kind of thing. and then that began more than month long journey to canada. they were captured for reasons in native american culture. there was something called a morning war. muir nanji or the idea was that

captives could replace people from the tribe who had been killed or died, especially prized, were younger, younger children who could be adapted into native culture, taught the language, taught the ways young women were, especially prizes captives because they could marry into the tribes and then even have children with with members of the tribe so people were killed in that meadows fight. 41 were killed or smothered in the town with fires and hundred 12 were captive. the captives included half of them were under age 1840 of the captives were not yet 12 years old, and the march took about a month. and reverend wife eunice was slain. one day after the march, she was killed by tomahawk after she fell into a river and really couldn't walk much more. 19 captives were slain in the march. well, prize captive was reverend william. a seven year old daughter of

eunice. younger children were the candidates for conversion to native and also in the jesuits were very involved in the raid on deerfield. so on one hand the jesuits wanted to acculturate the children into the catholic faith and the natives wanted to acculturate into the native faith or the native beliefs. and so both sides, the french and indians were to convert the young captives. after 1000 days of captivity. reverend williams and many of the captives returned to deerfield on november 21st 1706, and in the spring of 1607, sorry, in spring of 1707, he published his famous book, the redeemed captive, returned to zion. it was an account of the raid, his captivity the efforts of the jesuit to pay him huge sums money to convert to catholicism

it would be considered a great triumph. if they could get one of the most prominent ministers of, new england, to betray his faith and betray people. but he wouldn't do it. they were more successful in trying to recruit units. william and his seven year old daughter. he was allowed to see her a few times a day, most they mostly kept her secluded from them and ultimately in end, she never came home again. so one of the great pains of his life was his missing little girl who he could not bring home in february 17, 1729, deerfield the 25th anniversary of raid and william died on june 10th, 1729, and he was a minister in deerfield for more than 50 years, and he was a true spiritual guide and leader of that town. in fact, when he died, a neighboring minister, reverend chauncey, read this epitaph

about him and he said this john williams was one of the pillars of the land. he was redeemed from the flames, passed through the wilderness and a sea of danger and reached the temple eternal in the heavens. so that, in a nutshell, the story of what happened during the deerfield raid, a little known episode from anne's war when during the war of spanish secession, where european countries were fighting over who could take over the spanish throne, and it rolled across the ocean and landed in deerfield. so the main story of what happened that night but also this i also want to talk about the memory myth of the massacre and what happened. 1804 was the 100th anniversary of the massacre, and that's the first time it was ever called massacre. in a sermon by reverend john taylor, the people who experienced the raid of 1704 called it the sacking of deerfield, the mischief

deerfield the attack your field. none of the victims of that attack ever called it a massacre. in 1838, a monument was erected a bloody book took to the at the graves of the men who were killed in that battle in the 1840s. the cult of the gold indian house started it became a revered place and it was considered an emblem of the mission in. new england. and so that has stood until 1847 or 1848. there was an effort to preserve it. a circular went out saying that building in the house is in bad repair. the owner wants to sell it. we must save it. it's a symbol. our faith and origins. it didn't work. the appeal failed and then in 1848, the house torn down and it

was considered a great loss and a great tragedy. one man who witnessed this whole figure importantly the story was a man named john sheldon, and it seared his memory of the loss of history and. he decided to do something about it. the door survived, the alderney door survived, and it was sold in 1863 by one of the people who inherited it from hoyt family. it was done secretly. privately, the deerfield elders did not learn it, and they they were crushed that this happened and deerfield had lost its history again, the elderly door really was was a survivor of the effort to preserve mount vernon. the deerfield preservation effort is the oldest in house and door preceded the mount vernon ladies associate and the door was considered an incredible symbol of what it

