Everywhere the whites were on the alert.  The farmer went to his fields with his musket as an indispensable companion.  Outlying houses were guarded like fortresses.  Even places of worship were converted into strongholds, and the people prayed with musket in hand, and, while listening to the exhortations of their pastors, kept keenly alive to the sounds without, for none could tell at what moment the foe might break in on their devotions.

In the frontier town of Hadley, Massachusetts, then on the northwestern edge of civilization, on a day in the summer of 1676, the people were thus all gathered at the meeting-house, engaged in divine service.  It was a day of fasting and prayer, set aside to implore God’s aid to relieve the land from the reign of terror which had come upon it.  Yet the devout villagers, in their appeal for spiritual aid, did not forget the importance of temporal weapons.  They had brought their muskets with them, and took part in the pious exercises with these carnal instruments of safety within easy reach of their hands.

Their caution was well advised.  In the midst of their devotional exercises a powerful body of Indians made a sudden onslaught upon the village.  They had crept up in their usual stealthy way, under cover of trees and bushes, and their wild yells as they assailed the outlying houses were the first intimation of their approach.

These alarming sounds reached the ears of the worshippers, and quickly brought their devotional services to an end.  In an instant all thought of dependence upon the Almighty was replaced by the instinct of dependence upon themselves.  Grasping their weapons, they hurried out, to find themselves face to face with the armed and exultant savages, who now crowded the village street, and whose cries of triumph filled the air with discordant sounds.

The people were confused and frightened, huddled together with little show of order or discipline, and void of the spirit and energy necessary to meet their threatening foe.  The Indians were on all sides, completely surrounding them.  The suddenness of the alarm and the evidence of imminent peril robbed the villagers of their usual vigor and readiness, signs of panic were visible, and had the Indians attacked at that moment the people must have been hurled back in disorderly flight, to become in great part the victims of their foes.

It was a critical moment.  Was Hadley to suffer the fate of other frontier towns, or would the recent prayers of pastor and people bring some divine interposition in their favor?  Yes; suddenly it seemed as if God indeed had come to their aid; for as they stood there in a state of nerveless dread a venerable stranger appeared in their midst, a tall, stately personage, with long white hair, and dressed in strange, old-fashioned garb, his countenance beaming with energy and decision.

“Quick,” he cried, “into line and order at once!  The Indians are about to charge upon you.  Take heart, and prepare for them, or they will slaughter you like sheep.”