History
At the time of the Europeans' arrival, Deerfield was inhabited by the Pocumtuck nation. First settled by european colonists in 1673, Deerfield was incorporated in 1677. Settlement was the result of a court case in which the government in Boston agreed to return some of the land of the town of Dedham to native control, and allowed some of Dedham's residents to acquire land in the new township of Pocumtuck. To obtain this land, their agent, John Pynchon, signed a treaty with some Pocumtucks, including one named Chaulk -- who had no authority to deed over the land, and only a rough idea of what he was signing.
The settlers then expelled by force the Pocumtuck tribe, who would seek French protection. At Bloody Brook, on 18 September 1675, the dispossessed Indians would destroy a small force under the command of Captain Thomas Lathrop, before being driven off by reinforcements. Colonial casualties numbered about sixty. In retaliation, at dawn on 19 May 1676, Captain William Turner led an army of settlers in a surprise attack on Peskeompskut, in present day Montague, then a traditional native gathering place. They killed 200 natives, mostly women and children. When the men of the tribe returned, Turner was routed, and died of a mortal wound at Green River.
On February 29, 1704, during Queen Anne's War, joint French and Indian forces attacked the town in what has become known as the Deerfield Massacre. Under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville were 47 Québécois and 200 Abenaki, Kanienkehaka and Wyandot, as well as a few Pocumtuck. They struck at dawn, razing Deerfield and killing 56 colonists, including twenty-two men, nine women, and twenty-five children. One hundred and nine survivors, including women and children, were taken captive and forced on a months-long trek to Quebec. Many died along the way. Some eventually returned to New England, but others remained in French and Native communities such as Wendake, Quebec for the rest of their lives.
As the frontier moved north, Deerfield became just another colonial town with an unquiet early history, to be recorded by George Sheldon. In 1753, Greenfield would be set off and incorporated. Later, a wave of Eastern European immigration, particularly from Poland, would influence Deerfield's demographics and culture.
As the 19th century rolled on, Deerfield's role in agricultural production declined. This was, in part, due to development of the Midwestern United States into the nation's breadbasket. During the Colonial Revival movement, Deerfield rediscovered its past to attract tourism. The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association was founded in 1870, and monuments were erected to commemorate various conflicts with indigenous peoples, including the Bloody Brook and 1704 attacks. In 1890, Charlotte Alice Baker returned to Deerfield to restore her family home, the Frary House. Assisted by the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, her effort was one of the first attempts at historic preservation of an old building in western Massachusetts. Today, tourism remains the town's principal industry.