meant in terms of deerfield culture. the house and the door symbolized something that will last, like the english colonies in america were supposed to do. the house and door were plain and unadorned and suggesting the honest simplicity of the people who built them. rugged and raw. they were designed to withstand the harsh new england winters hot, humid and sun drenched summers. they proved strong and impervious to assault the characteristics of the house, and the door suggested the durability and resilience of the english people. and so deerfield tracked the door and bought it from the crazed collector who was to purchase it. and the door was then brought back to deerfield in a great ceremony of triumph parades, ceremonies dressed in costumes. the symbolism of that door and the tomahawks, cutting it and slicing it made the door the most iconic relic in the history of early new england. and actually, you can visit it

today in deerfield in the cumnock valley memorial association, there is a room there called memorial hall, which cemented the myths of deerfield george selden became obsessed with preserving deerfield past one obsession. he didn't have was to keep the natives and native americans in the story. he was instrumental in embracing them from the history of the massacre. and in fact, he would excavate their graves and desecrate their graves and not even keep records or not indicate where found them. they were meaningless to him. and so a principal role of his was to the colonial white new england past, but to disregard the native american past. and he really triumphed in that for a long time. then really to george shelden. he was a living legend. he became really a symbol of

deerfield and he became the spokesman for the values his colonial forebears. as the 19th century came to a close the story of the rate of 1704 had become fixed as a north star in deerfield history and sheldon had won the narrative and now control the next century and how that story of would be told. his history, his and through memory and myth, his writing and research. and so that really opens a new of the myth in memory of deerfield story. sheldon wrote a book called the history of deerfield two volumes. he the company failing memorialization to preserve the relics of their time. and then he took over memorial hall and building that used to be the deerfield academy and made it a gigantic museum of colonial revivalism. and in that chamber with door he created a special wall of marble cenotaph slabs, naming all victims of the so-called

massacre and their fates. and it became one of those celebrated locations in early new england. people came to visit. it created an obsession with colonial revival, and he was there presiding the whole story. and it was not until decades later into the 1920s, one single native american woman who's descended from the story came to deerfield and gave a talk at. george sheldon's museum, the first native to even come to deerfield give a talk like that. no talk is recorded. then deerfield really became a center of tourism maybe about 1900. a woman named mary p, will smith wrote a book that was a huge bestseller that's in print today. the boy captive, robert deerfield. and then published a series of books about young englanders making their way in the new world, fighting the natives, building the colonial culture and symbols of what deerfield

then. in 1910, thomas edison made a movie in deerfield little known. now the silent film was called an uncle's vow, and it was a myth. it perpetrated various stereotypes, unbelievable stereotypes of the natives. no natives were allowed to appear in the film. of course, they were represented by white actors. had putty applied to their faces, faded to give them crooked noses. their their faces were painted red. red washing was not new to history. it was done at the boston tea party when the raiders posed native americans. and the story is essentially this. it depicts bloody brooke massacre in the deerfield massacre and in a nutshell, an indian chief with a son in monaco sacrificed, his life to save the white colonists. then he tells his son, you must take care of them and man, he

sacrificed his life to save. of course, a beautiful daughter. and that daughter is taken captive by natives, and they're about to kill her with tomahawks and hatchets and strip her and torture her and burn her alive. and then a narco shows up on the scene. the son of the and narco invokes the ancient right of indians to sacrifice himself for the white maiden and save her, of course, has no basis of native american culture or myth and then there's a great scene where he escorts ruth and her father and her her white boyfriend to the edge of town. and i have to tell what what does at the end. and so he escorts her there and he says, you go and i go, prefiguring the indian policy of the 1830s and 1840s, i go west and narco is being vanished from

his own homelands and he represented the noble savages trope of the of the loyal indian who had vouchsafed the protection of the white family. the movie might have a different ending today. a contemporary article said perhaps an echo in his breast. the handsome, savage had some gentle thought of the girl he had saved, but as nobility of character permitted him to entertain that thought only for a moment the movie might have a different today with ruth abandoning her solid, stolid boyfriend ebenezer fleeing deerfield and running with romantic and willing an uncle, hollywood's all about endings. so, so lacking in history. then the memorialization began more in 1913 through 1916, deerfield started a deerfield pageants every two years. these descendants of the people of the original town dressing up

