Pascommuck Massacre

[Andy]

On May 13th of 1704 the town of Easthampton Mass. was call Pascommuck, an Indian name for a bend in the Connecticut river. There were 20 residents of this little outpost, just one man was away hunting. A band of 40 or so Indians descended on the little community killing 15 and taking 4 young girls for their own. On the way out of the area the Indians came in contact with the 20th resident and killed him. Through history this has been know as, The Pascommuck Massacre, in other circles, The Pascommuck Raid. However history is now being rewritten.

A committee was established to honor those who died (three were one year old or younger) and donations were accepted to bus school kids to the site where the massacre took place. The students were to be given a short history of English expansion in the New World, their long time foes the French who supplied the Indians with firearms, and the plight of the natives.

Well that wasn?t good enough. A woman I?ll call Amalia, who married a man who is ? Cherokee, opened a Native American relics shop in a near by town a few years ago. At that time she and her husband changed their last name to Four Hawks (good for business). This woman wants a memorial stone erected To all Indians who were killed in Massachusetts and it must be the same size as the one dedicated to those who were murdered. She also wants a long program where ?Indian? speakers would tell the plight of natives, sing songs, and bash those who created the United States. (Can you imagine a memorial to the Japanese
at Perl Harbor the same size as the USS Arizona?)

To put some muscle behind her demands she and three others stated that if in any way, any of them or their children were harassed, if people stopped going to her store etc. She would sue the committee who set up the memorial service and the City of Easthampton. You get a friend to call you a Red Skin, or the shop has a dip in sales and there is a law suit.

Net result, there will be no memorial service for those who died 300 years ago. I?ve only given you a thumbnail sketch of all hoopla that?s been going on but it makes me wonder. A hundred years from now if a group wants to honor Vietnam Vets, who will stand in the way? Will those who died in ?our war? be denigrated and made out to be the bad guys? Will there be another WALL built in Washington in memory of Uncle Ho's boys? It is sad.

Stay healthy,
Andy