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Gil and Lili inspected the third tunnel on Pond Street. All they found was a muffler and a lot of old, empty bottles. Karen arrived as they were finishing up. “I guess we’re done with you guys for now. We’re just blocking the tunnel entrances, for now. We’ll fill in the tunnels when the case is closed. I’m still trying to track down this Evan Melsty guy. I think it’s an alias.”
“We’ll be heading back to New York today,” said Gil. “Call us if you need us.”
Lili’s phone rang and she answered it. She chatted for a few minutes, laughing. When she hung up, she said, “That was Cherise. She says that she got a letter for me with no postmark. She asked if they should check it for anthrax. It’s got to be a letter from Martha, so I’d like to swing by there on the way home.”
“Okay,” Gil grumbled. “But I really don’t like riding home on the Turnpike. For some reason, the back roads make me happy and the highways seem like drudgery.”
“I don’t see the difference,” said Lili. “The Turnpike’s just as scenic, and it’s faster.”
After stopping at the Crime Lab, they got back on the highway. Lili read Martha’s letter and laughed. “Martha says she’s doing great and her life is like a vacation. She says I need to solve her case before she has to lock in her condo rental in Florida. She has until mid-October.” Lili made a call on her phone and said, “Hi Mayet, this is Agent Lili D’Amico. I’m calling because I just got a letter back from Martha Eames. She has given the FBI permission to access her phone and financial records. Yes, I’m on the road right now, but I’ll send you a copy of the letter when I get to where I’m going, in a couple of hours. Yes, she says she doing great and having a wonderful time. Okay, you too.”
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THE NEXT DAY, GIL AND Lili drove up to Lake George Village to visit Fort William Henry. They paid and entered, and began to look around. The curators were dressed in colonial garb. There were plaques describing the fort’s construction in 1755. There was a lot of historical background about the French and Indian war. The French laid siege upon the fort until the British surrendered. The American-Indian allies of the French army misunderstood the terms of surrender, so they attacked the British soldiers as they were marching away. Many of the soldiers were killed, and their women and children taken captive. The French burned the fort.
“Well, that’s a pleasant story,” said Lili.
“Yes, doesn’t it seem like history was mostly taught to us in terms of wars?”
“There were plagues and beheadings, too!” said Lili.
They found many great exhibits about what it was like to live in the fort during colonial times. At one point, Gil saw someone who looked like he was in charge. Gil introduced himself and Lili. “I’m John Fontaine. I’m the museum director.”
“Did you know a Kevin Clarion who worked here as an intern last summer?”
“Sure, I know Kevin. He’s an energetic kind of guy. Very knowledgeable about colonial history. He didn’t return this season, though.”
“I’m sorry to say that he died recently.”
John blinked. “Really? I thought he seemed very healthy.”
“He was murdered.”
Fontaine seemed shocked. “Maybe we should talk somewhere more private.” He led them to an area that was for authorized personnel only. “You’re from the Massachusetts State Police?”
“Yes, we believe Kevin’s death had to do with a minor crime he was involved in that occurred in Massachusetts. We think he was searching for some Indian artifacts,” said Lili.
“Wow. How was he killed?”
“With an arrow.”
“Really? That must be very out of the ordinary. This is horrible! He was a really nice guy. How can I help?”
“Well, we’re wondering if there’s anything here that has to do with historical events in Greenfield, Massachusetts.”
“Greenfield, that’s in western Massachusetts. I don’t think so. Not specifically, anyway. Certainly, in general terms, the Greenfield area would probably have been involved in the French and Indian wars. Kevin was mainly interested in our written archives. Most of the interns are interested in artifacts, but some are more interested in the role playing of colonial Americans. Kevin seemed to gravitate toward the written records and the English language used back then. I suppose he could have found something in our archives, but I don’t know how to find out what specifically he would have been reading. Let me ask around and see if anyone has a clue. Feel free to look around some more, and I’ll find you.”
They followed Fontaine out of the office. He turned and walked away with intent. Lili and Gil continued to wander around. As they were looking at one of the exhibits, Gil said, “This might be something. This powder horn has an inscription. I can’t read much of it, but it was transcribed onto a small plaque over here. It talks about a Captain Turner, the Green River, and Hatfield.”
1676 I followed old Capn Turner north from Hatfield through the ruint settlement of Deerfield. God failed those people. At the Great Falls, I killt 2 savages sneaking a sack to theyr mishoon. The sack held gold gods and juelree from the orient. Savages poured from the woods like bees in anger. I ran upstream in a brook that flowed belowe the red cliffs, praying to God that he would guide me to safety. Many of ours were killt, Capn Turner among them. I could not run with a sack so burdened. I berried it under a small stream fillt with green turtle stones, 20 paces up, as my trail had become blockt with bramble.
Samuel Stagg
William Stagg
Gideon Palmer
“It mentions gold artifacts,” said Lili. She took a picture of the powder horn and the plaque, using her cellphone.
Gil was really excited. “This must be it! Holy moly!”