colonial costumes, creating reenactments, having ceremonies, having these things photographed in interesting as indians. there's a great photo in the book of a little white girl sitting on the of a mohawk warrior, a white man dressed as a mohawk, being toted on the shoulder and she reverse. she represents seven year old eunice so is is totally of native traditions then the pageants really transformed and mythologized what happened in deerfield it it became a victory of the colonists they may have lost in raid they may have had many people killed and taken. but at the end the white was triumphant and that was represented in the of the deerfield pageants. then there was a massive appropriation of native american iconography. it became commonplace and it

happened in deerfield pop culture appropriated indian names to place names, movies, programs, comics, summer camps, professional sports commercial products, steam restaurant tourism, souvenirs, advertising, art, children's toys, and more. a few were based directly on the deerfield story. a woman in deerfield, the old deerfield townhouse dollhouse, and she made little paper dolls representing the captives. and in deerfield attack, indian remained a popular theme. the book drums along the mohawk inspired the 1939 motion picture starring henry fonda in the revolution, and then another novel based on captivity in the hands of the senecas represented a blond white woman wearing a low cut blouse and shredded short sleeves, bound at the wrists behind her two bare chested indians to beat her fate, quote, would would she be tortured, sold or forced to marry as the lurid cover copy

indian captivity literature joined enjoyed a long life from mary robinson to john williams for the captive and even to the 1956 john wayne film the searchers. then finally, native voices returned at the covenant memorial association for the 300 and the first year the massacre. the curator designed new clothes to drape over the engravings of the old cenotaph tablets. for example, one tablet read sarah field captured an indian. she married a savage and became one. the new panel read married and adopted by the culture and customs language in her new community and kind of wacky and of the tablets were covered with new information about that and then finally in thousand and

four native tribes were invited to come from canada and participate in the memorialization of things. dancing song finally they were given voices in the deerfield story from which they'd been raised essentially for almost hundred years. if you go there today, you'll find evidence of the deerfield massacre or the raid or any evidence of it is buried deep down below the posts. the iron door latches the charred are all underground, and you'll find now a more revolutionary style town beautifully restored, but really representing 75 years after the raid, even hundred years after the raid and i attended a commemoration in 2001 and watched costumed french and indian warriors fighting there for muskets, reenacting the meadows, fight a few hardy visitors, including me, stayed up here at midnight and moonshadow was illuminated by

the silver and dark frozen pearl panels crackled beneath their feet. and we walked to the north meadows and held a vigil under the sky with orion and the big dipper. and listen to the sound of coyotes crying in the fields. it was same night, but that night. in 1704, the sky had glowed brightly from the fires. we walked down through the streets, found the route of the raiders through town, and stopped in the deerfield to warm ourselves by the fire. we peered outside the windows, a frosty window pane, and if had been 74, we could have seen the attack march right past the location of the deerfield and we could have it all. and then we went to the town common and stood at the spot where the fort palisades once stood. and we looked at the houses of the stones that indicate the houses were the seventh house that young sheldon house, the john williams house. and tonight the common was

deserted. then we went on to our final destination, the old burying ground there from a distance. we saw the grass mound topped with the simple stone. 1704 that allegedly indicated where all the the dead 1704 had been buried, but recently. ground penetrating radar has proved that no human remains under that mound. so the bones of the dead of 1704 have vanished. and then we look for two tall gravestones in the cemetery. it was dark. and so the lower stones were treacherous and could trip us. so we used a flashlight beam to find them. and so i walked to the graves of john eunice williams and just looked at them for a long time. and then we touched the stones and walked down to the river. and if you walk down there today. you can still it the. riverine music is still there. the colonists that the river and

the native had heard for thousands of years was still lapping banks over the centuries melting snow and ice had changed the contour of the river many times torrential rains and rising floodwaters had reshaped the river banks. the geography is ever changing but it's impossible to pinpoint the exact spot where the colonists in the cross, the river and their north to canada. but the same waters still flow as they did in the morning of february 29th, 1704, when the captives the river to the other side on their perilous journey to a strange and hostile land, not knowing when, if ever, they would return any questions. i'll be happy to take.

