Antiquarian Researches: Comprising A History of the Indian Wars in the Country Bordering Connecticut River

Antiquarian Researches: Comprising A History of the Indian Wars in the Country Bordering Connecticut River and Parts Adjacent, and Other Interesting Events, From the First Landing of the Pilgrims, to the Conquest of Canada by the English, in 1760.

Hoyt, Epaphras

 Greenfield, Mass: Ansel Phelps (1824)

First Edition. Bound in contemporary 1/2 leather over marbled boards. Hardcover. Solid binding. Worn cover. Internally a good copy with scattered foxing. xii, 312 pages, [1] folded leaf of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm. With additional pictorial tp. The fold-out plate is an engraving of only house in Deerfield to escape destruction by an Indian raid in 1706.

A copy of fascinating article on the book from the 1825 North American Review is included: "Hoyt informs us.that he had access to several documents, which had not been published, and which contained many interesting particulars, respecting Indian warfare on the Connecticut river. The rich country along the banks of that river was early settled, and the settlements in those regions were for a long time frontier posts. Being so far separated by wilderness from the colonies on the sea coast, they were exposed to perpetual depredations from hostile Indians; murders were often committed, houses burnt, storehouses and provisions destroyed.which the ingenuity and cruelty of a savage enemy could inflict. "they forgot that they were themselves intruders in the land, and that the soil stained by the blood of their battles was the Indians' property, which the laws of nature and of right called on them to defend. We do not mean to say, that the settlers were always the aggressors, or that they could have avoided occasional wars; indeed, we will not pretend to say what they might or might not have done; but we hold it to be a truth fully established by all history, that the course which they actually pursued was oftentimes very unjustifiable, and that in their intercourse with the natives they were uniformly guided by a policy, which indicated very little knowledge of the first principles of human nature, or regard for the rights and welfare of the Indians." The North American Review Vol. 21, No. 48 (Jul., 1825), pp. 234-237. Quite prescient for 1825.

Howes H746; Sabin 33402. Epaphras was a Major General in the Massachusetts militia and noted Deerfield resident.