John Fontaine found them by the exhibit. “My staff are devastated by the news of Kevin’s death. Nobody seems to know what he might have found that could be related to Greenfield. Sorry.”
“We found something,” said Gil. “I think this powder horn inscription is talking about Greenfield.”
John read it and said, “I’m not an expert on Massachusetts, but we have someone who is. Let me get Shawn.” He came back with a young woman. “This is Shawn Delaney.” Lili and Gil introduced themselves. “Shawn, what do you make of this inscription?”
“Let’s see, I remember something about a Captain Turner. A mishoon is a dugout canoe. I’m not familiar with the other references, but I can do a little digging on the internet if you’d like to come to my office.” Lili and Gil followed Shawn. She had one guest chair and brought in another. She clicked and clacked on her keyboard, squinting at her monitor through large cranberry-framed glasses. “Here we are. I think you’re right, Mr. Novak. Captain Turner was a notable character in the Massachusetts militia. He was jailed in Boston for being a Baptist and speaking against the Puritans. He was released from jail on the condition that he lead a large militia contingent against an Indian encampment called Peskeompskut, which the English referred to as the Great Falls on the Connecticut River. This was an action of reprisal in King Philip’s war. King Philip was the English title given to a Wampanoag sachem named Metacomet. The militia assembled for the attack in a town called Hatfield.”
“It’s still the town of Hatfield,” said Lili.
“Cool. The encampment was mostly women, children, and old men. They were fishing the spring salmon and shad run at the falls. Captain Turner was killed in this battle. But I don’t know where the Green River is.”
“I do. It’s in Greenfield,” said Gil.
“Cool. Okay, if there are in fact gold Asian figurines from the 17th century Indigenous Americans in Greenfield, that would be a very significant find. As far as we know, there was no trade between Asia and the Indigenous Americans, at that time.”
“Do we know who these three men were?”
Shawn did some more typing on her keyboard and said, “Bingo! Gideon Palmer was here in 1757. When the fort was surrendered to the French, Palmer was killed in an Indian attack when the fort’s occupants were retreating to Fort Edward. His powder horn was discovered very recently in a dig nearby. Samuel and William Stagg would have been his forebears. Based on the order of the names, Samuel Stagg would have been the inscriber of this powder horn. I may be able to find him, since he was in the British militia, but it will take a little digging. I’ll make you a deal, I’ll call you when I find information on the Staggs, if you call me when you find out more about these artifacts. It would be a great plaque for our exhibit!”
“It’s a deal,” said Lili. “Here’s my card.”
“Hold on a second.” Shawn typed some more. “Green turtle stone is the state gemstone of Michigan. Hmm...I’m not sure that helps.”
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WHEN LILI AND GIL GOT back to Gil’s house, Gil sat down at his computer to research Captain Turner’s attack at the Great Falls. 1676 was less than sixty years after the English Pilgrims first settled in Massachusetts. It was a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence. There were less than 40,000 English people in Massachusetts, at that time. In 1620, when the Pilgrims arrived, there were about 60,000 Indigenous Americans in New England. By 1676, there were only about 10,000 Indigenous Americans, mainly due to epidemics caused by European diseases, for which they had little immunity.
Gil had assumed that, as the population of the Massachusetts Bay colony grew, villages expanded west from the Plymouth area. An old map that he found online showed that he was mistaken. The English population of western Massachusetts had spread north from Long Island Sound, along the Connecticut River. The Dutch settlers were similarly establishing settlements north from the Sound, along the Hudson River. Deerfield, the closest village to what would become Greenfield, was settled in 1673, only two years before King Philip’s War. It was one of the most northern settlements on the Connecticut River. At first, it was called Pocumtuc, after the Indian tribe that inhabited the area.
King Philip’s War evolved from friction between the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Wampanoag tribe. The English settlers repeatedly violated previously negotiated treaties with the Indigenous Americans. Their cattle grazed beyond established borders, they prosecuted and hung Indians according to English laws, they attempted to get the Indians to turn in European weapons they’d acquired, and they tried to convert the Indians to their religion. King Philip encouraged his tribe and neighboring tribes to increasingly harass and raid the English settlements.
The English declared war in 1675 and its intensity increased rapidly. By the end of the war in 1678, the Wampanoag tribe and the neighboring Narragansett tribe had essentially been wiped out, and other tribes were severely impacted. Thousands of Indigenous Americans who survived and surrendered were sold into the harsh conditions of slavery in the Caribbean islands. As Gil researched this period of history, he would take breaks and discuss what he learned with Lili.
Lili said, “I have about four percent Native American DNA.”
“Really?”
“I did a DNA test a few years ago. I never bothered researching my family tree to find out where I got that DNA. Maybe I’ll get Jeanie to do it for me someday.”
“You are a warrior!”
“Oh brother. Don’t get too excited. Well, maybe go ahead and get excited.”
Everything Gil learned about from his historical research was new to him, surprising, and horrifying. He wondered what it had been like to be an Indigenous American in New England during that time. It kept rolling around in his mind as he tried to fall asleep.