"1704 Deerfield Raid" - Brutal Attack or Justified Military Response? You Decide

In the pre-dawn hours of February 29, 1704, a force of about 300 French and Native allies launched a daring raid on the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, situated in the Pocumtuck homeland. 112 Deerfield men, women, and children were captured and taken on a 300-mile forced march to Canada in harsh winter conditions. Some of the captives were later redeemed and returned to Deerfield, but one-third chose to remain among their French and Native captors. On February 29, 1704, an English settlement situated in Pocumtuck homelands in the mid-Connecticut River valley, became a crossroads for intercultural, interracial, and international conflict. The raid on Deerfield was one incident in an ongoing struggle among Europeans and northeastern Native communities competing for control of Native lands and resources in the colonial northeast.