no questions. everyone of the bitter enders must to leave. one. well, i could speak. they need to record it. go. the people of deerfield today take hold of the combination of native or indians and the early settlers or is it still controversial? no, it's really not controversial anymore, because at the various reunions, natives come many times and participate. a great native of naki march roszak has been instrumental in pointing out the failings of george shelton and how he's tried to erase the natives from, the history. and recently i a conference last

summer in deerfield and it focused on native american culture appropriate in lands, museums and the phrases recolonize museums and spaces now and telling the native american story in a proper, more expansive way. so in deerfield the native point of view is sought after and widely accepted. also is the african american point of view. there were slaves in new england. there were slaves in new england, even in deerfield williams had two of them, and he had purchased a few more, both of both of his slaves, frank and christina, were killed by the natives the night of the raid. and then the next night, and also lucy terry, prince preceded phillis wheatley, the first african-american poet. and so deerfield is now also marking the locations and places where we're both native american, had an important center field and were black.

americans had an importance in deerfield. so the deerfield is very open to all this is in the conflict filling memorial association and memorial hall were really in documenting the black presence and the indian point of view in deerfield and that's really my favorite standalone museum in america. so i recommend if you're passing through deerfield, go to that for company memorial association, it's it's fun and very illuminating. yes, sir. thank you very much. mr. swanson. there's a great talk and i enjoyed your first book and look forward to seeing the mini series. whatever happened to eunice. do you know the reason i. because empire, the summer moon. you want to. they had a you know girl that they captured and she was there and assimilated for ten years.

they got her back and she wanted go back. so whatever happened, use eunice williams never went back home. she met her father a few more times. she became friendly with her brother stephen, who became a minister to follow in his father's footsteps. she corresponded with him and the last from her to him said she's now too old and she cannot visit again. and she probably was the surviving deerfield resident of the massacre of 1704. so she was the last living witness. from the colonists point of view, who who had suffered through that night, she married a native harrison, and they enjoyed life together in canada. she came to new england few times and one wonders what she felt if she in deerfield the old indian house that had survived the raid or the old indian door

and so we don't know what impressions she had in the end, but she never reunited with her father till his dying day. he her terribly many of the questions. yeah, thanks. terrific work as always is were you able in working on this project to find any information perhaps on the canadian or kept quayside or the jesuit side about the ultimate fate of some of these folks. so there was echo the ultimate fate of what? of the people that that either survived or passed at the after were taken care of. yes. yes. well, one of in the 1920s, one of george sheldon's proteges and a cousin of his went canada and a pioneering trek to interview jesuits to go to monasteries took a look at old records and she did a two volume book on fate of new england captives. it just was the deerfield people she researched hundreds of people were taken captive during

the native wars in early england, and she did her best to document people. it was a pioneering act of amateur that others have expanded, and so there's still remains a lot of research to do on the captives and in the captivity narratives and generally were the only long account of what happened that night. there were few other accounts, but his is the longest and classic classic one. so there has been research from, the 1920s on intensive research look through old catholic and jesuit documents and in fact she photographed some of the places they lived in canada. and so that that research was very pioneering and so we know a lot of what happened to those some came home some married canadians some very natives some never wanted to come back. stephen williams, who was a popular captive, the natives never went back to deerfield.

he became a minister in new england nearby. but he said the deerfield itself was a melancholy place. me and wonder why. okay, thanks, jim please join me in thanking again. james