Did You Know? ~ Hannah Dustin (Part Two)

Last week I featured the first part of Hannah Duston’s story (click to link to read it). The forty-year-old mother of twelve children (eight living) had been snatched from her home by Indians during her “lying in” period after giving birth to a baby girl. Local widow Mary Neff was attending Hannah at the time. Hannah’s husband, Thomas, and their other children made it to a garrison safely, but Hannah, Mrs. Neff, and baby Martha were taken hostage.

After plundering the house and capturing the two women, the Indians took their captives and sped away, fearing pursuit. Because of the baby, Hannah was unable to run as quickly as the Indians wished, so they seized the infant and dashed her against a tree, killing her.

Hannah Duston by Stearns (Public Domain)

The raiding party then met up with other Indians who also had captives and goods they’d plundered. During the next few days, the group traveled about a hundred miles through the wilderness. The trail was rough. Some places were still snow covered. The ground that had thawed was mud. The group crossed icy creeks. Rocks tore at Hannah and Mrs. Neff’s poorly shod feet. Any captives who couldn’t keep up were hit on the head and scalped. The journey was cold and terrifying for the grieving Hannah and Mrs. Neff.

Near the junction of the Contoocook and Merrimack rivers, twelve of the Indians left the main group, taking Hannah, Mrs. Neff, and a fourteen-year-old boy, Samuel Lennardson. He had been taken prisoner near Worcester eighteen months previous, and had made himself useful to the Indians, who kept him as part of the tribe. The small group proceeded to what is now the present town of Penacook, New Hampshire. The island was home to the Indian who claimed the women as his captives, and he planned to stop and rest there for a while before continuing to Canada.

During the journey, Hannah had been trying to figure out how to escape. The murder of her baby, the cruel treatment by the Indians, and threats of what would happen when they reached Canada, spurred her on. Although Samuel was accepted by the Indians, he was homesick and wanted to return to his family. He was the one who told Hannah how the Indians killed—first striking the temple, then taking the scalp.

After reaching the island, the Indians grew careless. They regarded Samuel as one of their tribe and considered the women too worn out to escape, so no watch was set at night. Hannah knew the time had come to act. Their lives hung in the balance. If their escape attempt failed, they would be killed for trying. But if they succeeded, they might make it home to their families.

Some accounts of Hannah’s story claim she doctored the Indians’ evening meal with an herb that made them sleep soundly. Whether she did or didn’t, according to the stories I read, she, Mrs. Neff, and Samuel took stolen tomahawks, killed and scalped all the Indians but a woman and a child, who escaped into the woods. The three then took a canoe, supplies and headed down the Merrimack River, traveling by night and hiding by day. After a one-night stop in what was then called old Dunstable, they continued to Bradley’s Cove, and from there, continued on foot to Haverhill.

I can imagine the happy reunion Hannah and Thomas had, although it would be tinged with grief at the loss of their baby, and with horror for what the women had endured. Hannah was given a bounty for the Indian scalps. Then she was immortalized with a rather fierce statue that still exists in Haverhill.

At the time, Hannah was regarded as a heroine. A woman to be admired and emulated. But in recent years, her actions have been called into question. A few scholars whose work I read insinuate that Hannah was a murderer. One compares her to Lizzie Borden because many of the scalps she took that night belonged to Indian children. But it’s easy in our settled country, with the mindsets of our current society, to second guess the actions taken by historical figures. None of us know how we would respond in the same circumstances. I’m sure Hannah was terrified and angry. Her baby had been brutally smashed to death before her eyes. She and Mrs. Neff were being threatened with a future of slavery in Canada, never to see their families again. The possibiity of brutality and abuse of all kinds was probably utmost in their minds.Their circumstances were desperate. Black and white. Kill everyone in order to safely escape, or risk being killed by those left alive—even Indian children, who could easily run for help.

No matter how anyone feels about what Hannah did, it's amazing that a forty-year-old woman, who had just given birth to her twelfth baby, traveled all that distance over rough terrain in clothes and shoes not made for that kind of journey. Then, instead of falling into a heap of nerves and fear, she had the wherewithal to plot an escape. And after that, she and her companions traveled through the wilderness to get back home. (And we think we have it rough when we lose electricity during a snowstorm!)

After her captivity, Hannah seems to have settled back into the relatively peaceful life of a wife and mother. The only records about her after her captivity indicate she had one more child and then she died of old age. What she did with the rest of her life is lost in history.

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Did You Know? ~ Hannah Duston (Part One)

On an early spring day, March 15, 1697, forty-year-old Hannah Duston was at home recovering from the birth of her twelfth child. Her husband, Thomas, was working in the fields near their house on the west side of the Sawmill River in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Widowed nurse Mary Neff attended Hannah during her lying-in.

Hannah and Thomas had been married for twenty years. Of the twelve children born to them, eight were living. Thomas was a bricklayer and a farmer. The family had prospered over the years, and Thomas was constructing a new house about half a mile from their present dwelling, using bricks of his own making.

On that day, Hannah and baby Martha were doing well. I imagine Hannah and Mary Neff gossiping about nearby families or perhaps discussing the new house, and the plans Hannah and Thomas had for their growing brood. Neither of the women or Thomas could imagine the horror that was about to befall them.

Fear of Indians was always in the back of people’s minds, but less than a mile away from where Hannah and Thomas lived was the garrison of Onesiphorus Marsh, one among six established by the town. The garrison was manned by a small body of soldiers. The existence of manned garrisons probably led to a false sense of security in the locals.

To the north, Count Frontenac, the Colonial Governor of Canada, was determined to win the New World for the French king and used propaganda and gifts to ally Indian tribes to the French cause. For motivation he established bounties on English scalps and prisoners. On this March day, warriors looking to make good on those bounties moved stealthily toward the house of Thomas and Hannah Duston.

In the field, Thomas spied the approaching Indians. He grabbed his gun, mounted his horse and raced for the house, screaming a warning. The children began running toward the garrison. From the records I’ve read, Hannah urged him to follow the children and protect them. He did as his wife asked.

Thomas and the children finally reached the garrison in safety, but for Hannah and nurse Mary Neff, the horror was only beginning. Mrs. Neff, trying to escape with the baby, was captured by Indians. They invaded he house, forced Hannah to rise and dress herself. They then took whatever they could and burned the house. Hannah and Mrs. Neff were dragged to the woods with the baby.  All told, twenty-seven people were killed and thirteen captured, along with Hannah Dustin and Mrs. Neff.

I’ll continue with part two next week. I’m sorry. Once again I don’t want to make this article too long, so I’m going to leave our readers to wonder for a week about how this story ends.

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