Description

The first depredation by the Indians in the Connecticut valley, during King Georges war, was on the Great Meadow. On October 11, 1745, 'Black Friday, ' Nehemiah How left the safety of the Great Meadow Fort (now Putney, Windham County, Vermont) to cut some wood and was captured by a party of Abenakis of St. Francis as he returned to the fort. His captors �continued northward until they arrived at Black River, in the environs of Fort No. 4, now Charlestown, N.H. They then struck out to cross the mountain wilderness of the present state of Vermont; probably came as far as what is now Larrabee's Point, opposite Fort Ticonderoga continued to Crown Point, and embarked for Quebec, through Lake Champlain and the rivers of Sorel and St. Lawrence. According to How's testimony in his pamphlet and his deposition at Quebec �he was not subjected to any severe cruelties by his Indian captors, who generally were kind to him. Nehemiah How gives an account of his journey to Canada, and his imprisonment there. How died in a prison in Quebec on May 25, 1747.