a little, just enough to let the edge of a tomahawk through,
which hacked away at the wooden bar while the children stood
watching, paralyzed with fear. Fortunately their own cries as
they ran toward the house had reached the men in the fields, who
dropped their scythes, seized their guns, and drove off the
Indians. But the bar was half cut through before help reached the
terrified children.

Stories like this one, and others with less happy endings, are
common, not only in the written history of Connecticut, but in
the unwritten traditions of Connecticut families. Whenever there
was trouble with the Indians the settlers were exposed to these
dangers. In the long wars between France and England for the
possession of America, the Indians were often allies of the
French, and then the English settlements suffered greatly from
their attacks.

In 1754, not long before the beginning of the last "French-and-
Indian War" (1756-63), there were several reasons why the people
of Windham, in the northeastern part of Connecticut, were
especially afraid of a surprise and attack by the Indians. Their
town was on the border of the colony and less protected than some
other places, and they also feared that they had lately given
offense to the Indians by planning a new town on what was known
as the "Wyoming territory" (in the present State of Pennsylvania).
These lands were still held by the Indians, but Connecticut claimed
them under her patent, and although the Windham people intended to
pay the Indians fairly for them they were not sure that the Indians
would not resent being forced to sell and be hostile to them in
consequence.