Falls Fight Gravesite in Greenfield, Massachusetts

About

Get directions Greenfield, Massachusetts, USA

Coordinates: 42.60500, -72.61530
Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

Photos

King Philip's War was a major war that occurred between Native American tribes and the English colonists in New England. The war began in 1675 and ended in 1676. For the size of the population it was the bloodiest conflict ever on American soil. Falls Fight, which took place on September 19, 1676, was a critical battle in that war between the English colonists and the Native American Alliance.

Captain William Turner of Boston led the colonists, which included fifty trained militia, supplemented by one hundred untrained volunteers from surrounding communities (e.g. Hatfield, Hadley, Northampton). After numerous Indian raids on colonial towns, and the kidnapping and murder of numerous citizens, Capt. Turner decided to lead a surprise attack at sunrise on the Indian camps at Peskeompskut (Turner's Falls), Massachusetts. Under cover of darkness they successfully carried out the attack. However, during a disorderly retreat Capt. Turner and thirty-six of the colonials were killed by the Indians. Several weeks later a colonial scouting party discovered the fallen soldiers and buried them. The location is Nash's Mill, town of Greenfield. There are two general markers with only Turner mentioned by name.