An Essay on "Bars Fight"
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Williams, Dr. Stephen West. "The Background of the Fight at the Bars, Deerfield, Massachusetts, August 25, 1746." Memorial Hall Museum Online. Memorial Hall Museum. 24 Oct. 2006 curri 
culum_6th/lesson6/barsbkgd.html>.
The Memorial Hall Museum is a New England museum that specializes in collecting artifacts and texts that pertain to the colonization of the United States by European settlers. In my search for information relevant to the history behind the Lucy Terry poem, "Bars Fight," I came across an article through the Memorial Hall Museum Online database that gives Eunice Allen's account, as told to Dr. Stephen West Williams, of the events that took place on the day that "Bars Fight" was written about. Eunice Allen, personally mentioned in Terry's poem, was one of the survivors of the attack, and she recounted the events of that day to Dr. Williams when she was more than 80-years-old (Williams 1-2).
The article starts with an introduction that is very pertinent to understanding the context of Terry's poem. Terry was 22-years-old when some of her neighboring families were attacked by Native Americans. The attack occurred in a part of Deerfield, Massachusetts, known as "The Bars." The attack was a surprise, and it resulted in the deaths of many of the families involved as well as the capture of one son of the Allen family, Samuel Allen. According to Eunice Allen, the attack came after Fort Massachusetts, an area approximately 30 miles west of Deerfield, was taken by a party of Native Americans. The Native Americans planned to take Deerfield next, and they hid in the bushes near the field in which the Allen family and their neighboring families labored daily. Allen recalls that "ten or twelve men and children" (1) were present when the attack occurred. The attack left three men and one boy dead, resulted in the capture of Samuel Allen, and left Eunice Allen severely wounded by the means of a tomahawk that one attacker buried in her head (Williams 1-2).
The Memorial Hall Museum is a New England museum that specializes in collecting artifacts and texts that pertain to the colonization of the United States by European settlers. In my search for information relevant to the history behind the Lucy Terry poem, "Bars Fight," I came across an article through the Memorial Hall Museum Online database that gives Eunice Allen's account, as told to Dr. Stephen West Williams, of the events that took place on the day that "Bars Fight" was written about. Eunice Allen, personally mentioned in Terry's poem, was one of the survivors of the attack, and she recounted the events of that day to Dr. Williams when she was more than 80-years-old (Williams 1-2).
The article starts with an introduction that is very pertinent to understanding the context of Terry's poem. Terry was 22-years-old when some of her neighboring families were attacked by Native Americans. The attack occurred in a part of Deerfield, Massachusetts, known as "The Bars." The attack was a surprise, and it resulted in the deaths of many of the families involved as well as the capture of one son of the Allen family, Samuel Allen. According to Eunice Allen, the attack came after Fort Massachusetts, an area approximately 30 miles west of Deerfield, was taken by a party of Native Americans. The Native Americans planned to take Deerfield next, and they hid in the bushes near the field in which the Allen family and their neighboring families labored daily. Allen recalls that "ten or twelve men and children" (1) were present when the attack occurred. The attack left three men and one boy dead, resulted in the capture of Samuel Allen, and left Eunice Allen severely wounded by the means of a tomahawk that one attacker buried in her head (Williams 1-2).