his whole life in America, he was more or less engaged in the military service, in arduous, difficult, and dangerous positions and operations; acting sometimes against Indians, and sometimes against the French, or, as was usually the case, against them both combined.  He was occasionally sent to distant posts; commanding expeditions to the eastward as far as Acadia.  He was at one time in charge of a force at Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia.  Increase Mather calls him a “godly and courageous commander.”  When the last decisive struggle with King Philip was approaching, and aid was needed from the eastern part of the colony to rescue the settlements on the Connecticut River from utter destruction, the “Flower of Essex” was summoned to the field.  It was a choice body of efficient men, “all culled out of the towns belonging to this county,” numbering about one hundred men.  Lothrop, of course, was their captain.  In August, 1675, they were on the ground at Hadley, the place of rendezvous.  On the 26th of that month, Captain Lothrop, with his company, and Captain Beers, of Watertown, with his, after a vigorous pursuit, attacked the Indians in a swamp, about ten miles from Hatfield, at the foot of Sugar-Loaf Hill.  Ten were killed on the side of the English, and twenty-six on the side of the Indians, who were driven from the swamp, and scattered in their flight; to fall, as was their custom, upon detached settlements; and continuing to waste and destroy, by fire and sword, with hatchet, scalping-knife, torch, and gun.  On the 18th of September, Lothrop, with his company, started from Deerfield, to convoy a train of eighteen wagons, loaded with grain, and furniture of the inhabitants seeking refuge from danger, with teamsters and others.  Moseley, with his men, remained behind, to scout the woods, and give notice of the approach of Indians; but the stealthy savages succeeded in effecting a complete surprise, and fell upon Lothrop as his wagons were crossing a stream.  They poured in a destructive fire from the woods, in all directions.  They were seven to one.  A perfect carnage ensued.  Lothrop fell early in the unequal fight, and only seven or eight of his whole party were left to tell the story of the fatal scene.  The locality of this disastrous and sanguinary tragedy has ever since been known as “Bloody Brook.”  In the list of those who perished by bullet, tomahawk, or arrow, on that fearful morning, we read the names of many village neighbors of the brave and lamented commander,—­Thomas Bayley, Edward Trask, Josiah Dodge, Peter Woodbury, Joseph Balch, Thomas Buckley, Joseph King, Robert Wilson, and James Tufts.  One of Lothrop’s sergeants, who was among the slain, Thomas Smith, then of Newbury, originated in the village.  His family had grants of land, including the hill called by their name.