Week 12 - Loss - Mary Baldwin Catlin

 

Week 12: Loss - Mary Baldwin Catlin

The winter of February, 1704, was particularly cold in northwestern Massachusetts. Recent heavy snow covered the ground, and the rivers were frozen to a depth of three feet. The governor of New France in Montreal dispatched a force of 48 French officers and soldiers together with almost 300 Indians to raid the English colonial village of Deerfield. The villagers had been alerted to the possibility of trouble, and had taken precautions. The center of the village was surrounded by a strong wooden stockade. Deerfield had only 41 houses and a population of 268, and the local militia could muster 70 armed men.

Deerfield was a subsistence farming community and provided no threat to French settlements 300 miles north along the Saint Lawrence River, but for geographic and political reasons, Deerfield was an easy target. One of the French objectives was to capture the Reverend John Williams, a Harvard graduate, who had the social standing to be used with the English in Boston for exchange of Pierre Maisonnat, whom the English Royal Governor termed a pirate, but the French considered a naval officer.  The larger context of all the hostilities between the years of 1688 and 1712 was that in Europe, France was at war with England. As a result, all the different factions in New England were at war. This included the English colonies, the French colonies to the north, the Mohawks to the west, and the Abernaki tribes to the northeast. The French believed that by using terror they could keep the English on the defensive and contain their westward expansion.

The French and Indian troops came upon Deerfield in the pre-dawn hours of February 29^th. There were militia watchmen inside the village stockade, but they were not professional soldiers, and towards the morning they fell asleep. It was two hours before dawn when the French leader, Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville, took his men from hiding and descended upon the sleeping community. The snow had drifted up against the stockade walls, which allowed several French soldiers to simply step over the top of the wall, jump down, cross the yard, and open the gate to let in the attacking force.

Within minutes, buildings were ablaze and the shrieks of inhabitants filled the air. Two houses on the north end of Deerfield were well fortified, and several villagers gathered there for safety. The house of my 8^th great grandparents (John Catlin Jr. and family) was forced open, and John Catlin Jr., one of his adult sons, and an infant grandson were killed almost immediately. My 8^th great grandmother, Mary Baldwin Catlin, took two of her grown daughters and several grandchildren and fled to the Sheldon’s fortified house. The attackers hacked a hole in the Sheldon house and shot and killed Mrs. Sheldon while she sat on her bed. It was in this house that John’s Catlin’s wife, Mary, “shown as a bright star in a black night.” A wounded French officer was brought into the house in great pain, and cried out for a drink. It was Mary who responded to his call and did all she could to comfort him.

The confused fight continued until reinforcements from other villages arrived and caused the French and Indians to take their captives and retreat. It was probably because of Mary’s act of mercy that she was allowed to remain behind when all the other captives were marched out of Deerfield through the freezing ice and snow north across present day Vermont to Montreal. It was a march of 300 miles, and took a month and a half. 112 villagers were taken on the march, 21 died along the way, and 91 arrived safely in Canada. Upon arrival, the adults were imprisoned, but the children were distributed among French and Indian families for safe keeping.

 

On February 28^th, Mary Baldwin Catlin was a married woman with 12 grown children, 7 sons- and daughters-in-law, and 25 grandchildren. In the fearful hour of the pre-dawn of February 29^th, her home burned to the ground, she was widowed, and her family was decimated.

 

Mary had been married to her husband for 41 years. John Catlin Jr. was 60 years old when he died defending his home and family.

 

One of her 38-year-old twin daughters, Mary Catlin French, was captured and killed seven days later when she couldn’t keep up on the march north. She was the mother of six children and had given birth only 4 weeks earlier.

 

Her son-in-law, Thomas French Sr., was captured and later redeemed from Canada in 1706.

 

Her one-month-old grandson, Thomas and Mary’s youngest, John French Jr., was killed.

 

Thomas and Mary’s remaining five children, Mary’s grandchildren, were taken captive and marched to Canada. The two oldest children were redeemed in 1706, two younger girls converted to Catholicism, married in Canada and had large families, and the youngest girl assimilated into an Indian tribe and married an Indian man. Her father returned several times later to rescue his youngest girls but they refused to go.

 

Mary’s other 38-year-old twin daughter, Elizabeth Catlin Corse, was captured and died nine days later on the march. She was the mother of five children.

 

One of Elizabeth’s children, 8-year-old Jonathan Corse, was killed during the battle.

 

Mary’s 28 year-old-son, Joseph Catlin, died with his father defending their home and family.

 

Her 25 year-old-son, Jonathan Catlin, died in the “Field Fight,” when the militia attempted to stop the captives from being taken from Deerfield.

 

Mary’s 18 year-old-daughter, Ruth Catlin, was captured and was lauded for her bravery during the march as she repeatedly cast off a heavy load she was being forced to carry. Her Indian captors simply laughed and retrieved the load for her. She survived the march and was redeemed in 1707.

 

Several of Mary’s other grandchildren were taken captive and marched to Canada. They all survived the trip and were redeemed in 1706.

 

Although several of the members of Mary’s family were captured and returned two years after the battle, Mary never knew it. She died less than two months after that horrible day, having lost not only members of her immediate family, but many friends and neighbors, including her minister.

It was said she died of a broken heart.

 

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The reason so much detail is known about this incident is that the Reverend John Williams (1664-1729) of Deerfield, Massachusetts was captured in 1704, made the march to Canada, then was released in 1706 in exchange for the Frenchman Pierre Maisonnat, imprisoned by the English in Boston. He had his famed memoir of events, Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion, first printed in 1707 and reprinted continually afterward. No joke, it is available in a variety of formats on Amazon. I got my Kindle copy for 99 cents.